Counting on number: effects of number information on grammatical processing of mass and count nouns

Previous research has found an influence of semantic number (SINGLE, MULTIPLE) on grammatical processing of mass nouns in people with aphasia. This is the first study to investigate these effects in language-unimpaired individuals. In two experiments, participants had to decide which were the appropriate determiners (e.g. Experiment 1: a_{singularcount} – some_{mass/plural count}) for the name of mass and count noun pictures that were depicted either as single (one bulb of garlic_mass, one cat_count) or as multiple objects (three bulbs of garlic_mass, three cats_count). Semantic number congruency between depictions and determiners was manipulated for mass nouns. A semantic number congruency effect was found in both experiments with faster and more accurate determiner decisions in the number congruent (e.g. Experiment 1: MULTIPLE) compared to the number incongruent condition (e.g. Experiment 1: SINGLE). These results provide further evidence for an influence of semantic number information on lexical-syntactic processing of mass nouns.