The way we refer to things in the world is shaped by the immediate physical context as well as the discourse history. But what part of the discourse history is relevant to language use in the present? In four experiments, we combine the study of task‐based conversation with measures of recognition memory to examine the role of physical contextual cues that shape what speakers perceive to be a part of the relevant discourse history. Our studies leverage the differentiation effect, a phenomenon in which speakers are more likely to use a modified expression to refer to an object (e.g., dotted sock) if they had previously described a similar object (e.g., striped sock) than when they had not described a similar object. Two physical cues—the background that framed the to‐be‐described pictures and the position of the pictures in the display—were manipulated to alter perceptions about the relevant discourse context. We measured the rate with which speakers modify referring expressions to differentiate current from past referents. Recognition memory measures following the conversation probed what was and was not remembered about past discourse referents and contexts. Analysis of modification rates indicated that these contextual grouping cues shaped perceptions about the relevant discourse context. The contextual cues did not affect memory for the referents, but the memory for past referents was better for speakers than for listeners. Our findings show that perceptions about the relevant discourse history are a key determinant of how language is used in the moment but also that conversational partners form asymmetric representations of the discourse history.

中文翻译：

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话语史的指称形式与记忆

我们指称世界上事物的方式是由直接的物理背景以及话语历史所塑造的。但是，话语历史的哪一部分与当前的语言使用有关？在四个实验中，我们将基于任务的对话的研究与识别记忆的测量相结合，以检查物理语境线索的作用，这些线索塑造了说话者认为是相关话语历史的一部分。我们的研究利用分化效应，如果说话者之前描述过类似的对象（例如，条纹袜子），那么说话者更有可能使用修改后的表达来指代一个对象（例如，点状袜子），而不是当他们没有描述类似的对象时。两个物理线索——构成待描述图片的背景和图片在显示中的位置——被操纵来改变对相关话语上下文的看法。我们测量了说话者修改指称表达以区分当前指称和过去指称的比率。对话后的识别记忆测量探讨了过去话语所指和上下文的记忆和未记忆。修改率的分析表明，这些语境分组线索塑造了对相关话语语境的看法。上下文线索不影响所指对象的记忆，但说话者对过去所指对象的记忆比听者更好。我们的研究结果表明，对相关话语历史的看法是当下如何使用语言的关键决定因素，而且会话伙伴形成了话语历史的不对称表征。