The interplay of computational complexity and memory load during quantifier verification

Formal analysis of the minimal computational complexity of verification algorithms for natural language quantifiers implies that different classes of quantifiers demand the engagement of different cognitive resources for their verification. In particular, sentences containing proportional quantifiers, e.g. “most”, provably require a memory component, whereas nonproportional quantifiers, e.g. “all”, “three”, do not. In an ERP study, we tested whether previously observed differences between these classes were modulated by memory load. Participants performed a picture-sentence verification task while they had to remember a string of 2 or 4 digits to be compared to a second string at the end of a trial. Relative to non-proportional quantifiers, proportional quantifiers elicited a sentence-internal sustained negativity. Additionally, an interaction between Digit-Load and Quantifier-Class was observed at the sentence-final word. Our results suggest that constraints on cognitive resources deployed during human sentence processing and verification are of the same nature as formal constraints on abstract machines.