Anthony J Sanford
Biographic Data
| ID | 5450066 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Anthony J Sanford |
| GIVEN NAMES | Anthony J |
| FAMILY NAME | Sanford |
| SIGNATURE | SANFORD A J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Glasgow |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3841-8608 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 85 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1982 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Reading in Healthy Aging
Previous research has shown that information referring to a named character or to information in the main clause of a sentence is more accessible and facilitates the processing of anaphoric references. We investigated whether the use of such cues are maintained in healthy aging. We present two experiments investigating whether information contained in the main clause of a sentence is more accessible compared with information contained in the subo…
A Unified Account of Quantifer Perspective Effects in Discourse
Positive and negative quantifiers induce two very different perspectives in comprehenders—perspectives that have strong applications to rhetoric and communication. These are briefly reviewed. A potential mechanism, based on earlier work, is introduced, resting on the idea that negatively quantified sentences (like Not all of the boys went to the party) may be given interpretations that both consist of an asserted amount, and a supposition of a gr…
Shallow Processing and Underspecification
Discourse comprehension theories frequently assume that discourse comprehension involves a complete analysis of lexical, syntactic, semantic, and discourse levels of processing. However, discourse psychologists have documented some conditions when a partial processing and underspecification of the resulting representations occurs. The articles in this special issue report empirical studies that identify some of these conditions. A satisfactory un…
Shallow Processing and Attention Capture in Written and Spoken Discourse
Processing of discourse seems to be far from uniform with much evidence indicating that it can be quite shallow. The question is then what modulates depth of processing? A range of discourse devices exist that we believe may lead to more detailed processing of language input (Attention Capturers), thus serving as modulators of processing enabling some parts of discourse to be processed more than others. We list some of these and describe two in d…
The linguistic description of minimal social scenarios affects the extent of causal inference making
Memory-Based Approaches and Beyond
In this article, we discuss 2 issues that we believe any theory of discourse comprehension has to take account of-accessing irrelevant information and granularity. Along the lines that have been suggested as demonstrating the memory-based account, we describe some work in favor of the recruitment of apparently irrelevant information from memory during reading. In all cases, this information interferes with comprehension. We argue that the nature …
Memory-Based Approaches and Beyond
Depth of processing in language comprehension
The role of scenario mapping in text comprehension
We argue that different theories of text comprehension give the use of world knowledge different degrees of importance. Although all acknowledge it as a major feature of comprehension, just when and how it is utilized appears to split theories into those that are based on propositions as building blocks and those that are not. We argue for an account that does not rely on the proposition as an early building block, the scenario‐mapping and focus …
Psychological Studies of Quantifiers
In this paper we present a summary review of recent psychological studies which make a contribution to an understanding of how quantifiers are used. Until relatively recently, the contribution which psychology has made has been somewhat restricted. For example, the approach which has enjoyed the greatest popularity in psychology is explaining quantifiers as expressions which have fuzzy or vague projections on to mental scales of amount. Following…
The control of attributional patterns by the focusing properties of quantifying expressions
Recent evidence has shown that certain quantifiers (few, only a few) and quantifying adverbs (seldom, rarely) when used tend to make people think of reasons for the small proportions or low frequencies which they denote. Other expressions single out small proportions or low frequences, but do not lead to a focus on reasons (e. g. a few; occasionally). In the present paper, these observations are applied to the attribution of cause in short two–li…
Description Types and Method of Conjoining as Factors Influencing Plural Anaphora
An experiment is reported which investigates the impact of two variables on the likelihood of obtaining plural pronoun anaphors in a continuation task. The first variable is syntactic: the use of and versus with as a means of relating two singular characters. Use of and enhances the likelihood of obtaining a plural anaphor in continuations, but the incidence of plural is never as high as 60%. The second variable is description type: whether the c…
Discourse Models as Interfaces Between Language and the Spatial World
This paper outlines an argument that the meaning of spatial terms depends critically upon our mental models of space. We argue that such models capture the functional geometry of spatial scenes to represent various control relations between the objects in the scene. The discussion centres around two analyses. First, an analysis of the spatial descriptions taken from task oriented dialogue, which seem to reflect a number of distinct mental models …
Proper Names as Controllers of Discourse Focus
An important aspect of the psychological focus of character-based discourse is the character that is the most prominent at any given point during reading, since prominent characters can control a number of processes leading to the cohesiveness of text. In this paper, three experiments are reported which investigate the proposition that the use of a proper name for a character (e.g., Louise) makes that character more prominent than does a role des…
Quantifiers and Focus
This paper concerns a neglected but potentially important aspect of natural language quantifiers. Certain quantifiers serve to identify various proportions of sets. Thus few, for example, identifies a smaller proportion of a set than many. However, different quantifiers may serve to identify similar proportions, yet produce somewhat different representations when they are used. The distinction between few and a few is considered in some detail, a…
Some Comments on ‘The Society of Mind’
Pronouns Without Explicit Antecedents?
Yule (1982) has argued that examples from speech show that pronouns may be interpreted nonreferentially. In the present paper, it is argued that pronouns elicit procedures for the identification of referents which are in explicit focus (Sanford and Garrod, 1981). Three experiments are offered in support of this view. The discussion centres on the need for carefully assessing the knowledge-states of listeners when pronouns are used in the absence …
Understanding Written Language
The Mental Representation of Discourse in a Focussed Memory System
To a cognitive psychologist discourse comprehension poses a number of interesting problems both in terms of mental representation and mental operations. In this paper we suggest that certain of these problems can be brought into clear focus by employing a procedural approach to discourse description. In line with this approach a general framework for the mental representation of discourse is discussed in which distinctions between different types…
The role of scenario mapping in text comprehension
We argue that different theories of text comprehension give the use of world knowledge different degrees of importance. Although all acknowledge it as a major feature of comprehension, just when and how it is utilized appears to split theories into those that are based on propositions as building blocks and those that are not. We argue for an account that does not rely on the proposition as an early building block, the scenario‐mapping and focus …
Shallow Processing and Attention Capture in Written and Spoken Discourse
Processing of discourse seems to be far from uniform with much evidence indicating that it can be quite shallow. The question is then what modulates depth of processing? A range of discourse devices exist that we believe may lead to more detailed processing of language input (Attention Capturers), thus serving as modulators of processing enabling some parts of discourse to be processed more than others. We list some of these and describe two in d…
Memory-Based Approaches and Beyond
In this article, we discuss 2 issues that we believe any theory of discourse comprehension has to take account of-accessing irrelevant information and granularity. Along the lines that have been suggested as demonstrating the memory-based account, we describe some work in favor of the recruitment of apparently irrelevant information from memory during reading. In all cases, this information interferes with comprehension. We argue that the nature …
Shallow Processing and Underspecification
Discourse comprehension theories frequently assume that discourse comprehension involves a complete analysis of lexical, syntactic, semantic, and discourse levels of processing. However, discourse psychologists have documented some conditions when a partial processing and underspecification of the resulting representations occurs. The articles in this special issue report empirical studies that identify some of these conditions. A satisfactory un…
Proper Names as Controllers of Discourse Focus
An important aspect of the psychological focus of character-based discourse is the character that is the most prominent at any given point during reading, since prominent characters can control a number of processes leading to the cohesiveness of text. In this paper, three experiments are reported which investigate the proposition that the use of a proper name for a character (e.g., Louise) makes that character more prominent than does a role des…
A Unified Account of Quantifer Perspective Effects in Discourse
Positive and negative quantifiers induce two very different perspectives in comprehenders—perspectives that have strong applications to rhetoric and communication. These are briefly reviewed. A potential mechanism, based on earlier work, is introduced, resting on the idea that negatively quantified sentences (like Not all of the boys went to the party) may be given interpretations that both consist of an asserted amount, and a supposition of a gr…
Memory-Based Approaches and Beyond
The linguistic description of minimal social scenarios affects the extent of causal inference making
The Mental Representation of Discourse in a Focussed Memory System
To a cognitive psychologist discourse comprehension poses a number of interesting problems both in terms of mental representation and mental operations. In this paper we suggest that certain of these problems can be brought into clear focus by employing a procedural approach to discourse description. In line with this approach a general framework for the mental representation of discourse is discussed in which distinctions between different types…
Pronouns Without Explicit Antecedents?
Yule (1982) has argued that examples from speech show that pronouns may be interpreted nonreferentially. In the present paper, it is argued that pronouns elicit procedures for the identification of referents which are in explicit focus (Sanford and Garrod, 1981). Three experiments are offered in support of this view. The discussion centres on the need for carefully assessing the knowledge-states of listeners when pronouns are used in the absence …
Understanding Written Language
Quantifiers and Focus
This paper concerns a neglected but potentially important aspect of natural language quantifiers. Certain quantifiers serve to identify various proportions of sets. Thus few, for example, identifies a smaller proportion of a set than many. However, different quantifiers may serve to identify similar proportions, yet produce somewhat different representations when they are used. The distinction between few and a few is considered in some detail, a…
Some Comments on ‘The Society of Mind’
Discourse Models as Interfaces Between Language and the Spatial World
This paper outlines an argument that the meaning of spatial terms depends critically upon our mental models of space. We argue that such models capture the functional geometry of spatial scenes to represent various control relations between the objects in the scene. The discussion centres around two analyses. First, an analysis of the spatial descriptions taken from task oriented dialogue, which seem to reflect a number of distinct mental models …
Proper Names as Controllers of Discourse Focus
An important aspect of the psychological focus of character-based discourse is the character that is the most prominent at any given point during reading, since prominent characters can control a number of processes leading to the cohesiveness of text. In this paper, three experiments are reported which investigate the proposition that the use of a proper name for a character (e.g., Louise) makes that character more prominent than does a role des…
The control of attributional patterns by the focusing properties of quantifying expressions
Recent evidence has shown that certain quantifiers (few, only a few) and quantifying adverbs (seldom, rarely) when used tend to make people think of reasons for the small proportions or low frequencies which they denote. Other expressions single out small proportions or low frequences, but do not lead to a focus on reasons (e. g. a few; occasionally). In the present paper, these observations are applied to the attribution of cause in short two–li…
Description Types and Method of Conjoining as Factors Influencing Plural Anaphora
An experiment is reported which investigates the impact of two variables on the likelihood of obtaining plural pronoun anaphors in a continuation task. The first variable is syntactic: the use of and versus with as a means of relating two singular characters. Use of and enhances the likelihood of obtaining a plural anaphor in continuations, but the incidence of plural is never as high as 60%. The second variable is description type: whether the c…
Psychological Studies of Quantifiers
In this paper we present a summary review of recent psychological studies which make a contribution to an understanding of how quantifiers are used. Until relatively recently, the contribution which psychology has made has been somewhat restricted. For example, the approach which has enjoyed the greatest popularity in psychology is explaining quantifiers as expressions which have fuzzy or vague projections on to mental scales of amount. Following…
The role of scenario mapping in text comprehension
We argue that different theories of text comprehension give the use of world knowledge different degrees of importance. Although all acknowledge it as a major feature of comprehension, just when and how it is utilized appears to split theories into those that are based on propositions as building blocks and those that are not. We argue for an account that does not rely on the proposition as an early building block, the scenario‐mapping and focus …
Depth of processing in language comprehension
Memory-Based Approaches and Beyond
In this article, we discuss 2 issues that we believe any theory of discourse comprehension has to take account of-accessing irrelevant information and granularity. Along the lines that have been suggested as demonstrating the memory-based account, we describe some work in favor of the recruitment of apparently irrelevant information from memory during reading. In all cases, this information interferes with comprehension. We argue that the nature …
Memory-Based Approaches and Beyond
Shallow Processing and Underspecification
Discourse comprehension theories frequently assume that discourse comprehension involves a complete analysis of lexical, syntactic, semantic, and discourse levels of processing. However, discourse psychologists have documented some conditions when a partial processing and underspecification of the resulting representations occurs. The articles in this special issue report empirical studies that identify some of these conditions. A satisfactory un…
Shallow Processing and Attention Capture in Written and Spoken Discourse
Processing of discourse seems to be far from uniform with much evidence indicating that it can be quite shallow. The question is then what modulates depth of processing? A range of discourse devices exist that we believe may lead to more detailed processing of language input (Attention Capturers), thus serving as modulators of processing enabling some parts of discourse to be processed more than others. We list some of these and describe two in d…
The linguistic description of minimal social scenarios affects the extent of causal inference making
A Unified Account of Quantifer Perspective Effects in Discourse
Positive and negative quantifiers induce two very different perspectives in comprehenders—perspectives that have strong applications to rhetoric and communication. These are briefly reviewed. A potential mechanism, based on earlier work, is introduced, resting on the idea that negatively quantified sentences (like Not all of the boys went to the party) may be given interpretations that both consist of an asserted amount, and a supposition of a gr…
Reading in Healthy Aging
Previous research has shown that information referring to a named character or to information in the main clause of a sentence is more accessible and facilitates the processing of anaphoric references. We investigated whether the use of such cues are maintained in healthy aging. We present two experiments investigating whether information contained in the main clause of a sentence is more accessible compared with information contained in the subo…
Computer Science (18 works) · Linguistics (16 works) · Psychology (14 works) · Cognitive psychology (10 works) · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition (10 works) · Philosophy (10 works) · Natural language processing (9 works) · Focus (optics) (7 works) · Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism (7 works) · Artificial Intelligence (6 works)