Abstract
We conducted two experiments to examine whether the interpretation of an ambiguous noun phrase is influenced by exposure to a similar combination. In Experiment 1, we found that it was easier to verify a definition for a combination (e.g.,adolescent doctor, a doctor for adolescents) when the prime used the same relation as the target (e.g.,adolescent magazine, a magazine for adolescents;animal doctor, a doctor for animals) than when the prime used a different relation (e.g.,country doctor; adolescent experience). In Experiment 2, we found that the interpretation generated for an ambiguous combination was affected by prior exposure to sentences containing a combination with the same modifier or head noun as the target combination. The data are inconsistent with key predictions of schema-based theories of conceptual combination. Although the results do not contradict key assumptions of relationbased theories, modifications to these theories are required to account for these data.
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This research was supported in part by a fellowship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada and by NSERC Research Grant 203054-98 RGPIN to the first author.
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Gagné, C.L., Shoben, E.J. Priming relations in ambiguous noun-noun combinations. Memory & Cognition 30, 637–646 (2002). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03194965
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03194965