Type of Document	Thesis
Author	Yaxley, Richard H.
URN	etd-09182003-204212
Title	Simulatiing Object Resolution During Language Ccomprehension
Degree	Master of Science
Department	Psychology, Department of
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Rolf A. Zwaan Committee Chair Ashby Plant Committee Member Colleen Kelley Committee Member
Keywords	Linguistic Context Object Recognition
Date of Defense	2003-08-02
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract This thesis investigates how linguistic cues implying varying levels of object resolution are mentally represented in sentences such as Through the smoky/empty bar, the bartender could hardly/easily read the clock. Such sentences contain an adjective that implies a level of obscurity (smoky, empty) and an adverbial phrase (hardly, easily) that describes the perceptual availability of an object (clock) to the protagonist. An experiment was designed to address the following question: Is the visual resolution of a textually described object simulated during sentence processing? Participants read sentences describing a protagonist viewing an object through either an obscure or clear medium (e.g., smoky/empty bar). After reading each sentence, participants judged whether a picture of the object in question was mentioned in the sentence. Responses were faster when the resolution of the pictured object matched the resolution implied by the sentence than when it did not match. Thus, linguistic context can influence the ease of object recognition. These data suggest that readers perceptually simulate the visual resolution of objects during language comprehension. Furthermore, the finding suggests that comprehenders adopt the perspective of the protagonist during the simulation of a described situation, rather than a thirdperson perspective.
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