TY  - JOUR
A1  - Spalek, Katharina
A1  - Gotzner, Nicole
A1  - Wartenburger, Isabell
T1  - Not only the apples
BT  - Focus sensitive particles improve memory for information-structural alternatives
JF  - Journal of memory and language : JML
N2  - Focus sensitive particles highlight the relevance of contextual alternatives for the interpretation of a sentence. Two experiments tested whether this leads to better encoding and therefore, ultimately, better recall of focus alternatives. Participants were presented with auditory stimuli that introduced a set of elements ("context sentence") and continued in three different versions: the critical sentences either contained the exclusive particle nur ("only"), the inclusive particle sogar ("even"), or no particle (control condition). After being exposed to blocks of ten trials, participants were asked to recall the elements in the context sentence. The results show that both particles enhanced memory performance for the alternatives to the focused element, relative to the control condition. The results support the assumption that information-structural alternatives are better encoded in memory in the presence of a focus sensitive particle.
KW  - Information structure
KW  - Focus particles
KW  - Alternative set
KW  - Delayed recall
KW  - Memory
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2013.09.001
SN  - 0749-596X
SN  - 1096-0821
VL  - 70
SP  - 68
EP  - 84
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - San Diego
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Sauermann, Antje
A1  - Filik, Ruth
A1  - Paterson, Kevin B.
T1  - Processing contextual and lexical cues to focus evidence from eye movements in reading
JF  - Language and cognitive processes
N2  - Three eye movement experiments investigated the interaction between contextual and lexical focus cues during reading. Context was used to focus on either the indirect or direct object of a double object construction, which was followed by a remnant continuation that formed either a congruous or incongruous contrast with the contextually focused object. Experiment 1 demonstrated that remnants were more difficult to process when incongruous with the contextually focused constituent, indicating that context was effective in specifying focus. Experiments 2 and 3 investigated the interaction between context and lexical focus arising from the particle only which specifies focus on the subsequent adjacent element. When only preceded both objects (Experiment 2), the conflict between lexical and contextual focus cues disrupted processing of the remnant element and was resolved in favour of the contextually focused element. However, when only was placed between both objects (Experiment 3), cue-conflict disrupted processing earlier in the sentence but did not appear to be fully resolved during on-line sentence processing. These findings reveal that the interplay between contextual and lexical cues to focus is important for establishing focus structure during on-line sentence processing.
KW  - Focus particles
KW  - Discourse processing
KW  - Sentence processing
KW  - Eye movements while reading
Y1  - 2013
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1080/01690965.2012.668197
SN  - 0169-0965
VL  - 28
IS  - 6
SP  - 875
EP  - 903
PB  - Wiley
CY  - Hove
ER  -