Representation and processing of logical relations in meaningful text: linear orderings and set inclusions.

Representation and Processing of Logical Relations in Meaningful Text* Linear Orderings and Set Inclusions September 1978 Susan Bennett Sefkow, B.A., Yale University M.S., Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Directed byi Professor Charles E. Clifton. Jr. The present experiment was conducted to examine conflicting findings reported in comparing the processing of two very similar types of linguistic material t set inclusions and linear orderings. Consistently Ss perform better on remote than adjacent linear relationships. A very different pattern is obtained with set inclusions. Memory for true adjacent set inclusion relations exceeds remote relations while just the opposite holds true for false items. Potts (1976) has argued that both set inclusions and linear orderings share the same form of integrated memorial representation, but that Ss tend to respond erroneously to set inclusion relations on the basis of similarity rather than actually evaluating the relation. This shared representation hypothesis was tested within a paradigm which also addressed another issue. Sefkow (1976) recently demonstrated that the processing initiated by a correct attempt to answer a question about