Michael K Tanenhaus
Biographic Data
| ID | 749917 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michael K Tanenhaus |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michael K |
| FAMILY NAME | Tanenhaus |
| SIGNATURE | TANENHAUS M K |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Rochester |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 34 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 146 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 34 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1981 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Maintenance of subcategorical information during speech perception: Revisiting misunderstood limitations
Event-related brain potentials in lexical processing with Chinese characters show effects of contextual diversity but not word frequency
Constraint-Based Pragmatic Processing
Processing language requires integrating information from multiple sources, including context, world knowledge, and the linguistic signal itself. How is this information integrated? A range of positions on the issue is possible, spanned by two extreme positions: extreme informational privilege—certain types of information are processed earlier in online processing and weighted most heavily in the resulting utterance interpretation; and extreme pa…
Processing Scalar Implicature: A Constraint‐Based Approach
Three experiments investigated the processing of the implicature associated with some using a “gumball paradigm.” On each trial, participants saw an image of a gumball machine with an upper chamber with 13 gumballs and an empty lower chamber. Gumballs then dropped to the lower chamber and participants evaluated statements, such as “You got some of the gumballs.” Experiment 1 established that some is less natural for reference to small sets (1, 2,…
Asking or Telling – Real-time Processing of Prosodically Distinguished Questions and Statements
We introduce a targeted language game approach using the visual world, eye-movement paradigm to assess when and how certain intonational contours affect the interpretation of utterances. We created a computer-based card game in which elliptical utterances such as "Got a candy" occurred with a nuclear contour most consistent with a yes-no question (H* H-H%) or a statement (L* L-L%). In Experiment I we explored how such contours are integrated onli…
Inferring Difficulty: Flexibility in the Real-time Processing of Disfluency
Upon hearing a disfluent referring expression, listeners expect the speaker to refer to an object that is previously unmentioned, an object that does not have a straightforward label, or an object that requires a longer description. Two visual-world eye-tracking experiments examined whether listeners directly associate disfluency with these properties of objects, or whether disfluency attribution is more flexible and involves situation-specific i…
Syntactic Priming without Lexical Overlap in Reading Comprehension
Syntactic priming without lexical overlap is well-documented in language production. In contrast, reading-time comprehension studies, which typically use locally ambiguous sentences, generally find syntactic priming only with lexical overlap. This asymmetry has led some researchers to propose that distinct mechanisms underlie the comprehension and production of syntactic structure. Instead, we propose that methodological differences in how primin…
Definidos Fracos, Uma Forma De Definitude: Investigações Experimentais
Os sintagmas definidos denotam tipicamente entidades que são identificáveis univocamente no fundo conversacional compartilhado pelo falante e pelo ouvinte. No entanto, alguns sintagmas nominais definidos (e.g. ‘o hospital’ em ‘Maria teve que ir pro hospital e João também’) parecem violar a unicidade. Discutimos uma série de experimentos que procuram entender algumas das propriedades dessa classe de definidos. Consideramos, com mais cuidado, a hip…
Fruit Carts: A Domain and Corpus for Research in Dialogue Systems and Psycholinguistics
We describe a novel domain, Fruit Carts, aimed at eliciting human language production for the twin purposes of (a) dialogue system research and development and (b) psycholinguistic research. Fruit Carts contains five tasks: choosing a cart, placing it on a map, painting the cart, rotating the cart, and filling the cart with fruit. Fruit Carts has been used for research in psycholinguistics and in dialogue systems. Based on these experiences, we d…
“Some,” and possibly all, scalar inferences are not delayed: Evidence for immediate pragmatic enrichment
The Weckud Wetch of the Wast: Lexical Adaptation to a Novel Accent
Two experiments investigated the mechanism by which listeners adjust their interpretation of accented speech that is similar to a regional dialect of American English. Only a subset of the vowels of English (the front vowels) were shifted during adaptation, which consisted of listening to a 20‐min segment of the “Wizard of Oz.” Compared to a baseline (unadapted) condition, listeners showed significant adaptation to the accented speech, as indexed…
Acquiring and processing verb argument structure: Distributional learning in a miniature language
Perception of speech reflects optimal use of probabilistic speech cues
What influences the referential properties of reflexives and pronouns in Finnish
According to standard Binding Theory, pronouns and reflexives are in (nearly) complementary distribution. However, representational NPs (e.g. 'picture of her/herself') allow both. It has been suggested that in English, reflexives in representational NPs (RNPs) have a preference for 'sources of information' and that pronouns prefer 'perceivers of information.' We conducted two experiments investigating the effects of structural and non-structural …
The effects of common ground and perspective on domains of referential interpretation
Probabilistic Constraint Satisfaction at the Lexical/Phonetic Interface: Evidence for Gradient Effects of Within-Category VOT on Lexical Access
Disfluencies Signal Theee, Um, New Information
Gradient effects of within-category phonetic variation on lexical access
Accent and reference resolution in spoken-language comprehension
Eye Movements and Lexical Access in Spoken-Language Comprehension: Evaluating a Linking Hypothesis between Fixations and Linguistic Processing
Tracking the Time Course of Spoken Word Recognition Using Eye Movements: Evidence for Continuous Mapping Models
Modeling the Influence of Thematic Fit (and Other Constraints) in On-line Sentence Comprehension
Integration of Visual and Linguistic Information in Spoken Language Comprehension
Psycholinguists have commonly assumed that as a spoken linguistic message unfolds over time, it is initially structured by a syntactic processing module that is encapsulated from information provided by other perceptual and cognitive systems. To test the effects of relevant visual context on the rapid mental processes that accompany spoken language comprehension, eye movements were recorded with a head-mounted eye-tracking system while subjects f…
Eye movements as a window into real-time spoken language comprehension in natural contexts
Semantic Influences On Parsing: Use of Thematic Role Information in Syntactic Ambiguity Resolution
Ferreira and Clifton (1986, Experiment 1) found that readers experienced equal difficulty with temporarily ambiguous reduced relatives clauses when the first noun was animate (e.g., "The defendant examined by the lawyer was . . .") and when it was inanimate and thus an unlikely Agent (e.g., "The evidence examined . . ."). This data pattern suggested that a verb′s semantic constraints do not affect initial syntactic ambiguity resolution. We repeat…
Accent and reference resolution in spoken-language comprehension
Evoked potentials and the study of sentence comprehension
Eye movements as a window into real-time spoken language comprehension in natural contexts
Disfluencies Signal Theee, Um, New Information
Eye Movements and Lexical Access in Spoken-Language Comprehension: Evaluating a Linking Hypothesis between Fixations and Linguistic Processing
Lexical structure in parsing long-distance dependencies
A constraint-based lexicalist account of the subject/object attachment preference
Filling Gaps On-Line: Use of Lexical and Semantic Information in Sentence Processing
Two experiments investigated how people assign an interpretation to question phrases. In order to determine the meaning of the WH-phrase (e.g., who, what), a “gap” must be located and the role associated with the gap assigned to the WH-phrase. Two experiments tested the Lexical Expectation model of Fodor (1978), according to which lexical properties of the verb determine when a gap is posited, and the All Resorts model of Stowe (1984), according …
Probabilistic Constraint Satisfaction at the Lexical/Phonetic Interface: Evidence for Gradient Effects of Within-Category VOT on Lexical Access
Asking or Telling – Real-time Processing of Prosodically Distinguished Questions and Statements
We introduce a targeted language game approach using the visual world, eye-movement paradigm to assess when and how certain intonational contours affect the interpretation of utterances. We created a computer-based card game in which elliptical utterances such as "Got a candy" occurred with a nuclear contour most consistent with a yes-no question (H* H-H%) or a statement (L* L-L%). In Experiment I we explored how such contours are integrated onli…
Lexical projection and the interaction of syntax and semantics in parsing
Syntactic Priming without Lexical Overlap in Reading Comprehension
Syntactic priming without lexical overlap is well-documented in language production. In contrast, reading-time comprehension studies, which typically use locally ambiguous sentences, generally find syntactic priming only with lexical overlap. This asymmetry has led some researchers to propose that distinct mechanisms underlie the comprehension and production of syntactic structure. Instead, we propose that methodological differences in how primin…
Discourse context and sentence perception∗
Three experiments investigated the influence of a context sentence on the processing of a subsequent sentence. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that clauses with pronoun subjects functioned as processing units only when preceded by a context sentence that established a referent for the pronoun. Experiment 3 suggested that listeners make inferences which link definite noun phrases to a preceding context as soon as the definite noun phrase is encou…
Discourse context and sentence perception∗
Three experiments investigated the influence of a context sentence on the processing of a subsequent sentence. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that clauses with pronoun subjects functioned as processing units only when preceded by a context sentence that established a referent for the pronoun. Experiment 3 suggested that listeners make inferences which link definite noun phrases to a preceding context as soon as the definite noun phrase is encou…
Subvocal motor activity and contextual processing
Phonological code activation during listening
Lexical projection and the interaction of syntax and semantics in parsing
Lexical structure in parsing long-distance dependencies
Evoked potentials and the study of sentence comprehension
Linguistic Structure in Language Processing
Filling Gaps On-Line: Use of Lexical and Semantic Information in Sentence Processing
Two experiments investigated how people assign an interpretation to question phrases. In order to determine the meaning of the WH-phrase (e.g., who, what), a “gap” must be located and the role associated with the gap assigned to the WH-phrase. Two experiments tested the Lexical Expectation model of Fodor (1978), according to which lexical properties of the verb determine when a gap is posited, and the All Resorts model of Stowe (1984), according …
Semantic Influences On Parsing: Use of Thematic Role Information in Syntactic Ambiguity Resolution
Ferreira and Clifton (1986, Experiment 1) found that readers experienced equal difficulty with temporarily ambiguous reduced relatives clauses when the first noun was animate (e.g., "The defendant examined by the lawyer was . . .") and when it was inanimate and thus an unlikely Agent (e.g., "The evidence examined . . ."). This data pattern suggested that a verb′s semantic constraints do not affect initial syntactic ambiguity resolution. We repeat…
A constraint-based lexicalist account of the subject/object attachment preference
Integration of Visual and Linguistic Information in Spoken Language Comprehension
Psycholinguists have commonly assumed that as a spoken linguistic message unfolds over time, it is initially structured by a syntactic processing module that is encapsulated from information provided by other perceptual and cognitive systems. To test the effects of relevant visual context on the rapid mental processes that accompany spoken language comprehension, eye movements were recorded with a head-mounted eye-tracking system while subjects f…
Eye movements as a window into real-time spoken language comprehension in natural contexts
Tracking the Time Course of Spoken Word Recognition Using Eye Movements: Evidence for Continuous Mapping Models
Modeling the Influence of Thematic Fit (and Other Constraints) in On-line Sentence Comprehension
Eye Movements and Lexical Access in Spoken-Language Comprehension: Evaluating a Linking Hypothesis between Fixations and Linguistic Processing
Gradient effects of within-category phonetic variation on lexical access
Accent and reference resolution in spoken-language comprehension
The effects of common ground and perspective on domains of referential interpretation
Probabilistic Constraint Satisfaction at the Lexical/Phonetic Interface: Evidence for Gradient Effects of Within-Category VOT on Lexical Access
Disfluencies Signal Theee, Um, New Information
What influences the referential properties of reflexives and pronouns in Finnish
According to standard Binding Theory, pronouns and reflexives are in (nearly) complementary distribution. However, representational NPs (e.g. 'picture of her/herself') allow both. It has been suggested that in English, reflexives in representational NPs (RNPs) have a preference for 'sources of information' and that pronouns prefer 'perceivers of information.' We conducted two experiments investigating the effects of structural and non-structural …
The Weckud Wetch of the Wast: Lexical Adaptation to a Novel Accent
Two experiments investigated the mechanism by which listeners adjust their interpretation of accented speech that is similar to a regional dialect of American English. Only a subset of the vowels of English (the front vowels) were shifted during adaptation, which consisted of listening to a 20‐min segment of the “Wizard of Oz.” Compared to a baseline (unadapted) condition, listeners showed significant adaptation to the accented speech, as indexed…
Acquiring and processing verb argument structure: Distributional learning in a miniature language
Perception of speech reflects optimal use of probabilistic speech cues
“Some,” and possibly all, scalar inferences are not delayed: Evidence for immediate pragmatic enrichment
Psychology (30 works) · Computer Science (28 works) · Linguistics (28 works) · Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism (26 works) · Natural language processing (22 works) · Artificial Intelligence (19 works) · Cognitive psychology (19 works) · Cognition (16 works) · Mathematics (13 works) · Reading and Literacy Development (13 works)