Scope judgments (Experiment 1 - PD 1)

The present study investigated whether quantifier scope is computed incrementally. We exploited the free word order in German to manipulate whether the verbal predicate preceded or followed the second quantifier in doubly quantified sentences that required the computation of inverse scope. Variable binding in the first quantifier was used to enforce scope inversion. The time course of scope interpretation was examined in a series of psycholinguistic experiments. We tested whether scope inversion causes difficulty and whether this difficulty would emerge even at a point before comprehenders have encountered the main verb. This data is from an offline tests that established that the sentences exhibited the assumed scope preferences and that variable binding forced scope inversion.