Time-pressure Does Not Alter the Bias Towards Canonical Interpretation of Quantifier

Abstract

The Interface Transparency Thesis (ITT) proposes that peo-ple tend to use a canonical interpretation of linguistic expres-sions, even when this interpretation is sub-optimal for the taskat hand. The current paper sought to investigate this claim fur-ther by adding a time-pressure manipulation to a quantifiedsentence verification task and analyzing the results througha computational model of decision-making. The results indi-cate that time pressure -while effectively changing behavioralresponses- does not alter cognitive processes associated withquantifier verification, thus supporting the ITT.