Garden Path Research Articles

Syntactic engagement of new words: The garden-path method applied to track sensitivity to structural ambiguity

This article proposes an innovative approach to examining garden-path (GP) effects in sentence processing. It applies GP effects as a method to a new domain, specifically to syntactic engagement of recently learned verbs. We tested twenty-seven English native speakers and twenty Spanish learners of English to verify method validity. Three main components characterise the method, namely training of new word meaning through definitions and example sentences, eye-tracking while reading plausible and implausible GP sentences after sleep consolidation, and a meaning recall test. We also examined if participants’ phonological working memory and vocabulary size play a role in how they syntactically engage new words. Results showed that recently learned verbs can elicit syntactic engagement in both native and nonnative readers. Both vocabulary size and phonological working memory capacity could predict ambiguity reprocessing, irrespective of language group. These results indicate that garden pathing can reliably signal effort to detect and resolve subject-object ambiguities in both first language (Frazier & Rayner, 1982; Pickering & Traxler, 1998) and second language readers (Chen et al., 2021, Jegerski, 2012). This feasibility study is a pioneering attempt to map new vocabulary knowledge as a window into emergent structural representations. The significance of this method lies in its potential to track syntactic engagement of new lexis, while accounting for individual differences, and following the principle that to know a word entails knowing its form, meaning, as well as its grammatical use (Nation, 2001).

Predictability in Language Comprehension: Prospects and Problems for Surprisal

Surprisal theory proposes that a word's predictability influences processing difficulty because each word requires the comprehender to update a probability distribution over possible sentences. This article first considers the theory's detailed predictions regarding the effects of predictability on reading time and N400 amplitude. Two rather unintuitive predictions appear to be correct based on the current evidence: There is no specific cost when an unpredictable word is encountered in a context where another word is predictable, and the function relating predictability to processing difficulty is logarithmic, not linear. Next, the article addresses the viability of the claim, also associated with Surprisal, that conditional probability is the “causal bottleneck” mediating all effects on incremental processing difficulty. This claim fares less well as conditional probability does not account for the difficulty associated with encountering a low-frequency word or the difficulty associated with garden path disambiguation. Surprisal provides a compelling account of predictability effects but does not provide a complete account of incremental processing difficulty.

L2 Arabic learners' processing of Arabic garden-path sentences: a consistent reading pattern.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate to what extent the L2 Arabic learners' reading process is affected by the incomplete representation of speech (the absence of short vowels and diacritics) while reading ambiguous sentences (garden path sentences). With a self-paced reading software program, 41 non-native male students, aged from 22 to 26, enrolled in King Saud University, participated in reading 44 sentences (followed by reading comprehension questions) representing three reading conditions, plain, vowelized-discretized, and wrongly-vowelized. For the reading times data, the analysis revealed that the GP structure had a significant effect on the reading processes of L2 Arabic learners; it took them longer to read the GP sentences than their non-GP counterparts. For the reading comprehension, the analysis did not reveal any significant differences between the means for the percentages of correct responses. For the comparison between the three reading conditions, a significant difference was found: it took the participants on average less time to read the GP sentences when presented plain, and more time with the incorrect representation. However, their reading comprehension was not affected. In addition to the good-enough model and the nature of Arabic morphology, the reading experience, is a good candidate to start with as an important factor in the interpretation of the ineffectiveness of the GP structure on the reading comprehension process of Arabic readers, in which the segregability of Arabic writing system prepare the readers to emphasize some sensory inputs and ignore others based on their past reading experience.

Trial-Level and Contiguous Syntactic Adaptation: A Common Domain-General Mechanism at Play?

Garden-path sentences generate processing difficulty due to a more preferred parse conflicting with incoming parsing information. A domain-general cognitive control mechanism has been argued to help identify and resolve these parsing conflicts. This cognitive control mechanism has been argued to underlie adaptation to garden path processing at the trial level (conflict adaptation) and contiguously over the experiment (syntactic adaptation) in independent literature. The strongest evidence for its domain generality comes from garden-path processing being facilitated when preceded by a non-syntactic conflict (e.g., Stroop). This has been reliably observed in the visual world paradigm, which, like Stroop, requires irrelevant visual information to be suppressed. We tested the domain generality of conflict adaptation and its relationship to contiguous syntactic adaptation across four experiments (n = 562). To eliminate the visual object confound, the Stroop task was followed by a sentence-reading task. We observed Stroop and ambiguity effects, but no conflict adaptation in each experiment. Contiguous syntactic adaptation was replicated and most compatible with the parser changing its expectations and/or improving revision. While the data largely fail to support a domain-general cognitive control mechanism, a language-specific one could operate in both trial and contiguous syntactic adaptation and is worth future exploration.

Linking cognitive control to language comprehension: proportion congruency effects in syntactic ambiguity resolution

ABSTRACT Two experiments investigated the effect of sustained cognitive control engagement on syntactic ambiguity resolution. Participants heard (Experiment 1) or read (Experiment 2) garden path sentences like “Put the kiwi on the rectangle on the circle”, in which “on the rectangle” could temporarily reflect either a destination of “Put” or modifier of “kiwi”, and they viewed visual arrays with a kiwi on a rectangle and an empty rectangle and circle. Cognitive control was manipulated experimentally by interleaving sentence trials among either mostly incongruent or mostly congruent Stroop trials. Across both experiments, garden path mouse cursor movements to incorrect destinations were reduced when sentence trials were interleaved among mostly incongruent Stroop trials, and in Experiment 2, garden path reading time effects were also reduced in this condition. These results suggest that a high proportion of incongruent trials supports the sustained engagement of cognitive control and causally improves sentence comprehension across (i.e. spoken and written) modalities.

The Interaction Between Morphosyntactic Features and the Performance of Machine Translation Tools: The Case of Google Translate, Systran, and Microsoft Bing in English-Arabic Translation

The present study compares the performance of three machine translation tools in English-Arabic translation to answer the questions of (a) whether the three machine translation tools, Google Translate, Systran and Microsoft Bing can be ordered in a hierarchy of performance, and (b) whether they can handle lexically and structurally ambiguous sentences and garden path sentences. Using a number of constructed and selected English sentences, the morphosyntactic features of number, gender, case, definiteness, and humanness, agreement between cardinal numerals and their head nouns, lexically and structurally ambiguous sentences and garden path sentences are used to test the three machine translation tools for performance. The results show that (a) as far as handling the morphosyntactic features of subject-verb agreement in Standard Arabic, all three machine translation tools perform equally well, and no machine translation tool seems to perform significantly better than the other two (b) some marked features (e.g. dual number and humanness) of SA seem to pose some problems for machine translation tools, and (c) lexically and structurally ambiguous sentences and garden path sentences seem to be the most challenging sentences for the three machine translation tools.

The Effects of the Garden Path Technique on Chinese L2 Learners’ Acquisition of Relative Clauses

The Effects of the Garden Path Technique on Chinese L2 Learners’ Acquisition of Relative Clauses

An Analysis on Chinese EFL Learners’ Understanding of “Direct Object/Sentence Complement” Garden Path Sentences

This study explores the comprehension of Direct Object/Sentence Complement Garden Path sentences among Chinese EFL learners of different proficiency levels, as examined through online questionnaires featuring multiple introspective tests and judgment tasks. A total of 80 respondents participated in the survey, including 38 high proficiency level and 42 low proficiency level English EFL learners. The results indicated that due to a tendency among Chinese EFL learners to select interpretations with fewer attachment nodes, both groups exhibited garden path phenomena in sentence comprehension. Furthermore, following the garden path phenomena, both groups successfully resolved local ambiguities. However, the disambiguation accuracy was higher in the advanced group, corroborating the influence of language proficiency on the capability to reinterpret sentences. Ultimately, this research aims to further probe the underlying mechanisms in the comprehension of unique English sentence structures among learners, thus providing insights conducive to future English instruction and language learning.

Exploring Landscape Design Intensity Effects on Visual Preferences and Eye Fixations in Urban Forests: Insights from Eye Tracking Technology

Individuals’ preferences for urban forest scenes are an essential factor in the design process. This study explores the connection between landscape design intensity, visual preferences, and eye fixations in urban forest scenes. Five pictures representing different urban forest scenes (plaza, lawn, garden path, pond, and rockery) were selected as stimuli, representing the original landscape design intensity. Three additional levels of design intensity (low, moderate, and high) were created by modifying the landscape elements of the original picture. A group of 50 participants was randomly assigned to observe the four levels of design intensity pictures within each type of landscape using eye-tracking technology. They also rated their preferences for each scene. In total, 250 participants took part in the study, with five groups observing five types of urban forest scenes. The results indicate that landscape design intensity has a positive impact on visual preferences, with moderate design intensity showing the strongest effect. However, the influence of design intensity and preferences also depends on the specific landscape scene. The fixation data did not show a significant relationship with design intensity but were associated with the type of landscape scene. In conclusion, this study suggests that moderate design intensity is recommended for urban forest design. However, it also highlights the importance of considering the specific landscape scene type. The research provides valuable insights into urban forest design and contributes to the understanding of eye-tracking technology in landscape perception studies.

Syntactic adaptation leads to updated knowledge for local structural frequencies.

Syntactic adaptation has been shown to occur for various temporarily ambiguous structures, wherein an initially unexpected resolution becomes easier to process after repeated exposure. More controversial and less replicated is the claim that this adaptation towards a locally frequent structure occurs due to a strategic shifting of expectations to match short-term statistical regularities such that readers adapt away from the a priori more frequent structure. Experiment 1 replicates the initial adaptation towards a coordination garden path structure using self-paced reading; however, this paradigm has been criticised for its low reliability for detecting such small effects. To this end, Experiments 2 and 3 use a combination of self-paced reading and sentence completion tasks to replicate initial adaptation towards both coordination and reduced relative garden path structures and show evidence for a preference for these structures over their a priori more frequent alternatives. Together, these data reveal that participants may be tracking local structural statistics in real time; however, they may not be able to rapidly use that information to update processing behaviours.

An Analysis on Chinese EFL Learners’ Understanding of “Direct Object/Subject” Garden Path Sentences

The current study probes into the comprehension of “DO/S” GP sentences by Chinese EFL learners with different language proficiencies. 70 questionnaires are obtained. The results show that 60% triggering condition is not reached in high language proficiency group and no GP ambiguity is found, whereas the GP ambiguity is found and eliminated by low-proficiency group. And the level of language proficiency influences the emergence of GD phenomenon (x2=12.570, p=.000<.05). The Q&A test reveals the residual of the initial misunderstanding among learners. Although the 60% triggering condition is not reached, we find that the comprehension ability differs significantly between the two groups based on the scores of their answers (p=.004<.05). It can be safely concluded that the L2 proficiency will affect learners’ comprehension of “DO/S” GP sentences. The higher L2 proficiency learners gain, the more likely they may eliminate the ambiguation of GP sentences and there will be less residual of misunderstanding.

Selection and Application of Quantitative Indicators of Paths Based on Graph Theory: A Case Study of Traditional Private and Antique Gardens in Beijing

Chinese Traditional Gardens (CTGs) are an important part of China’s cultural inheritance from the past. Today’s China has experienced rapid urbanization, raising the need for a new form of contemporary gardens intended to satisfy peoples’ need for traditional culture. Garden paths are important in CTGs; they are designed to show visitors changing views with each step, and to lead them to secluded, quiet places via winding paths. This enhances the ornamental interest of the gardens. Based on plane graphics, this study evaluates the characteristics of three types of garden paths in fourteen traditional gardens and a contemporary antique garden, the Daguan Garden in Beijing. The analysis uses correlation and factor analysis to integrate 28 quantitative path indicators into five aspects of average, scale, network, wide, and aggregation. The 28 indicators can be expressed by six simple indicators: average connection length, number of path sections, alpha index, average width, average tortuous angle, and concentration degree. The results show small variations of garden paths between traditional gardens, but a considerable difference between the contemporary garden and traditional gardens. The research proposes a framework for the quantification and comparison of garden path features that can be applied before and after garden path construction, for both ancient and modern garden styles. This framework generates garden path feature values and theoretical values of six indicators, and is not constrained by the garden scale. Therefore, it provides an accurate and efficient design tool for garden designers.

Effect of landscape design on depth perception in classical Chinese gardens: A quantitative analysis using virtual reality simulation.

It is common for visitors to have rich and varied experiences in the limited space of a classical Chinese garden. This leads to the sense that the garden's scale is much larger than it really is. A main reason for this perceptual bias is the gardener's manipulation of visual information. Most studies have discussed this phenomenon in terms of qualitative description with fragmented perspectives taken from static points, without considering ambient visual information or continuously changing observation points. A general question arises, then, on why depth perception can vary from one observation point to another along a garden path. To better understand the spatial experience in classical Chinese gardens, this study focused on variations in perceived depth among different observation points and aimed to identify influential visual information through psychophysical experimentation. As stimuli for the experiment, panoramic photos of Liu garden were taken from three positions at Lvyin Pavilion. Considering the effects of pictorial visual cues on depth perception, the photos were processed to create 18 kinds of stimuli (six image treatments * three positions). Two tasks were presented to the participants. In Task 1, 71 participants were asked to rate the depth value of the garden using the magnitude estimation method in a cave automatic virtual environment (CAVE). Statistical analysis of Task 1 revealed that depth values differed significantly among different viewpoints. In Task 2, participants were asked to compare 18 stimuli and 3D images presented on three connected monitors and to judge the depth of the garden using the adjustment method. The results of Task 2 again showed that depth values differed significantly among different viewpoints. In both tasks, ambient information (i.e., the perspective of interior space) significantly influenced depth perception.

플래그십 스토어의 지역적 표현 특성에 관한 연구

The flagship store is positioned as an effective public relations tool that provides a unique brand experience rather than simply selling products. In today’s standardized commercial environment, the flagship store reflects various lifestyles of customers and provides a space to satisfy their consumption needs. The purpose of this study is to present data on how to link regional expression characteristics to the current flagship store. As a research method, theoretical contents on the spatial characteristics and regional expression characteristics of the flagship store were considered, and a field survey was conducted on eight flagship stores in Seoul. The results of the study are as follows. First, although flagship stores are an open space that generally receives abundant light, the natural environmental factors were not well introduced. In order to apply more natural elements, a terrace or rooftop could be improved by, and a garden or walking path would provide a new natural environment in the region. Second, even when the harmony with the surrounding area of the store is high, it can be difficult to identify the facade. Therefore, by using exterior color, formative elements, or typography, designs can be improved to increase attention and arouse the curiosity of passers-by. Third, the cultural space that can promote the community of consumers in the district is insufficient. To this end, an open or variable space should be included to use the space more efficiently and to perform various cultural roles.

핵심명사의 통사적 위치가 한국인 학습자의 중국어 주격/목적격 관계절 처리에 미치는 영향

This study examines the acquisition situation of Chinese relative clause phrases by Korean learners through a self-paced reading task. This study aims to analyze three parts. First, The cognitive processing characteristics of Korean learners of different Chinese level groups when they process and comprehend Chinese subjective and objective relative clauses. Second, the effect of the syntactic position of head nouns on the cognitive processing of Chinese subjective and objective relative clauses. Third, the universal applicability of the representative second language relative clause acquisition theory hypothesis. In this study, two-way ANOVA was performed by dividing the within-subject of the experiment into different relative clause syntax types and between-subjects into a high-level group and a low-level group. The results showed that there were some differences between the high-level group and the lower-level group in the processing of Chinese subjective-objective relative clause sentences. These differences appeared in the reaction times of the experiments. The reaction time for each experimental sentence in the low-level group was much longer than that in the high-level group. In addition, the low-level group exhibited cognitive information processing characteristics that were affected by canonical word order, which is “NVN”, and exhibited the “garden path effect” when processing relative clauses. However, the high-level group showed a pattern of processing sentences relying on the “filler-gap dependencies”clue. Therefore it was found that as the learner’s second language level improved, the dependence on syntactic information increased when gradually acquiring procedural knowledge and understanding sentences. In addition, through the analysis of related data, it was found that the low-level group was less affected by the syntactic positional factors of the head noun, and there was no preference between the Chinese subjective relative clause and the objective relative clause. However, the high-level group showed the processing advantage of SRC (subjective relative clause) located in the subject position of the main clause. The results support the “frequency hypothesis”, “word order typicality hypothesis”, “structural distance hypothesis”, and the “integrated competition model,” consistent with the existing second language acquistion theories.

The influence of cognitive control on the processing of L2 garden path sentence among Chinese-English bilinguals.

Few studies have examined the role of cognitive control in processing ambiguity, let alone the roles of different components of cognitive control. In the current study, the English (L2) Sentence Processing Task and a series of cognitive control tasks were administered among 111 young adult Chinese–English bilinguals to investigate the influence of different components of cognitive control on garden path sentence comprehension, with other factors such as age, socio-economic status, and language proficiency strictly matched. Data analysis results showed a significant garden path effect on response times (RTs) and accuracy among all the participants. The results of independent t-test analyses revealed that the high working memory (WM) group was faster in ambiguity resolution, and so was the high monitoring group. However, there were no differences between the high and low inhibition and shifting groups in ambiguity resolution. These findings reveal that only certain aspects of cognitive control influence garden path sentence comprehension.

The role of prosodic focus in the reanalysis of garden path sentences: Depth of semantic processing impedes the revision of an erroneous local analysis

Research on post-repair representations of garden path sentences has found that readers systematically arrive at misinterpretations even after displaying evidence of reanalysis (Christianson et al., 2001; Ferreira et al., 2001). These comprehension errors have been attributed to the semantic interpretation associated with the incorrect parse persisting past disambiguation, but less is known about the mechanism driving this phenomenon (Sturt, 2007; Slattery et al., 2013). A speeded auditory comprehension experiment examined the depth of semantic processing as an independent influence on the strength of semantic persistence, drawing on known effects of pitch accent on the processing of focus-related semantic meaning (Fraundorf et al., 2010). Participants heard garden path sentences with early/late-closure ambiguity (e.g., While Anna dressed the baby stopped crying) with a sharply rising pitch accent on either the unambiguous adjunct subject or the ambiguously transitive adjunct verb, followed by a comprehension question that probed whether the incorrect late-closure analysis persisted. Since the pitch accent is often a strong cue for semantic focus when it occurs in prosodically marked phrase-medial positions, we reasoned that a deeper semantic processing would be facilitated for the late-closure analysis only when the verb receives a pitch accent. Findings indicate that a pitch accent on the verb significantly decreased accuracy without a corresponding increase on response time, suggesting that a deeper semantic processing of the erroneous parse can strengthen its resistance to revision without necessarily interfering with the process of structure-building.

Prediction of successful reanalysis based on eye-blink rate and reading times in sentences with local ambiguity

AbstractThe present study focuses on individual differences in the ability to recover from an initial misinterpretation during the processing of garden path (GP) sentences with local syntactic ambiguity. The performance of reanalysis in GP sentences is a cognitive task that requires efficient use of executive functions and allocation of working memory resources. In this study, we explored the possible role of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which has long been implicated in cognitive control processes, in the successful performance of reanalysis. We examined whether participants’ ability to successfully reanalyze a sentence with local ambiguity can be predicted based on (1) their tonic dopamine levels, as reflected by their resting state spontaneous eye-blink rate, measured prior to the experiment; and (2) their reading time patterns in the critical region of the sentence. We ran a self-paced reading experiment in Hebrew, assessing reanalysis performance via a paraphrasing task. We observed a linear and polynomial effect of eye-blink rate on reanalysis performance, with medium rates, corresponding to medium dopamine levels, associated with best performance. We also observed an effect of reading times, with longer reading times in the critical region predicting better reanalysis performance.

Estimating the True Cost of Garden Pathing: A Computational Model of Latent Cognitive Processes.

What is the processing cost of being garden-pathed by a temporary syntactic ambiguity? We argue that comparing average reading times in garden-path versus non-garden-path sentences is not enough to answer this question. Trial-level contaminants such as inattention, the fact that garden pathing may occur non-deterministically in the ambiguous condition, and "triage" (rejecting the sentence without reanalysis; Fodor & Inoue, 2000) lead to systematic underestimates of the true cost of garden pathing. Furthermore, the "pure" garden-path effect due to encountering an unexpected word needs to be separated from the additional cost of syntactic reanalysis. To get more realistic estimates for the individual processing costs of garden pathing and syntactic reanalysis, we implement a novel computational model that includes trial-level contaminants as probabilistically occurring latent cognitive processes. The model shows a good predictive fit to existing reading time and judgment data. Furthermore, the latent-process approach captures differences between noun phrase/zero complement (NP/Z) garden-path sentences and semantically biased reduced relative clause (RRC) garden-path sentences: The NP/Z garden path occurs nearly deterministically but can be mostly eliminated by adding a comma. By contrast, the RRC garden path occurs with a lower probability, but disambiguation via semantic plausibility is not alwayseffective.

정원길(garden path) 문장 처리에 관한 GPT-2 신경망 언어 모델과 인간의 비교 연구

This study is to compare the GPT-2-based neural-network language model (NLM) and humans in processing sentences with three different types of garden-path structure: NP/S(noun phrase/sentential complement); NP/Z(noun phrase/zero complement); MV/RR(main verb/reduced relative clause). It is to see whether the surprisal values calculated from the GPT-2 NLM display a similar pattern as human reading times in processing the three types of garden-path construction at issue; the surprisal of a sentence-internal word input, measured as the negative log-likelihood of the current observation according to the autoregressive language model, is used as a measure of input difficulty. It is found in this study that like humans, the GPT-2 NLM effectively distinguishes ambiguous from unambiguous sentences in each of them. However, the GPT-2 NLM deviates drastically from humans in recognizing garden-path effects, namely, the magnitude of cognitive load induced by processing a particular type of garden-path structure. Pending further articulations on the parallelism between reading time and surprisal, the GPT-2 NLM as a language learner is yet to attain a human-like ability to discern different types of garden-path structure in a fine-grained way.