ABSTRACT
Compared to generating an utterance, comprehending one is a piece of cake. Comprehenders have information from multiple sources to draw on as they form an interpretation that is good enough for their current purposes (e.g., Clark, 1996; Ferreira, Ferraro, & Bailey, 2002). For example, in face-to-face conversation listeners have access to background knowledge about the current situation and experience with the person speaking, in addition to the actual words said and how they are uttered. As a result, listeners are often able to recognize a word before it is completely articulated (Cooper, 1974; Marslen-Wilson, 1973). Studying a process that takes so little time and that benefits so greatly from context is a challenge. One way in which this challenge has been met is by using the eye movements of listeners as a reflection of moment-to-moment changes in how they interpret utterances (Tanenhaus, Spivey-Knowlton, Eberhard, & Sedivy, 1995; for review see Tanenhaus, Chambers, & Hanna, 2004, in this volume).
