Computational Models of Retrieval Processes in Sentence Processing

Abstract

Sentence comprehension requires that the comprehender work out who did what to whom. This process has been characterized as retrieval from memory. This review summarizes the quantitative predictions and empirical coverage of the two existing computational models of retrieval and shows how the predictive performance of these two competing models can be tested against a benchmark data-set. We also show how computational modeling can help us better understand sources of variability in both unimpaired and impaired sentence comprehension.

Keywords: comprehension impairments in aphasia; cue-based retrieval; individual differences; retrieval interference.