Comparative studies of comprehension: An investigation of Chinese, Norwegian, and English

Abstract

The present paper compared the processing of complex embedded sentences in Chinese, Norwegian, and English to determine if the underlying mental operations are similar in these diverse languages. The task involved reading a sentence like It's true that the dots aren't red and deciding whether it was true or false according to an accompanying picture. The verification latencies were analyzed in terms of a model based on one central mental operation. The results for all three languages conformed to the predictions of the model and showed similar processing rates. Moreover, the Norwegian study expanded the analysis to include quantification in sentences like It's true that many of the dots aren't red. These studies suggest that certain fundamental operations may be universally implicated in language processing. © 1975 Psychonomic Society, Inc.