Abstract
We present experimental evidence showing that different wh-filler-gap dependencies are processed differently, depending on their syntactic licensors. Our studies compared the active storage profiles for why, how, and who (serving as subject or object of the verb). The results of offline and online experiments revealed that these wh-fillers are stored in memory for different durations, and predictably so based on the hypothesised structural distance between each wh-filler and the licensor which determines its grammatical and interpretive functions. Furthermore, the results showed that once the wh-filler is licenced, it is integrated to the current structure, and no longer engenders additional memory costs. Based on these findings, we argue that the mechanism of online sentence processing may employ both storage and integration components in memory.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2391-2417 |
| Number of pages | 27 |
| Journal | Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology |
| Volume | 77 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2024 |
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work has been supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2023S1A5A8079483) as well as the National Science Foundation DDRI Grant (BCS-1749580).
Keywords
- Filler-gap dependencies
- active maintenance
- memory
- processing wh-fillers
- reason and purpose why
- sentence processing
- storage
- syntax
- wh-adjunct why
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physiology
- Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- General Psychology
- Physiology (medical)