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Abstract
In a variety of domains, complexity has been shown to be an important
factor affecting cognitive processing. Complex syntax is one of the ways
in which complexity has been shown to burden cognitive processing. Research
has also shown that the determination of a message's truth, or reality,
is affected by message complexity. Cognitive burden has been shown to
cause unrealistic events to be judged as more real. Two experiments investigate
the effects of syntactic complexity on the typicality assessment of previously
rated typical and atypical television scenarios. Complex syntax exhibited
a curvilinear effect on reality assessment, such that highly typical events
became more unreal and highly atypical events became more real whereas
moderately typical scenarios were unaffected. The cognitive load added
by complex syntax appeared to limit the processing of both reality and
unreality cues. Adding time pressure was expected to increase cognitive
load; however, it appeared to reverse the effects of complex syntax. Participants'
syntax recognition results suggested that the complex syntax did burden
processing as predicted. Tests with response latencies indicated that
atypical scenarios and scenarios described with complex syntax were more
slowly recognized.
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