潜在的因果性バイアスの生起メカニズム : 言語処理における意味要因

Abstract

Implicit causality, which is causal knowledge implied in some transitive verbs, is known to influence human language processing. Specifically, it can create some preference in the usage and interpretation of pronouns, known as implicit causality bias. We review literature on this bias in order to study the occurrence mechanism and its contribution to language processing. Two broad hypotheses for the bias, immediate focus and clause integration hypotheses, were examined on the following basis: function in identifing referents, relation to semantic structure of sentence, and time course of the bias. As a result, some points were brought up that are supported by the findings but have not been explicitly mentioned in previous theories. We then discuss its relation with more general processes, such as anaphor and pronoun resolution, and suggest a direction for future research on implicit causality and language processing.