Expectations on Hierarchical Scales of Discourse: Multifractality Predicts Both Short- and Long-Range Effects of Violating Gender Expectations in Text Reading

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Chase R. Booth
  • Hannah L. Brown
  • Elizabeth G. Eason
  • Sebastian Wallot
  • Damian G. Kelty-Stephen

Reader expectations form across hierarchical scales of discourse (e.g., from coarse to fine: genre, narrative, syntax). Cross-scale interactivity produces word reading times (RTs) with multifractal structure. After introducing multifractals, we test two hypotheses regarding their relevance to reader expectations: (1) multifractal evidence of cross-scale interactions from RTs preceding violation of expectations would interact with mean reading speed to predict RTs immediately after the expectation violation and (2) postsurprise RTs would exhibit stronger cross-scale interactions. Thirty-four adult participants read one of two 2,000-word stories that used gender stereotypes to suggest that an ambiguously named protagonist was male. However, the stories postponed gender information until word 1,000: male in one story and female in the other. For slower readers, cross-scale interactions accentuated postreveal slowing but also minimized subsequent pausing over 15 postreveal RTs. Surprise strengthened cross-scale interactions over all postsurprise RTs. These results suggest that multifractality may index anticipation across multiple scales of discourse.

Original languageEnglish
JournalDiscourse Processes
Volume55
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)12-30
Number of pages19
ISSN0163-853X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 02.01.2018
Externally publishedYes

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