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Individual differences in the scope of speech planning: evidence from eye-movements*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2014

BENJAMIN SWETS ,
MATTHEW E. JACOVINA  and
RICHARD J. GERRIG
BENJAMIN SWETS*
Affiliation:
Grand Valley State University
MATTHEW E. JACOVINA
Affiliation:
Stony Brook University
RICHARD J. GERRIG
Affiliation:
Stony Brook University
*
†Address for correspondence: Benjamin Swets, Psychology Department, 2224 Au Sable Hall, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI, 49401. tel: 616-331-2169; e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated that the scope of speakers’ planning in language production varies in response to external forces such as time pressure. This susceptibility to external pressures indicates a flexibly incremental production system: speakers plan utterances piece by piece, but external pressures affect the size of the pieces speakers buffer. In the current study, we explore internal constraints on speech planning. Specifically, we examine whether individual differences in working memory predict the scope and efficiency of advance planning. In our task, speakers described picture arrays to partners in a matching game. The arrays sometimes required speakers to note a contrast between a sentence-initial object (e.g., a four-legged cat) and a sentence-final object (e.g., a three-legged cat). Based on prior screening, we selected participants who differed on verbal working memory span. Eye-movement measures revealed that high-span speakers were more likely to gaze at the contrasting pictures prior to articulation than were low-span speakers. As a result, high-span speakers were also more likely to reference the contrast early in speech. We conclude that working memory plays a substantial role in the flexibility of incremental speech planning.

Keywords

planninglanguage productionindividual differencesworking memoryeye-movements
Type
Research Article
Information
Language and Cognition , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , March 2014 , pp. 12 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © UK Cognitive Linguistics Association 2014 

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Footnotes

*

We thank Bill Wenzel for his significant contributions to the collection and analysis of data. We also thank two anonymous reviewers. Matthew E. Jacovina is now a Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Education and Social Policy, and the Department of Psychology at Northwestern University.

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