Abstract
This research contrasts two hypotheses concerning componential storage of meaning. The Complexity Hypothesis assumed by Fodor (The language of thought, NY: Crowell, 1975), Kintsch (The representation of meaning in memory, Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1974), and Thorndyke (Conceptual complexity and imagery in comprehension and memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1975, 14, 359-369) states that a word with many semantic components will require more processing resources, comprehension time, and long-term memory space than a word with few components, and thus will interfere more with memory for surrounding words. This memory prediction was tested against an alternative prediction based on connectivity. The Connectivity Hypothesis views verb semantic structures as frames for sentence representation and states that memory strength between two nouns in a sentence increases with the number of underlying verb subpredicates that connect the nouns. Thus, the Complexity Hypothesis predicts that a verb with many subpredicates will lead to poorer memory strength between the surrounding nouns than a verb with few subpredicates, while the Connectivity Hypothesis predicts that verbs with many subpredicates will lead to greater memory strength between nouns in cases when the additional subpredicates provide semantic connections between the nouns. In three experiments, subjects recalled subject-verb-object sentences, given subject nouns as cues. General verbs, with relatively few subpredicates, were compared with more specific verbs whose additional subpredicates either did or did not provide additional connections between the surrounding nouns. The level of recall of the object noun, given the subject noun as cue, was predicted by the relative number of connecting subpredicates in the verb, but not by the relative number of subpredicates. This finding supports the Connectivity Hypothesis over the Complexity Hypothesis. These results are interpreted in terms of a model in which the verb conveys a structured set of subpredicates that provides a connective framework for sentence memory.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 56-83 |
| Number of pages | 28 |
| Journal | Cognitive Psychology |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1981 |
Funding
The preparation of this paper was supported in part by The National Institute of Education under Contract No. US-NIE-C-400-76-0016. Some of the research described was carried out at the Psychology Department of the University of Washington and supported by departmental and university funds. I thank Philip Cohen, Allan Collins, Jerry Fodor, Ed Smith, and Albert Stevens for their very helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper. I also thank Erik Svehaug and Brenda Starr for their help in conducting the research, and Jill O’Brien for her inestimable help in preparing the manuscript. Send reprint requests to: Dedre Gentner, Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
- Artificial Intelligence
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Linguistics and Language