Keysar B, Barr D J, Balin J A, Brauner J S
University of Chicago, Department of Psychology, 5848 South University Ave., Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
Psychol Sci. 2000 Jan;11(1):32-8. doi: 10.1111/1467-9280.00211.
When people interpret language, they can reduce the ambiguity of linguistic expressions by using information about perspective: the speaker's, their own, or a shared perspective. In order to investigate the mental processes that underlie such perspective taking, we tracked people's eye movements while they were following instructions to manipulate objects. The eye fixation data in two experiments demonstrate that people do not restrict the search for referents to mutually known objects. Eye movements indicated that addressees considered objects as potential referents even when the speaker could not see those objects, requiring addressees to use mutual knowledge to correct their interpretation. Thus, people occasionally use an egocentric heuristic when they comprehend. We argue that this egocentric heuristic is successful in reducing ambiguity, though it could lead to a systematic error.
当人们解读语言时，他们可以通过使用有关视角的信息来减少语言表达的歧义：说话者的视角、他们自己的视角或共同的视角。为了探究这种视角采择背后的心理过程，我们在人们按照指令操作物体时追踪他们的眼动。两个实验中的眼动注视数据表明，人们不会将指称对象的搜索局限于双方都已知的物体。眼动表明，即使说话者看不到某些物体，听话者也会将其视为潜在的指称对象，这就要求听话者运用共同知识来修正他们的解读。因此，人们在理解时偶尔会使用以自我为中心的启发式策略。我们认为，这种以自我为中心的启发式策略在减少歧义方面是成功的，尽管它可能会导致系统性错误。
