The Effect Of Executive Functions On Processing And Comprehension Of Garden Path Sentences In Second Language

Sentence comprehension is a complex process,which is affected not only by individual linguistic ability,but also by individual cognitive ability.Garden-path(GP)sentence is a kind of complex sentence with ambiguous syntactic structure.As the sentence unfolds,the comprehenders usually needs to reanalyze the sentence and revise the initial interpretation.In recent years,many studies based on native speakers have shown that executive functions(EFs)plays an important role on the processing and comprehension of GP sentences.Do these conclusions apply to the second language(L2)? However,the relationship between EFs and L2 processing and comprehension of GP sentences is not clear.Several questions could be asked about L2 processing and comprehension of GP sentences in these cases.First,how do the core subcomponents of EFs— Inhibition,Shifting and Updating—relate to the L2 processing and comprehension of GP sentences,in other words,do some subcomponents of EFs support sentence processing and comprehension or all components of EFs support sentence processing and comprehension? Second,is the effect of EFs on L2 processing and comprehension of GP sentences domain-specific or domain-general? Third,How does the three subfunctions of EFs involve in different stages during sentence processing?In present study,the influence of EFs on processing of locally ambiguous sentences in a nonnative language(English)is investigated by three experiments.Using Eye-tracking,we monitored Eye fixation patterns of non-proficient Chinese-English bilinguals as they read sentences containing temporary syntactic ambiguities such as “The angry workers /warned about low wages /decided to quit the job.”,which divided into three regions,and analyzed the accuracy of answering sentence questions.In Experiment 1,53 Chinese college students(36 females and 17 males)were measured for their inhibition ability by using the nonverbal Stroop task.The subjects were divided into high and low groups according to the Stroop effect,and then completed the online reading task respectively.The results of eye-movement indicators showed that inhibition played a critical role on the later processing stage ofGP sentences but not on the early processing stage.And there was no relation between the individual inhibition ability and the garden-path recovery.In Experiment 2,42 Chinese college students(30 females and 12 males)were measured for their shifting ability by using digital-switching task.The subjects were divided into high and low groups according to the shifting cost,and then completed online reading task respectively.The evidences from on-line processing showed that individual shifting ability influenced the later processing stage of GP sentences but not the early processing stage.And there was no link between the individual shifting ability and the garden-path revision errors.In Experiment 3,55 Chinese college students(41 females and 14 males)were measured for their updating ability by N-back task.The subjects were divided into high and two groups according to the average accuracy of N-back task,and completed online reading task respectively.The results of on-line processing provided an evidence that the difference of individual updating ability didn't affect the later processing stage of GP sentence,nor the early processing stage of sentence.And there was no correlation between the individual updating ability and the garden-path revision errors.In conclusion,EFs does not affect initial analysis processing of GP sentences,but inhibition and shifting affect the processing of disambiguation of sentences.And the role of EFs may be domain-general during the sentence processing.Perhaps restricted by the level of second language,individual ability of the garden-path recovery didn't correlated to EFs.In current study,Chinese EFL learners were taken as subjects,and the role of EFs on the processing and comprehension of second language GP sentences was systematically investigated,which not only broadens the research field of the relationship between EFs and syntactic disambiguation,but also provides theoretical basis for second language learning.