Subordinating conjunctions as devices for unifying sentences in memory

Abstract

In two experiments, we provide evidence that the subordinating conjunctions "nachdem" [after] and "weil" [because] unify sentences in immediate memory better than the coordinating conjunctions "erst-dann" [first-then] and "deshalb [therefore] are able to do. Immediate recall of the two clauses of subordinate sentences was equally good, whereas recall of coordinate sentences was better for the first clause than for the second in both experiments. In Experiment 2, it was additionally shown that this recall pattern was not due to prosodic information.