DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

Research Interests

My research investigates the processes and memory representations underlying routine language use. Much of my work falls within the domain of pragmatics, the study of the social and contextual factors that affect how people use and understand language. I have carried out this agenda in two parallel domains: one domain concerns the role of common ground and memory processes in language production, while the other relates to the role of extralinguistic information in text processing. More recently, I have begun examining potential age-related changes in language use.

Selected Publications

Hoyos, C., Horton, W. S., Gentner, D, & Simms, N. (2020).  Analogical comparison promotes theory-of-mind development. Cognitive Science, 44, https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12891

Ivanova, I., Horton, W. S., Swets, B., Kleinman, D., & Ferreira, V. S. (2020). Structural alignment in dialogue and monologue (and what attention may have to do with it). Journal of Memory and Language, 110, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2019.104052

Schmader, C., & Horton, W. S. (2019). Conceptual effects of audience design in human-computer and human-human dialogues. Discourse Processes, 56, 170-190.

Long, M. R., Horton, W. S., Rohde, H., & Sorace, A. (2018). Individual differences in switching and inhibition predict perspective-taking across the lifespan. Cognition, 170, 25-30.

Horton, W. S., & Gerrig, R. G. (2016).  Revisiting the memory-based processing approach to common ground. Topics in Cognitive Science, 8, 780-795.

Horton, W. S., & Brennan, S. E. (2016).  The role of metarepresentation in the production and comprehension of referring expressions. Frontiers in Psychology, 7:1111. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01111.

Levine, S., & Horton, W. S. (2015).  Helping high school students read like experts: Affective evaluation, salience, and literary interpretation. Cognition and Instruction, 33, 125-153.

Rohde, H., & Horton, W. S. (2014). Anticipatory looks reveal expectations about discourse relations. Cognition, 133, 667-691.

Horton, W. S. (2014). Individual differences in perspective-taking and field-independence mediate structural persistence in dialog. Acta Psychologica, 150, 41-48.

Hinze, S. R., Slaten, D. G., Horton, W. S., Jenkins, R., & Rapp, D. N. (2014).  Pilgrims sailing the Titanic: Plausibility effects on memory of facts and errors. Memory and Cognition, 42, 305-324.