Argument Status and Retrieval Interference

• Published in: Korea Journal of English Language and Linguistics Vol. 24; pp. 35 - 51
• Main Authors: Lew, Jeongho, Kim, Nayoun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 한국영어학회 2024
• Subjects: 영어와문학; dependency formation; interference effect; argument status; cue-based retrieval
• ISSN: 1598-1398; 2586-7474
• DOI: 10.15738/kjell.24..202401.35

It has been suggested that a cue-based retrieval mechanism is involved in the online processing of subject-verb dependency, according to which similarity-based interference is predicted to arise when there are more than one items in memory that match the cues for retrieval (Lewis et al. 2006). Interestingly, Van Dyke and McElree (2011) proposed that the argument status of an intervening non-target item modulates interference effects, such that a cue-matching intervening item in an argument position does not lead to interference effects by virtue of its distinctive syntactic encoding. This study aims to test this hypothesis by investigating whether facilitatory semantic interference effects occur when an intervening non-target item is in the direct object argument position. In a self-paced reading experiment, we found no reading time facilitation in the presence of a semantic cue-matching intervening item, when the target subject did not match the semantic cue provided by the verb. Together with Cunnings and Sturt’s (2023) observation that facilitatory interference effects occur when a semantic cue-matching intervening item is inside an adjunct prepositional phrase, our findings provide further supporting evidence for Van Dyke and McElree’s (2011) hypothesis that the argument status of an intervening item influences interference effects. KCI Citation Count: 0