The actress was not on the balcony: testing the Pseudorelative-First Hypothesis in Spanish
Strategies for attachment resolution in double-antecedent relative clauses have been widely studied since the late 1980s, when a seminal study by Cuetos and Michell revealed that the principles of Late Closure and Minimal Attachment were met in some languages but not in others. These principles pred...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-03-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1546432/full |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849708927165399040 |
|---|---|
| author | Marta De Pedis Adam Zawiszewski Itziar Laka |
| author_facet | Marta De Pedis Adam Zawiszewski Itziar Laka |
| author_sort | Marta De Pedis |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Strategies for attachment resolution in double-antecedent relative clauses have been widely studied since the late 1980s, when a seminal study by Cuetos and Michell revealed that the principles of Late Closure and Minimal Attachment were met in some languages but not in others. These principles predicted a universal preference for low attachment whereas several studies obtained a high attachment preference in Spanish. Since then, high attachment preference has been reported in a variety of languages and with different methods. There have been several attempts at explaining high attachment preference, but none have succeeded. In 2014, the Pseudorelative-First (PR-First) Hypothesis was proposed: it claims that pseudorelative clauses (PRs) are the reason why some languages reveal a preference for high attachment. In this paper, we test the PR-First Hypothesis by means of two self-paced reading experiments in Spanish. Results (reading times and accuracy scores) show an overall preference for HA regardless of PR availability, indicating that the PR-First Hypothesis cannot account for the variation in attachment preferences found in the literature. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7ded4c6253354d098e52cfdfa8ca9e21 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj-art-7ded4c6253354d098e52cfdfa8ca9e212025-08-20T03:15:30ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782025-03-011610.3389/fpsyg.2025.15464321546432The actress was not on the balcony: testing the Pseudorelative-First Hypothesis in SpanishMarta De PedisAdam ZawiszewskiItziar LakaStrategies for attachment resolution in double-antecedent relative clauses have been widely studied since the late 1980s, when a seminal study by Cuetos and Michell revealed that the principles of Late Closure and Minimal Attachment were met in some languages but not in others. These principles predicted a universal preference for low attachment whereas several studies obtained a high attachment preference in Spanish. Since then, high attachment preference has been reported in a variety of languages and with different methods. There have been several attempts at explaining high attachment preference, but none have succeeded. In 2014, the Pseudorelative-First (PR-First) Hypothesis was proposed: it claims that pseudorelative clauses (PRs) are the reason why some languages reveal a preference for high attachment. In this paper, we test the PR-First Hypothesis by means of two self-paced reading experiments in Spanish. Results (reading times and accuracy scores) show an overall preference for HA regardless of PR availability, indicating that the PR-First Hypothesis cannot account for the variation in attachment preferences found in the literature.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1546432/fullPseudorelative-First Hypothesisattachmentlanguage processingsyntaxself-paced reading |
| spellingShingle | Marta De Pedis Adam Zawiszewski Itziar Laka The actress was not on the balcony: testing the Pseudorelative-First Hypothesis in Spanish Frontiers in Psychology Pseudorelative-First Hypothesis attachment language processing syntax self-paced reading |
| title | The actress was not on the balcony: testing the Pseudorelative-First Hypothesis in Spanish |
| title_full | The actress was not on the balcony: testing the Pseudorelative-First Hypothesis in Spanish |
| title_fullStr | The actress was not on the balcony: testing the Pseudorelative-First Hypothesis in Spanish |
| title_full_unstemmed | The actress was not on the balcony: testing the Pseudorelative-First Hypothesis in Spanish |
| title_short | The actress was not on the balcony: testing the Pseudorelative-First Hypothesis in Spanish |
| title_sort | actress was not on the balcony testing the pseudorelative first hypothesis in spanish |
| topic | Pseudorelative-First Hypothesis attachment language processing syntax self-paced reading |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1546432/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT martadepedis theactresswasnotonthebalconytestingthepseudorelativefirsthypothesisinspanish AT adamzawiszewski theactresswasnotonthebalconytestingthepseudorelativefirsthypothesisinspanish AT itziarlaka theactresswasnotonthebalconytestingthepseudorelativefirsthypothesisinspanish AT martadepedis actresswasnotonthebalconytestingthepseudorelativefirsthypothesisinspanish AT adamzawiszewski actresswasnotonthebalconytestingthepseudorelativefirsthypothesisinspanish AT itziarlaka actresswasnotonthebalconytestingthepseudorelativefirsthypothesisinspanish |