When the creampuff beat the boxer:: Working memory, cost, and function in reading metaphoric reference

被引:11
作者
Almor, Amit
Arunachalam, Sudha
Strickland, Brent
机构
[1] Univ S Carolina, Dept Psychol, Columbia, SC 29208 USA
[2] Univ Penn, Dept Linguist, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
关键词
D O I
10.1080/10926480701235478
中图分类号
H0 [语言学];
学科分类号
030303 ; 0501 ; 050102 ;
摘要
Following Almor's (1999) cost-function analysis of referential processing, we hypothesized that reading times of metaphoric anaphors are affected by readers' working memory ability and reflect a balance between discourse function and processing cost. The results from 2 self-paced reading experiments supported this hypothesis. Low-span participants always read sentences with metaphoric anaphors slower than sentences with literal anaphors. In contrast, high-span participants did not take longer to read sentences with metaphoric anaphors than those with literal anaphors when the preceding context activated enough information to facilitate reference resolution. However, when the context activated so much information that the metaphor's function was obviated, high-span readers suffered and again read sentences with metaphoric anaphors more slowly than sentences with literal anaphors. These results show that, as with other types of anaphors, processing metaphoric anaphors is affected by working memory performance, and that the balance between processing cost and discourse function varies with working memory ability.
引用
收藏
页码:169 / 193
页数:25
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