Table 1.

Characteristics of on-line sentence processing research paradigms

Characteristic	Anomaly detection	Self-paced reading/listening	Crossmodal priming	Eyetracking while listening
Number of critical points studied in sentences is limited	Yes. Number and placement of anomalies is finite and controlled by the examiner	No. Processing speed can be measured at any point in the sentence	Yes. Number and placement of lexical decision probes is finite and controlled by the examiner	No. Eye movements can be measured at any point in the sentence
Relies on performance of an overt, consciously controlled behavioral response to generate primary data	Yes. Requires button press when anomalies are encountered/detected	Yes. Requires button press response to advance written or spoken words	Yes. Requires button press to perform lexical decision	No. Overt responding is not required; eye movements are automatic
Requires dual language task performance	No. Only requires listening to sentences	No. Only requires reading or listening to words in sentences	Yes. Requires lexical decision to be made while listening to sentences	No. Only requires listening to sentences
Task reflects natural sentence processing	No. Detecting anomalous words in sentences is not part of natural sentence processing or comprehension	No. Sentences are not naturally processed or comprehended word by word, in either written or spoken form	No. Consciously performing two different language tasks is not part of natural sentence processing or comprehension	Yes. Participants listen to critical sentences naturally while unconscious eye movements are recorded
Can be used to evaluate failed comprehension	No. Failed anomaly detection only is measured	Yes. Reading times for correctly and incorrectly comprehended sentences could be computed, however, comprehension accuracy is generally not computed on a sentence-by-sentence basis	Yes. Reaction times at various probe sites for correctly and incorrectly comprehended sentences could be computed, however, comprehension accuracy is generally not computed on a sentence-by-sentence basis	Yes. Eye movements for correctly and incorrectly comprehended sentences can be analyzed separately