The Effects Of Different Memory Types On Filler-Gap Parsing In Wh-movement

An important aspect of second language research has been whether second language learners can achieve native-like processing in complex syntax.A large number of studies have been conducted on this issue,but the conclusions are mixed.The Shallow Structure Hypothesis holds that second language processing is fundamentally different from native speakers,with second language learners relying heavily on lexical-semantic information and native speakers depending mainly on syntactic cues.Besides,many researchers assume that cognitive resources can influence the way L2 learners parse sentences.Using the self-paced reading paradigm,the current study intends to examine whether advanced Chinese-English learners can use the syntactic structure,Intermediate Gap(IG),to parse unbounded filler-gap dependency,whether plausibility information between the filler and the main verb can influence second language learners’ parsing behaviors in long-distance dependency,and whether individual differences in working memory capacity and declarative and procedural learning abilities can affect their parsing of experimental sentences.Experimental stimuli are object-extraction wh-questions with a plausible IG,an implausible IG,or Non IG.Working memory capacity is measured using the reading span test and declarative and procedural learning abilities are assessed using the Continuous Visual Memory Task and the Alternating Serial Reaction Time task respectively.Statistical analyses show that in the critical region of filler integration,significantly longer reading times are evidenced for the IG conditions,while as the most difficult sentences,reading times for the Non IG condition are significantly shorter,suggesting that second language learners do not use the intermediate gap to parse and integrate sentences.Reading times are not significantly different between the plausible and implausible IG conditions,showing that the plausibility information between the filler and the main verb has little effect on sentence processing.Procedural learning ability is found to negatively correlate with reading times for the filler-integration critical region in the implausible IG and the Non IG conditions,while working memory capacity and declarative learning ability are not related to reading times.These suggest that to some extent,participants’ procedural learning ability can predict their sentence processing.Results of the above analyses indicate that:(a)consistent with previous studies,L2 learners mainly employ lexical-semantic information and underuse syntactic abstract structure Intermediate Gap when parsing complex syntax like filler-gap dependencies;(b)in terms of lexical cues,the plausibility information between the filler and the main verb has little effect on sentence parsing;(c)as for the role of different memory in second language online processing,only procedural memory can predict L2 learners’ parsing of complex structures.