Graduation Year
2010
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
M.S.
Degree Granting Department
Communication Sciences and Disorders
Major Professor
Elaine R. Silliman, Ph.D.
Co-Major Professor
Nathan Maxfield, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Stefan A. Frisch, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Judith Becker Bryant, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Sylvia F. Diehl, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Ruth Huntley Bahr, Ph.D.
Keywords
Relative Clause Comprehension, Perspective Taking, Complex Syntax, Sentence Processing, Cross-Modal Picture Priming
Abstract
Fourteen young adults participated in a cross-modal picture priming study. Perspective shift processing, in four types of relative clause sentences and in control sentences, was assessed using reaction times. Predictions were: 1) the easier the perspective shifts, the faster the reaction times and 2) subject relative clauses would reveal a priming effect versus attenuated or no priming in object relative clauses due to difficulty following perspective. A priming effect was observed for 1- switch relative clause sentences and for control sentences, while no priming effect was observed for 0 switch, 1+ switch, or 2 switch sentences. Results suggest that variations in local syntactic constructions and word order facilitated relative clause processing. Violations of semantic expectations and noun-noun-verb distance in following perspective can both contribute to the complexity of relative clause processing.
Scholar Commons Citation
Jones, Nicola C., "Perspective Taking and Relative Clause Comprehension: A Cross-Modal Picture Priming Study" (2010). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/1671
