Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, Northumberland Building, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK.
Brain Cogn. 2011 Nov;77(2):304-14. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2011.07.004. Epub 2011 Aug 15.
Speakers often include extra information when producing referring expressions, which is inconsistent with the Maxim of Quantity (Grice, 1975). In this study, we investigated how comprehension is affected by unnecessary information. The literature is mixed: some studies have found that extra information facilitates comprehension and others reported impairments. We used an attentional-cueing paradigm to assess how quickly participants could orient attention to an object upon hearing a referring expression, such as the red square. If there are two squares differing in color, then the modifier is required. However, if there is only one (red) square, then the modifier is unnecessary. We also recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) in order to investigate online processing. Reaction times were significantly longer for referring expressions that contained extra information, and ERPs revealed a centroparietal negativity (N400) that emerged approximately 200-300 ms after modifier onset. We conclude that referring expressions with an unnecessary pre-nominal modifier impair comprehension performance.
说话者在生成指称表达时经常会包含额外信息，这与数量准则（Grice，1975）不符。在这项研究中，我们调查了额外信息如何影响理解。文献中的结果并不一致：一些研究发现额外信息有助于理解，而另一些则报告了理解障碍。我们使用了注意提示范式来评估参与者在听到指称表达（如红色方块）后，能够多快地将注意力集中到目标物体上。如果有两个颜色不同的方块，那么修饰语是必需的。但是，如果只有一个（红色）方块，那么修饰语就是不必要的。我们还记录了事件相关电位（ERPs），以研究在线处理。包含额外信息的指称表达的反应时间明显更长，并且 ERP 揭示了大约在修饰语开始后 200-300 毫秒出现的中央顶负波（N400）。我们得出结论，带有不必要前置名词修饰语的指称表达会损害理解表现。
