Heather Sheridan

Publications of Heather Sheridan

• The time course of contextual influences during lexical ambiguity resolution: Evidence from distributional analyses of fixation durations.

  Authors: Heather Sheridan, Eyal M Reingold

  Memory & cognition. 05/2012;

  In the lexical ambiguity literature, it is well-established that readers experience processing difficulties when they encounter biased homographs in a subordinate-instantiating prior context (i.e.,In the lexical ambiguity literature, it is well-established that readers experience processing difficulties when they encounter biased homographs in a subordinate-instantiating prior context (i.e., the subordinate bias effect). To investigate the time course of this effect, the present study examined distributional analyses of first-fixation durations on 60 biased homographs that were each read twice: once in a subordinate-instantiating context and once in a dominant-instantiating context. Ex-Gaussian fitting revealed that the subordinate context distribution was shifted to the right of the dominant context distribution, with no significant contextual differences in the degree of skew. In addition, a survival analysis technique showed a significant influence of the subordinate versus dominant contextual manipulation as early as 139 ms from the start of fixation. These results indicate that the contextual manipulation had a fast-acting influence on the majority of fixation durations, which is consistent with the reordered access model's assumption that prior context can affect the lexical access stage of reading.

• Direct lexical control of eye movements in reading: Evidence from a survival analysis of fixation durations.

  Authors: Eyal M Reingold, Erik D Reichle, Mackenzie G Glaholt, Heather Sheridan

  Cognitive psychology. 04/2012; 65(2):177-206.

  Participants' eye movements were monitored in an experiment that manipulated the frequency of target words (high vs. low) as well as their availability for parafoveal processing during fixations onParticipants' eye movements were monitored in an experiment that manipulated the frequency of target words (high vs. low) as well as their availability for parafoveal processing during fixations on the pre-target word (valid vs. invalid preview). The influence of the word-frequency by preview validity manipulation on the distributions of first fixation duration was examined by using ex-Gaussian fitting as well as a novel survival analysis technique which provided precise estimates of the timing of the first discernible influence of word frequency on first fixation duration. Using this technique, we found a significant influence of word frequency on fixation duration in normal reading (valid preview) as early as 145ms from the start of fixation. We also demonstrated an equally rapid non-lexical influence on first fixation duration as a function of initial landing position (location) on target words. The time-course of frequency effects, but not location effects was strongly influenced by preview validity, demonstrating the crucial role of parafoveal processing in enabling direct lexical control of reading fixation times. Implications for models of eye-movement control are discussed.

• Levels of processing influences both recollection and familiarity: Evidence from a modified remember-know paradigm.

  Authors: Heather Sheridan, Eyal M Reingold

  Consciousness and cognition. 11/2011; 21(1):438-43.

  A modified Remember/Know (RK) paradigm was used to investigate reported subjective awareness during retrieval. Levels of processing (shallow vs. deep) was manipulated at study. Word pairs (old/new orA modified Remember/Know (RK) paradigm was used to investigate reported subjective awareness during retrieval. Levels of processing (shallow vs. deep) was manipulated at study. Word pairs (old/new or new/new) were presented during test trials, and participants were instructed to respond "remember" if they recollected one of the two words, "know" if the word was familiar in the absence of recollection, or "new" if they judged both words to be new. Participants were then required to indicate which of the 2 words was old (2AFC recognition). With the standard RK proportions, deeper processing at study increased remember proportions and decreased know proportions, but this dissociation was not shown with the 2AFC proportion correct measure which instead demonstrated robust LOP effects for both remember and know trials, suggesting that the know proportion measure severely distorts the nature of LOP effects on familiarity.

• Recognition memory performance as a function of reported subjective awareness.

  Authors: Heather Sheridan, Eyal M Reingold

  Consciousness and cognition. 05/2011; 20(4):1363-75.

  Three experiments introduced a recognition memory paradigm designed to investigate reported subjective awareness during retrieval. At study, in Experiments 1A and 2, words were either generated orThree experiments introduced a recognition memory paradigm designed to investigate reported subjective awareness during retrieval. At study, in Experiments 1A and 2, words were either generated or read (generation), while modality of presentation (auditory versus visual) was manipulated in Experiment 1B. Word pairs (old/new or new/new) were presented during test trials, and participants indicated if they contained an old word by responding "remember", "know" or "new" in Experiments 1A and 1B, and by responding "strong no", "weak no", "weak yes", or "strong yes" in Experiment 2. Participants were then required to decide which of the 2 words was old. We demonstrated that the proportion measures used in the Remember Know paradigm substantially underestimated the influence of generation on familiarity resulting in an artificial dissociation between indices of knowing (familiarity) and remembering (recollection). We also found a qualitatively different pattern of forced-choice recognition performance as a function of claimed awareness.

• Using puns to study contextual influences on lexical ambiguity resolution: Evidence from eye movements.

  Authors: Heather Sheridan, Eyal M Reingold, Meredyth Daneman

  Psychonomic bulletin & review. 10/2009; 16(5):875-81.

  Participants' eye movements were monitored while they read sentences containing biased homographs in either a single-meaning context condition that instantiated the subordinate meaning of theParticipants' eye movements were monitored while they read sentences containing biased homographs in either a single-meaning context condition that instantiated the subordinate meaning of the homograph without ruling out the dominant meaning (e.g., "The man with a toothache had a crown made by the best dentist in town") or a dual-meaning pun context condition that supported both the subordinate and dominant meanings (e.g., "The king with a toothache had a crown made by the best dentist in town"). In both of these conditions, the homographs were followed by disambiguating material that supported the subordinate meaning and ruled out the dominant meaning. Fixation times on the homograph were longer in the single-meaning condition than in the dual-meaning condition, whereas the reverse pattern was demonstrated for fixation times on the disambiguating region; these effects were observed as early as first-fixation duration. The findings strongly support the reordered access model of lexical ambiguity resolution.