We investigated how the semantic properties of verbs
influence the way in which language users process sentences
and how well they remember the verb. In particular, our study
focused on the frequency of motion repetition, that is, how
many times actions generally repeat in a row. The
experimental sentences contained action verbs, such as
sneezing, knocking on a door, clapping, and bouncing a ball.
Half of the target sentences contained verbs that refer to
actions that generally repeat once or twice in a row in the real
world (determined by norming), such as sneezing, coughing,
and knocking on a door. The other half contained verbs
referring to actions that typically repeat many times in row,
such as hiccupping, clapping, and bouncing a ball. Native
Korean speakers performed a sensicality judgment task where
they decided whether given Korean sentences were sensical
or not. We also tested how well participants remember the
verbs in target sentences. The results show an effect of action
repetition frequency: Participants judged sentences with low
repetition frequency verbs more accurately than sentences
containing high repetition frequency verbs. We propose that
verbs describing multiple repetitions may place a greater
processing load than verbs involving fewer repetitions