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Do readers maintain word-level uncertainty during reading? A pre-registered replication study

Cutter, Michael G.; Filik, Ruth; Paterson, Kevin B.

Do readers maintain word-level uncertainty during reading? A pre-registered replication study Thumbnail


Authors

Michael G. Cutter

RUTH FILIK ruth.filik@nottingham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Kevin B. Paterson



Abstract

We present a replication of Levy, Bicknell, Slattery, and Rayner (2009). In this prior study participants read sentences in which a perceptually confusable preposition (at; confusable with as) or non-confusable preposition (toward) was followed by a verb more likely to appear in the syntactic structure formed by replacing at with as (e.g. tossed) or a verb that was not more likely to appear in this structure (e.g. thrown). Readers experienced processing difficulty upon fixating verbs like tossed following at, but not toward. Levy et al. argued that this suggests readers maintained uncertainty about previously fixated words’ identities. We argue that this finding has wide-ranging implications for language processing theories, and that a replication is required. On the basis of a Bayes Factor Design Analysis we conducted a replication study with 56 items and 72 participants in order to determine whether Levy et al.’s effects are replicable. Using Bayesian statistical techniques we show that in our dataset there is evidence against the existence of the interaction Levy et al. found, and thus conclude that this study is non-replicable.

Citation

Cutter, M. G., Filik, R., & Paterson, K. B. (2022). Do readers maintain word-level uncertainty during reading? A pre-registered replication study. Journal of Memory and Language, 125, Article 104336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2022.104336

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date May 1, 2022
Online Publication Date May 13, 2022
Publication Date May 13, 2022
Deposit Date May 13, 2022
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Journal of Memory and Language
Print ISSN 0749-596X
Publisher Elsevier BV
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 125
Article Number 104336
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2022.104336
Keywords Artificial Intelligence; Linguistics and Language; Experimental and Cognitive Psychology; Language and Linguistics; Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/8048053
Publisher URL https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749596X22000237
Additional Information This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Do readers maintain word-level uncertainty during reading? A pre-registered replication study; Journal Title: Journal of Memory and Language; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2022.104336; Content Type: article; Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.

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