Structural priming in question-answer dialogues

Abstract

We explored whether speakers self-prime during question-answer dialogues. Experimenters called restaurants and asked two questions. The first was about the timing of different menu options ((At)What time do you stop serving breakfast?), and the second was about the closing time of the restaurant ((At)What time do you close?). Participants were more likely to use a preposition in their responses (At 7 vs. 7) when experimenters used a preposition in their question. However, the participants’ use of a preposition (or not) in their first response did not prime the use of a preposition in their second response (i.e., no self-priming). The lack of self-priming in these data provide support for error-based theories of structural priming, and against activation-based accounts of priming.