Converging activation resulting from "top-down" processing affects comprehension. The paper by Anderson and Reder (1974) listed here shows that priming of an alternative meaning does not slow comprehension but may cause the wrong meaning to be selected altogether. The other papers demonstrate a failure to notice a mis-match in memory retrieval during parsing due to the heavy priming/activation of the schematic structure from the other elements in the question.


Anderson, J.R., Badiu, R., & Reder, L.M. (2001). A Theory of Sentence Memory as Part of a General Theory of Memory. Journal of Memory and Language, 45, 337-367 [lead article]. [download PDF]

Kamas, E., Reder, L.M., & Ayers, M. (1996). Partial matching in the Moses Illusion: Response bias not sensitivity. Memory and Cognition, 24, 687-699. [lead article] [download PDF]

Reder, L.M. & Kusbit, G.W. (1991). Locus of the Moses Illusion: Imperfect encoding, retrieval or match? Journal of Memory and Language, 30, 385-406. [lead article] [download PDF]

Reder, L.M. & Cleeremans, A. (1990). The role of partial matches in comprehension: The Moses illusion revisited. In A. Graesser & G. Bower, (Eds.), The psychology of learning and motivation, Vol. 25, New York: Academic Press, pp.233-258. [download PDF]

Reder, L.M. (1983). What kind of pitcher can a catcher fill? Effects of priming in sentence comprehension. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 22, 189-202. [download PDF]

Anderson, J.R. & Reder, L.M. (1974). Negative judgements in and about semantic memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 13, 664-681. [download PDF]