Sonia Ramotowska: Individual differences in semantic representations: The case of most and more than half

To join the meeting, please click the following link:

https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/98760407557.

According to Generalized Quantifier Theory most and more than half are truth-conditionally equivalent quantifiers. However, previous studies have shown that most is verified using different strategy than more than half (Hackl, 2009) and is used with higher proportions (Solt, 2016) e.g. 70% rather than 51%.

In this talk I will present experimental results showing that most has various meaning representations and is sensitive to individual differences. Individual differences in meaning representations were operationalised as differences in individual thresholds. We used the Diffusion Decision Model, a well established mathematical psychology model, to estimate individual thresholds. We showed a greater variety of representations in most than more than half. Moreover, we found that the verification of most depends on proportion and the choice of the representation of most affects the verification process. These effects were not present for more than half. The study demonstrates the cognitive differences between most and more than half and questions the truth-conditionally equivalence between these quantifiers.