Krista Miller
Research Projects
Project | 01
Project | 01 The Role of Context, Familiarity and Word Frequency in the Processing of Idiom Final Words
I explored whether word frequency effects are altered when words are read as part of idiomatic phrases. Participants read a series of high or low familiarity idiom phrases ending with either high or low frequency target words in contexts that supported either the literal or figurative interpretation of the idiom phrases. Target words in high familiarity idioms were processed faster than target words in low familiarity idioms. Faster reading times for high frequency target words than for low frequency words (word frequency effect) were found across all reading time measurements, though these effects were much smaller than those typically found in the literature (Raney & Rayner, 1995). The results suggest that inclusion of a word in an idiom phrase changes the way that word is processed.
Project | 02
Project | 02 Time to Throw in the Towel: No evidence for conceptual metaphor access in idiom processing
I attempted to extend and replicate the results of Gibbs, Bogdanovich, Sykes and Barr (1997) in a set of studies exploring the role of conceptual metaphors in idiom processing. In Experiment 1, participants read idioms and target words embedded in short contexts. Results showed no evidence supporting conceptual metaphor activation during idiom processing. In Experiment 2, participants read idioms and responded to target words in one of two lexical decision tasks: a 250 ms delay or no delay. Results showed no evidence supporting conceptual metaphor activation during idiom processing, but suggest that a conceptual theme facilitates faster reading time of a related target word.
Project | 03
Project | 03 Investigating the Role of Expectation in Canonical and Non-Canonical Irony Processing
We attempted to extend and replicate the results of Kreuz and Link (2002) in a series of studies investigating the role of expectation in canonical (What wonderful weather!) and non-canonical (What terrible weather!) irony processing. In Experiment 1, participants read passages in a self-paced reading task and provided irony ratings for the target sentence. In Experiment 2, attention was not directed on the target statement and participants were only asked to read for comprehension. Across both studies, canonical irony was read faster than non-canonical irony, with expectation not affecting reading times. Results support the expectation irrelevance hypothesis and the asymmetry of affect.