Dataset Information

Interference in the processing of adjunct control.

ABSTRACT: Recent research on the memory operations used in language comprehension has revealed a selective profile of interference effects during memory retrieval. Dependencies such as subject-verb agreement show strong facilitatory interference effects from structurally inappropriate but feature-matching distractors, leading to illusions of grammaticality (Pearlmutter et al., 1999; Wagers et al., 2009; Dillon et al., 2013). In contrast, dependencies involving reflexive anaphors are generally immune to interference effects (Sturt, 2003; Xiang et al., 2009; Dillon et al., 2013). This contrast has led to the proposal that all anaphors that are subject to structural constraints are immune to facilitatory interference. Here we use an animacy manipulation to examine whether adjunct control dependencies, which involve an interpreted anaphoric relation between a null subject and its licensor, are also immune to facilitatory interference effects. Our results show reliable facilitatory interference in the processing of adjunct control dependencies, which challenges the generalization that anaphoric dependencies as a class are immune to such effects. To account for the contrast between adjunct control and reflexive dependencies, we suggest that variability within anaphora could reflect either an inherent primacy of animacy cues in retrieval processes, or differential degrees of match between potential licensors and the retrieval probe.

SUBMITTER: Parker D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4561755 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Interference in the processing of adjunct control.

Parker Dan D Lago Sol S Phillips Colin C

Frontiers in psychology 20150908

Recent research on the memory operations used in language comprehension has revealed a selective profile of interference effects during memory retrieval. Dependencies such as subject-verb agreement show strong facilitatory interference effects from structurally inappropriate but feature-matching distractors, leading to illusions of grammaticality (Pearlmutter et al., 1999; Wagers et al., 2009; Dillon et al., 2013). In contrast, dependencies involving reflexive anaphors are generally immune to in ...[more]

PMID: 26441723

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Project description:BackgroundWorking memory updating (WMU), a controlled process to continuously adapt to the changing task demand and environment, is crucial for cognitive executive function. Although previous studies have shown that the elderly were more susceptible to cognitive interference than the youngsters, the picture of age-related deterioration of WMU is incomplete due to lack of study on people at their middle ages. Thus, the present study investigated the impact of age on the WMU among adults by a cross-sectional design to verify whether inefficiency interference control accounts for the aging of WMU.MethodsIn total, 112 healthy adults were recruited for this study; 28 old adults (21 female) ranging from 60 to 78 years of age; 28 middle-age adults (25 female) ranging from 45 to 59 years of age; 28 adults (11 female) ranging from 26 to 44 years of age; and 28 young adults (26 female) ranging from 18 to 25 years of age. Each participant completed a 1-back task. The inverse efficiency score was calculated in various sequences of three trials in a row to quantify the performance of WMU for adults of various ages.ResultsInverse efficiency score of both young groups (young adult and adult) were significantly shorter than the old group in both Repeat-Alternate (RA, including □□○ and ○○□) and Alternate-Alternate (AA, including ○□○ and □○□) sequential patterns and they were additionally better than the middle-age group in AA sequential pattern.ConclusionWith the increase of difficulty in the task, the difference in reactive interference control between young and middle age was gradually revealed, while the difference between young and old remained to apparent. The degradation of WMU aging may begin from middle-age and presents selective impairment in that only reactive interference control, but not proactive interference control, shows pronounced age-related decline. The preliminary results can inform future studies to further explore the whole lifespan trajectories of cognitive functions.

Dataset Information

Interference in the processing of adjunct control.

Publications

Interference in the processing of adjunct control.

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