What does this research mean for the field?

Strong expectation violations are not necessary for referential adaptation, indicating that the learning of pronoun-reference patterns is not straightforwardly driven by prediction error. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.NOVEL_FINDING. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To investigate whether referential adaptation during pronoun resolution is driven by prediction error, with more unexpected input leading to stronger learning.

September 15, 2026Journal of Memory and LanguageOpen Access

Does prediction error explain referential adaptation?

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark

Authors

YYYining YeUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill JAJennifer E. ArnoldUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Experimental study reveals robust referential adaptation regardless of expectation violations in language users, indicating prediction error alone does not drive pronoun learning.

Key Points

To investigate whether referential adaptation during pronoun resolution is driven by prediction error, with more unexpected input leading to stronger learning.
Conducted two behavioral experiments evaluating how exposure to discourse patterns influences pronoun resolution.
Tested adaptation across different contexts by manipulating referential predictability: a highly expected referent context (Experiment 1) and an equi-biased context (Experiment 2).
Robust referential adaptation occurred reliably across both highly expected and equi-biased context conditions.
Strong expectation violations were not required to induce adaptation, indicating that referential learning is not straightforwardly determined by prediction error magnitude or consistency.

Cite This Study

Ye et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6aa913f39013453be30a25ef https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2026.104797

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark

September 15, 2026Journal of Memory and LanguageOpen Access

Does prediction error explain referential adaptation?

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark

Authors

YYYining YeUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill JAJennifer E. ArnoldUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Experimental study reveals robust referential adaptation regardless of expectation violations in language users, indicating prediction error alone does not drive pronoun learning.

Key Points

To investigate whether referential adaptation during pronoun resolution is driven by prediction error, with more unexpected input leading to stronger learning.
Conducted two behavioral experiments evaluating how exposure to discourse patterns influences pronoun resolution.
Tested adaptation across different contexts by manipulating referential predictability: a highly expected referent context (Experiment 1) and an equi-biased context (Experiment 2).
Robust referential adaptation occurred reliably across both highly expected and equi-biased context conditions.
Strong expectation violations were not required to induce adaptation, indicating that referential learning is not straightforwardly determined by prediction error magnitude or consistency.

Cite This Study

Ye et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6aa913f39013453be30a25ef https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2026.104797

Also Consider

Synapse has enriched 4 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context:

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark