Sentence paraphrasing task

This method enables the assessment of comprehension in sentences presented visually rather than orally and allows the participant to have the sentence available to them until the paraphrase is complete, reducing working memory load.

The short version of the BAMBI MEGUVANA task (Friedmann & Novogrodsky, 2002) includes 20 sentences: 3 final-branching subject RCs, 5 final-branching object RCs, 3 center-embedded subject RCs, 5 center embedded object RCs, 2 subject relatives with pronouns and 2 coordinated sentences. Eleven of the participants underwent an updated version of this task, with 3 additional final-branching object RCs. The participants read each sentence aloud and were then asked to paraphrase it as accurately as possible. The written sentences remained in front of the participants during the test, and no time limit was set. When the paraphrase was unclear to the experimenter and when the participant simply repeats the written sentence, a direct question was asked about the roles in the sentence (who laughed? Who kissed whom?). A paraphrase was considered incorrect if it included an incorrect thematic role assignment, namely, if the agent of the action described in the sentence was interpreted as the theme, or if the theme was interpreted as the agent. When a “don’t know” or “I don’t understand” response was given, the experimenter encouraged the participant to try and explain the sentence and asked a specific question about the roles in the sentence. If the participant still couldn't provide an explanation of the thematic roles in the sentence, the response was counted as incorrect as well.