Readers make targeted regressions to plausible errors in reanalysis of "noisy-channel garden-path" sentences

TL;DR

This study investigates how readers perform targeted regressions to identify errors in complex sentences, supporting models of noisy-channel language comprehension through eye movement data.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence that readers make targeted regressions based on posterior inferences about errors, advancing understanding of noisy-channel reanalysis in reading.

Findings

Readers regress to plausible error locations based on later information.

Eye movement patterns align with noisy-channel reanalysis models.

Results support the role of error inference in reading dynamics.

Abstract

A key question in psycholinguistics is how inferences about the meaning of linguistic input unfold incrementally a comprehender's mind. In this work, we study reading dynamics for ``noisy-channel garden-path'' sentences, which temporarily appear well-formed but feature late-appearing violations of expectation that can be resolved not by inferring an alternative syntactic structure, but by inferring the presence of an error. We find evidence for targeted regressions -- eye movements towards regions that are promising loci of possible errors in light of later-arriving information, showing patterns consistent with the posterior inferences of a model of noisy-channel processing with reanalysis. We discuss the implications of these findings for theories of noisy-channel language comprehension and information-theoretic explanations of reading dynamics.