Implicit causality in context: how topic status shapes remention preferences

Extensive research has shown that implicit causality verbs trigger rementions to either the subject (NP1 verbs) or the object (NP2 verbs) of a sentence. Recent work demonstrates that these preferences interact with syntactic and discourse-related factors. This study investigates whether information structure—specifically topic status—interacts with verb biases and influences remention patterns in contexts with and without implicit causality verbs. In two dialog completion experiments, we manipulated whether an antecedent was maintained as a continuous topic or introduced as a shifted topic. Experiment 1, using non-biased verbs, revealed a dispreference for rementioning continuous topics. Experiment 2 tested NP1 and NP2 implicit causality verbs and showed that topic status affected rementions asymmetrically. With NP1 verbs, there were fewer cause rementions in the topic-continuity condition compared to the topic-shift condition. In contrast, with NP2 verbs, there were more cause rementions in the topic-continuity condition compared to the topic-shift condition. These findings demonstrate that topic status interacts with semantic biases and affects remention preferences as a function of how the two cues align, highlighting the role of information structure in coreference in broader contexts.