{"title":"Context, not grammar, is key to structural priming","authors":"Yngwie A. Nielsen, Morten H. Christiansen","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2025.05.016","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Structural priming – a change in processing after repeated exposure to a syntactic structure – has been put forward as evidence for the psychological reality of constituent structures derived from grammar. However, converging evidence from memory research, large language models (LLMs), and structural priming itself challenges the validity of mapping structural representations onto grammatical constituents and demonstrates structural priming in the absence of such structure. Instead of autonomous representations specified by grammar, we propose that contextual representations emerging from multiple constraints (e.g., words, prosody, gesture) underlie structural priming. This perspective accounts for existing anomalous findings, is supported by the strong dependence on lexical cues observed in structural priming, and suggests that future research should prioritize studying linguistic representations in more naturalistic contexts.","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2025.05.016","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Structural priming – a change in processing after repeated exposure to a syntactic structure – has been put forward as evidence for the psychological reality of constituent structures derived from grammar. However, converging evidence from memory research, large language models (LLMs), and structural priming itself challenges the validity of mapping structural representations onto grammatical constituents and demonstrates structural priming in the absence of such structure. Instead of autonomous representations specified by grammar, we propose that contextual representations emerging from multiple constraints (e.g., words, prosody, gesture) underlie structural priming. This perspective accounts for existing anomalous findings, is supported by the strong dependence on lexical cues observed in structural priming, and suggests that future research should prioritize studying linguistic representations in more naturalistic contexts.
期刊介绍:
Essential reading for those working directly in the cognitive sciences or in related specialist areas, Trends in Cognitive Sciences provides an instant overview of current thinking for scientists, students and teachers who want to keep up with the latest developments in the cognitive sciences. The journal brings together research in psychology, artificial intelligence, linguistics, philosophy, computer science and neuroscience. Trends in Cognitive Sciences provides a platform for the interaction of these disciplines and the evolution of cognitive science as an independent field of study.