J Psycholinguist Res (2014) 43:167–185 DOI 10.1007/s10936-013-9244-8 Pre- and Post-head Processing for Single- and Double-Scrambled Sentences of a Head-Final Language as Measured by the Eye Tracking Method Katsuo Tamaoka · Michiko Asano · Yayoi Miyaoka · Kazuhiko Yokosawa Published online: 21 March 2013 © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013 Abstract Using the eye-tracking method, the present study depicted pre- and post-head processing for simple scrambled sentences of head-final languages. Three versions of simple Japanese active sentences with ditransitive verbs were used: namely, (1) SO 1 O 2 V canon- ical, (2) SO 2 O 1 V single-scrambled, and (3) O 1 O 2 SV double-scrambled order. First pass reading times indicated that the third noun phrase just before the verb in both single- and double-scrambled sentences required longer reading times compared to canonical sentences. Re-reading times (the sum of all fixations minus the first pass reading) showed that all noun phrases including the crucial phrase before the verb in double-scrambled sentences required longer re-reading times than those required for single-scrambled sentences; single-scrambled sentences had no difference from canonical ones. Therefore, a single filler-gap dependency can be resolved in pre-head anticipatory processing whereas two filler-gap dependencies require much greater cognitive loading than a single case. These two dependencies can be resolved in post-head processing using verb agreement information. Keywords Head-final language · Gap-filling parsing · Scrambling · Pre-head and post-head processing · Eye-tracking K. Tamaoka (B ) Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan e-mail: ktamaoka@lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp M. Asano Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan e-mail: asano@sfc.keio.ac.jp Y. Miyaoka Hiroshima University of Economics, Hiroshima, Japan e-mail: yy-miya@hue.ac.jp K. Yokosawa The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan e-mail: yokosawa@l.u-tokyo.ac.jp 123