Bronwyn Dillon
Biographic Data
| ID | 225317 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Bronwyn Dillon |
| GIVEN NAMES | Bronwyn |
| FAMILY NAME | Dillon |
| SIGNATURE | DILLON B |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Massachusetts Amherst |
| ORCID | 0009-0001-3574-3889 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 10 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Predictability of the Retrieval Site Does Not Modulate Interference: Evidence From Reflexive Attraction
Syntactic dependency formation in comprehension is subject to retrieval interference that occurs when comprehenders need to activate stored information in memory to form and interpret a linguistic dependency. For example, retrieving a subject phrase to attach it to the verb might result in agreement attraction errors. It remains unclear whether this interference arises as part of routine dependency formation or as part of a repair mechanism that …
Romanian (subject-like) DPs attract more than bare nouns: Evidence from speeded continuations
Crosslinguistic evidence against interference from extra-sentential distractors
Cue-based retrieval theories of sentence processing posit that long-distance dependency formation is guided by a cue-based retrieval mechanism: dependents are retrieved via retrieval cues associated with a verb. When retrieval cues match multiple similar items in memory, this leads to cue-based retrieval interference. A landmark study by Van Dyke and McElree tested interference from sentence-external items: retrieval cues were manipulated to (mis…
Large-scale benchmark yields no evidence that language model surprisal explains syntactic disambiguation difficulty
Grammatical Perspective-Taking in Comprehension and Production
Language use in conversation requires conversation partners to consider each other’s points-of-view, or perspectives. A large body of work has explored how conversation partners take into account differences in knowledge states when choosing referring expressions. This paper explores how well findings from perspective-taking in reference generalize to a relatively understudied domain of perspective: the processing of grammatical perspectival expr…
Quantification at a distance and grammatical illusions in French
Recent research in psycholinguistics supports the hypothesis that retrieval from working memory is a key component of establishing syntactic dependencies in comprehension. This can result in so-called grammatical illusions. These illusions have been modeled as the result of a content-addressable retrieval process in sentence comprehension that allows grammatically inaccessible licensing elements to be reactivated, creating a spurious perception o…
Individual Differences in Cue Weighting in Sentence Comprehension: An Evaluation Using Approximate Bayesian Computation
Cue-based retrieval theories of sentence processing assume that syntactic dependencies are resolved through a content-addressable search process. An important recent claim is that in certain dependency types, the retrieval cues are weighted such that one cue dominates. This cue-weighting proposal aims to explain the observed average behavior, but here we show that there is systematic individual-level variation in cue weighting. Using the Lewis an…
Processing agreement in Hindi: When agreement feeds attraction
Person-based prominence guides incremental interpretation: Evidence from obviation in Ojibwe
Principle B constrains the processing of cataphora: Evidence for syntactic and discourse predictions
We tested whether comprehenders can use Binding Principle B (Chomsky, 1981) to guide antecedent search during the processing of cataphoric pronouns. We ran two self-paced reading experiments using the gender mismatch paradigm (van Gompel & Liversedge, 2003) as an index of active prediction of coreference between a cataphor and a main clause subject. In both experiments, we find gender mismatch effects at the main clause subject when coreference w…
Processing ambiguities in attachment and pronominal reference
The nature of ambiguity resolution has important implications for models of sentence processing in general. Studies of structural ambiguities, such as modifier attachment ambiguities, have generally supported a model in which a single analysis of ambiguous material is adopted without a cost to processing. Concurrently, a separate literature has observed a processing penalty for ambiguities in pronominal reference, suggesting that potential refere…
Together They Stand: Interpreting Not-At-Issue Content
Potts unified the account of appositives, parentheticals, expressives, and honorifics as 'Not- At-Issue’ (NAI) content, treating them as a natural class semantically in behaving like root (unembedded) structures, typically expressing speaker commitments, and being interpreted independently of At-Issue content. We propose that NAI content expresses a complete speech act distinct from the speech act of the containing utterance. The speech act hypot…
Which noun phrases is the verb supposed to agree with: Object agreement in American English
We investigate a noncanonical agreement pattern in American English in which a fronted WH-phrase appears to control agreement on an inflected auxiliary, as in Which flowers are the gardener planting? (Kimball & Aissen 1971). We explore this phenomenon with five acceptability- judgment experiments and interpret the resulting data with the aid of a quantitative model of the judgment process. Our study suggests that fronted WH-phrases interfere with…
Processing covert dependencies: An SAT study on Mandarin wh-in-situ questions
Syntactic Memory in the Comprehension of Reflexive Dependencies: An Overview
The distribution of reflexive anaphors has long been of central importance in the development of syntactic theory. In a parallel fashion, research on the comprehension of reflexive anaphors is increasingly influential for theories of syntactic comprehension. In this article, I present the problem of selecting a reflexive's antecedent as a memory retrieval problem and illustrate why the comprehension of reflexives is of special interest for theori…
Contrasting intrusion profiles for agreement and anaphora: Experimental and modeling evidence
Retaining Indigenous Students in Tertiary Education: Lessons from the Griffith School of Environment
Low retention of Indigenous peoples in all Australian universities has been identified as a problematic issue by the Australian Federal government. Griffith University (GU), Queensland, Australia, provided funding to examine the factors affecting Indigenous retention in higher education, with the aim of developing innovative participation and retention strategies specifically for Indigenous students. This paper focuses on research conducted withi…
Introduction: In the Interim
Retaining Indigenous Students in Tertiary Education: Lessons from the Griffith School of Environment
Low retention of Indigenous peoples in all Australian universities has been identified as a problematic issue by the Australian Federal government. Griffith University (GU), Queensland, Australia, provided funding to examine the factors affecting Indigenous retention in higher education, with the aim of developing innovative participation and retention strategies specifically for Indigenous students. This paper focuses on research conducted withi…
Which noun phrases is the verb supposed to agree with: Object agreement in American English
We investigate a noncanonical agreement pattern in American English in which a fronted WH-phrase appears to control agreement on an inflected auxiliary, as in Which flowers are the gardener planting? (Kimball & Aissen 1971). We explore this phenomenon with five acceptability- judgment experiments and interpret the resulting data with the aid of a quantitative model of the judgment process. Our study suggests that fronted WH-phrases interfere with…
Together They Stand: Interpreting Not-At-Issue Content
Potts unified the account of appositives, parentheticals, expressives, and honorifics as 'Not- At-Issue’ (NAI) content, treating them as a natural class semantically in behaving like root (unembedded) structures, typically expressing speaker commitments, and being interpreted independently of At-Issue content. We propose that NAI content expresses a complete speech act distinct from the speech act of the containing utterance. The speech act hypot…
Syntactic Memory in the Comprehension of Reflexive Dependencies: An Overview
The distribution of reflexive anaphors has long been of central importance in the development of syntactic theory. In a parallel fashion, research on the comprehension of reflexive anaphors is increasingly influential for theories of syntactic comprehension. In this article, I present the problem of selecting a reflexive's antecedent as a memory retrieval problem and illustrate why the comprehension of reflexives is of special interest for theori…
Introduction: In the Interim
Introduction: In the Interim
Retaining Indigenous Students in Tertiary Education: Lessons from the Griffith School of Environment
Low retention of Indigenous peoples in all Australian universities has been identified as a problematic issue by the Australian Federal government. Griffith University (GU), Queensland, Australia, provided funding to examine the factors affecting Indigenous retention in higher education, with the aim of developing innovative participation and retention strategies specifically for Indigenous students. This paper focuses on research conducted withi…
Contrasting intrusion profiles for agreement and anaphora: Experimental and modeling evidence
Processing covert dependencies: An SAT study on Mandarin wh-in-situ questions
Syntactic Memory in the Comprehension of Reflexive Dependencies: An Overview
The distribution of reflexive anaphors has long been of central importance in the development of syntactic theory. In a parallel fashion, research on the comprehension of reflexive anaphors is increasingly influential for theories of syntactic comprehension. In this article, I present the problem of selecting a reflexive's antecedent as a memory retrieval problem and illustrate why the comprehension of reflexives is of special interest for theori…
Which noun phrases is the verb supposed to agree with: Object agreement in American English
We investigate a noncanonical agreement pattern in American English in which a fronted WH-phrase appears to control agreement on an inflected auxiliary, as in Which flowers are the gardener planting? (Kimball & Aissen 1971). We explore this phenomenon with five acceptability- judgment experiments and interpret the resulting data with the aid of a quantitative model of the judgment process. Our study suggests that fronted WH-phrases interfere with…
Together They Stand: Interpreting Not-At-Issue Content
Potts unified the account of appositives, parentheticals, expressives, and honorifics as 'Not- At-Issue’ (NAI) content, treating them as a natural class semantically in behaving like root (unembedded) structures, typically expressing speaker commitments, and being interpreted independently of At-Issue content. We propose that NAI content expresses a complete speech act distinct from the speech act of the containing utterance. The speech act hypot…
Processing ambiguities in attachment and pronominal reference
The nature of ambiguity resolution has important implications for models of sentence processing in general. Studies of structural ambiguities, such as modifier attachment ambiguities, have generally supported a model in which a single analysis of ambiguous material is adopted without a cost to processing. Concurrently, a separate literature has observed a processing penalty for ambiguities in pronominal reference, suggesting that potential refere…
Principle B constrains the processing of cataphora: Evidence for syntactic and discourse predictions
We tested whether comprehenders can use Binding Principle B (Chomsky, 1981) to guide antecedent search during the processing of cataphoric pronouns. We ran two self-paced reading experiments using the gender mismatch paradigm (van Gompel & Liversedge, 2003) as an index of active prediction of coreference between a cataphor and a main clause subject. In both experiments, we find gender mismatch effects at the main clause subject when coreference w…
Individual Differences in Cue Weighting in Sentence Comprehension: An Evaluation Using Approximate Bayesian Computation
Cue-based retrieval theories of sentence processing assume that syntactic dependencies are resolved through a content-addressable search process. An important recent claim is that in certain dependency types, the retrieval cues are weighted such that one cue dominates. This cue-weighting proposal aims to explain the observed average behavior, but here we show that there is systematic individual-level variation in cue weighting. Using the Lewis an…
Processing agreement in Hindi: When agreement feeds attraction
Person-based prominence guides incremental interpretation: Evidence from obviation in Ojibwe
Grammatical Perspective-Taking in Comprehension and Production
Language use in conversation requires conversation partners to consider each other’s points-of-view, or perspectives. A large body of work has explored how conversation partners take into account differences in knowledge states when choosing referring expressions. This paper explores how well findings from perspective-taking in reference generalize to a relatively understudied domain of perspective: the processing of grammatical perspectival expr…
Quantification at a distance and grammatical illusions in French
Recent research in psycholinguistics supports the hypothesis that retrieval from working memory is a key component of establishing syntactic dependencies in comprehension. This can result in so-called grammatical illusions. These illusions have been modeled as the result of a content-addressable retrieval process in sentence comprehension that allows grammatically inaccessible licensing elements to be reactivated, creating a spurious perception o…
Romanian (subject-like) DPs attract more than bare nouns: Evidence from speeded continuations
Crosslinguistic evidence against interference from extra-sentential distractors
Cue-based retrieval theories of sentence processing posit that long-distance dependency formation is guided by a cue-based retrieval mechanism: dependents are retrieved via retrieval cues associated with a verb. When retrieval cues match multiple similar items in memory, this leads to cue-based retrieval interference. A landmark study by Van Dyke and McElree tested interference from sentence-external items: retrieval cues were manipulated to (mis…
Large-scale benchmark yields no evidence that language model surprisal explains syntactic disambiguation difficulty
Predictability of the Retrieval Site Does Not Modulate Interference: Evidence From Reflexive Attraction
Syntactic dependency formation in comprehension is subject to retrieval interference that occurs when comprehenders need to activate stored information in memory to form and interpret a linguistic dependency. For example, retrieving a subject phrase to attach it to the verb might result in agreement attraction errors. It remains unclear whether this interference arises as part of routine dependency formation or as part of a repair mechanism that …
Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism (15 works) · Psychology (15 works) · Linguistics (14 works) · Computer Science (13 works) · Artificial Intelligence (10 works) · Natural language processing (10 works) · Comprehension (8 works) · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (7 works) · Cognitive psychology (6 works) · Reading and Literacy Development (6 works)