ACTIVATION AND SUPPRESSION OF ANTECEDENTS DURING REINSTATEMENT

In 3 experiments, the nature of the search for antecedents during reading was investigated by examination of the effects of reinstatement on long-term memory for potential antecedents. Participants read passages that contained 2 possible antecedents; one appearing early in the passages and the other appearing late. Experiment 1 showed that reinstated antecedents were strengthened in long-term memory whereas potential but nonselected antecedents that fell in the path of an antecedent search were suppressed. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that this suppression was restricted to concepts that shared a high degree of featural overlap with the target antecedent and with the anaphoric phrase prompting the search. Results are discussed in terms of antecedent search as a resonance process.