ERIC Number: EJ872901
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Mar
Pages: 8
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0010-0277
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Available Date: N/A
Response Time Distributional Evidence for Distinct Varieties of Number Attraction
Staub, Adrian
Cognition, v114 n3 p447-454 Mar 2010
Speakers are known to make subject-verb agreement errors both when a number-mismatching noun intervenes between the head of the subject phrase and the verb (e.g., "*The key to the cabinets are on the table") and in configurations in which there is a number-mismatching noun that does not intervene (e.g., "*The cabinets that the key open are on the second floor"). Using a two-choice response time (RT) paradigm, Staub (2009) found that correct agreement decisions were also slowed in both cases. The present article reports a new experiment designed to explore whether these two RT effects are qualitatively similar or different. Fitting of the ex-Gaussian distribution (Ratcliff, 1979) to individual subjects' RT data, in each condition, demonstrated that the effect of an intervening number attractor on correct RT is due to both a shifting of the distribution to the right and to increased skewing, while the effect of a non-intervening attractor is almost entirely a skewing effect. A non-parametric vincentizing procedure supported these conclusions. These findings are taken to support the view that these two types of number attraction involve distinct processing mechanisms. (Contains 3 figures and 3 tables.)
Descriptors: Reaction Time, Verbs, Nouns, Grammar, Cognitive Processes, Numbers, Error Patterns, Effect Size, Sentences, Cognitive Psychology
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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