Inferences about event outcomes influence text-based memory of event outcomes

Memory of event outcomes is a topic increasingly discussed in the field of event language and cognition. This study approaches how language influences memory of event outcomes from the under-explored perspective of the verb’s “fulfilment type”, a property formulated in Talmy’s event integration theo...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kou Xinyan, Hohenstein Jill
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: De Gruyter 2024-11-01
Series:Cognitive Linguistics
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1515/cog-2023-0053
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Summary:Memory of event outcomes is a topic increasingly discussed in the field of event language and cognition. This study approaches how language influences memory of event outcomes from the under-explored perspective of the verb’s “fulfilment type”, a property formulated in Talmy’s event integration theory. This property indicates the extent to which verbs depict fulfilment of intentions. Through two experiments, we explored how verbs’ fulfilment type properties shape the text-based memory of event outcomes according to their perceived likelihood of intention fulfilment. There are two major findings. First, people tend to have “fulfilment preferences” and infer that intention fulfilment is more likely than intention non-fulfilment. Second, intention-unfulfilled event outcomes tend to be remembered better for event descriptions that trigger no fulfilment perferences. This study contributes to event language and memory research by demonstrating how language-generated inferences can influence established memory of event outcomes.
ISSN:0936-5907
1613-3641