Dr. Jennifer Arnold, a Professor of Cognitive Psychology, is the recipient of a 2017 National Science Foundation grant.
The Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences at NSF supports research that develops and advances scientific knowledge about the brain, human cognition, language, social behavior, and culture including research on the interactions between human societies and their environments.
Dr. Arnold received a total award of over $385,000 (over three years) for her project, “Testing Probability-Based Theories of Pronoun Comprehension.” Her project will test the idea that multiple aspects of the context help people make predictions about who (or what) the speaker will refer to, and that this is what allows us to understand reference. It also tests questions about why people are different in how they understand pronouns. Findings from this project may help us understand how to communicate better with people from different backgrounds, and how reading experience and education affects spoken language comprehension.