Ks. Binder et K. Rayner, CONTEXTUAL STRENGTH DOES NOT MODULATE THE SUBORDINATE BIAS EFFECT - EVIDENCE FROM EYE FIXATIONS AND SELF-PACED READING, Psychonomic bulletin & review, 5(2), 1998, pp. 271-276
Eye movements were recorded in order to examine how different sources
of information-namely, meaning dominance and strength of biasing conte
xt-influence the processing of biased ambiguous words. Gaze durations
were longer on ambiguous target words when the preceding context insta
ntiated the subordinate interpretation, even with strongly biasing con
texts. Identical results were obtained with a self-paced reading study
. Thus, contrary to recent findings (Kellas, Martin, Yehling, Herman,
& Vu, 1995), the subordinate interpretation of a biased ambiguous word
was not selectively accessed even when the preceding context strongly
biased that interpretation Discrepancies between the present experime
nts and the Kellas et al. experiment are discussed.