Item – Theses Canada

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OCLC number
1069386532
Author
Ferretti, Todd R.,1969-
Title
Activating thematic role concepts
Degree
M.A. -- University of Western Ontario (Dept. of Psychology), 1996
Publisher
London, Ont. : Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Western Ontario, 1996.
Description
vii, 58 leaves :illustrations ;
Notes
Abstract: leaf iii.
Vita: leaves 57-58.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 44-47).
Microfiche.1996.1 microfiche: negative ; 11 x 15 cm.
Abstract
Thematic role assignment has traditionally been considered to be primarily a result of syntactic cues such as word order, case inflection, and a phrase's position in a phrase-structure representation (MacDonald, 1987). However, a recent theory of thematic roles proposes that they are verb-specific concepts and, importantly, that this conceptual information is integrated with syntactic information to guide thematic assignment (McRae, Ferretti, & Amyote, 1996b; McRae, Spivey-Knowlton, & Tanenhaus, 1996c). The current studies tested the notion that verbs activate information about what entities are expected as fillers for their roles. Using a short interval priming paradigm, Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that verbs (e.g., ADOPTING) primed their typical role fillers (e.g., BABY), and features (e.g., ABANDONED) respectively. Experiment 3 provided additional support for the featural aspect of the theory by demonstrating that on-line ambiguity resolution can be modified by role features. These results are interpreted as supporting the theory of thematic roles as verb-specific concepts.
Subject
Psycholinguistics.
Psycholinguistique.
ISBN
0612098427
9780612098428