J. Schweppe & R. Rummer
Saarland University
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Recently, language-related models have offered a new notion of verbal short-term memory (e.g.,
Martin, Lesch, & Bartha, 1999). Crucial for these accounts is the idea that what is stored
in verbal short-term memory are representations generated during language processing. Several
products of word and sentence processing have been demonstrated to contribute to recall.
Sentence recall, for instance, can be influenced by propositional-conceptual, lexico-semantic,
phonological and acoustic-sensory representations. In our study, we investigate whether such a
contribution to short-term recall can also be observed for morpho-syntactic information, more
precisely for grammatical gender information in German sentences. In German, there is no clear
correspondence between the conceptual and the grammatical gender of a noun. Thus, grammatical
gender provides a good means for a distinction between an influence of lexico-semantic and of
morpho-syntactic features. We used a modified version of Potter and Lombardi's (1990)
intrusion paradigm. In this paradigm, short-term recall of a sentence interferes with retention
of a distractor word list. In the experimental condition, this list contains a semantically
related lexical competitor ('lure word') to a target word in the sentence. This allows
for a comparison of induced and spontaneous recall intrusions (in the control condition with
only unrelated words on the distractor list). As an additional factor, we varied the gender
relation between lure and target word. The resulting gender-congruent and gender-incongruent
lure words matched with respect to cloze probability, semantic similarity to the target,
frequency and word length. Assuming an influence of grammatical gender information on verbatim
recall, we hypothesized fewer induced intrusions of gender-incongruent than of gender-congruent
lure words. This hypothesized gender congruency effect for sentence recall could in fact be
observed. Moreover, this effect did not vary systematically with the modality of presentation
(auditory presentation vs. rapid serial visual presentation) or with the serial order of
sentence presentation, distractor list presentation, and sentence recall. As the availability
of phonological information differs between these conditions, this suggests that the gender
congruency effect does not (solely) depend on a phonological representation of the target
determiner.The results support the assumption that grammatical gender information can be
relevant for recall of syntactically structured verbal materials.
References
Potter, M., & Lombardi, L. (1990). Regeneration in the short-term recall of sentences.
Journal of Memory and Language, 29, 633-654.
Martin, R. C., Lesch, M. F., & Bartha, M. (1999). Independence of input and output
phonology in word processing and short-term memory. Journal of Memory and Language, 41,
2-39.