Referring under load : Disentangling preference-based and alignment-based content selection processes in referring expression generation
Martijn B. Goudbeek, Emiel Krahmer · Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) · 2011
In dialogue, speakers arguably have two ways in which to select attributes for inclusion in their referring expressions; they can rely on a predefined preference order until, or they can resort to attributes used earlier in the interaction. In this paper we study the interplay between these two strategies using a dual task paradigm, where participants are asked to interactively refer to object, while simultaneously performing a demanding secondary verbal task. The results showed that when speakers were under load, they tended to rely less on attributes that were primed in the preceding interaction. The results are discussed as evidence for a dual route model of referring expression, such as that proposed by Gatt, Goudbeek, & Krahmer (2011).