Topic shift impairs pronoun resolution during sentence comprehension: Evidence from event-related potentials

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaodong Xu ◽  
Xiaolin Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Pronoun Resolution ◽  
Topic Shift ◽  
Related Potentials

Event-related potentials suggest early interaction between syntax and semantics during on-line sentence comprehension

2005 ◽  
Vol 384 (3) ◽  
pp. 222-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Palolahti ◽  
Sakari Leino ◽  
Markus Jokela ◽  
Kreetta Kopra ◽  
Petri Paavilainen
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
On Line ◽  
Early Interaction

Semantic and syntactic processing in Chinese sentence comprehension: Evidence from event-related potentials

2006 ◽  
Vol 1071 (1) ◽  
pp. 186-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zheng Ye ◽  
Yue-jia Luo ◽  
Angela D. Friederici ◽  
Xiaolin Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Syntactic Processing ◽  
Related Potentials

scholarly journals The iconic representation of metaphor. An event-related potentials (ERPs) analysis of figurative language

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michela Balconi ◽  
Serafino Tutino
Keyword(s):  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Cognitive Complexity ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Direct Access ◽  
Iconic Representation ◽  
Content Variable ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
The Difference

The aim of the study is to explore the iconic representation of frozen metaphor. Starting from the dichotomy between the pragmatic models, for which metaphor is a semantic anomaly, and the direct access models, where metaphor is seen as similar to literal language, the cognitive and linguistic processes involved in metaphor comprehension are analyzed using behavioural data (RTs) and neuropsychological indexes (ERPs). 36 subjects listened to 160 sentences equally shared in the variables content (metaphorical vs literal) and congruousness (anomalous vs not semantically anomalous). The ERPs analysis showed two negative deflections (N3-N4 complex), that indicated different cognitive processes involved in sentence comprehension. Repeated measures ANOVA, applied to peak amplitude and latency variables, suggested in fact N4 as index of semantic anomaly (incongruous stimuli), more localized in posterior (Pz) area, while N3 was sensitive to the content variable: metaphor sentences had an ampler deflection than literal ones and posteriorly distributed (Oz). Adding this results with behavioral data (no differences for metaphor vs literal), it seems that the difference between metaphorical and literal decoding isn’t for the cognitive complexity of decoding (direct or indirect access), but for its representation format, which is more iconic for metaphor (as N3 suggests).

Sentence Processing in Traumatic Brain Injury: Evidence From the P600

2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 759-771 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Key-DeLyria
Keyword(s):  
Traumatic Brain Injury ◽  
Brain Injury ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Closed Head Injury ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Severe Injuries ◽  
Related Potentials

PurposeSentence processing can be affected following a traumatic brain injury (TBI) due to linguistic or cognitive deficits. Language-related event-related potentials (ERPs), particularly the P600, have not been described in individuals with TBI history.MethodFour young adults with a history of closed head injury participated. Two had severe injuries, and 2 had mild–moderate injuries more than 24 months prior to testing. ERPs were recorded while participants read sentences designed to be grammatically correct or incorrect. Participants also completed cognitive and sentence comprehension measures.ResultsOne participant with TBI was significantly different than the control group on several behavioral sentence measures and 1 cognitive measure. However, none of the participants with TBI had a reliable P600 effect. Nonparametric bootstrapping indicated that the ERP was reliable in 10 control participants but no participants with TBI history.ConclusionsThere were few behavioral differences between individuals with TBI history and the control group, though all reported subjective difficulty with reading. The P600 was absent in the TBI group in this study. Given the heterogeneity of individuals with TBI and the difficulty in assessing subtle language impairments, exploring the P600 further may provide useful insight into language processing difficulties.

A Topographical Study on the Event-related Potential Correlates of Scrambled Word Order in Japanese Complex Sentences

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroko Hagiwara ◽  
Takahiro Soshi ◽  
Masami Ishihara ◽  
Kuniyasu Imanaka
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Thematic Role ◽  
Complex Sentences ◽  
Structural Integration ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Compositional Interpretation ◽  
Anterior Negativity

One of the most fundamental and universal properties of human language is a phenomenon called displacement. In the present study, we used multichannel event-related potentials (ERPs) to identify the nature of this phenomenon with Japanese, a subject-object-verb (SOV) language of relatively free word order. The ERPs of sentences of canonical word order (CC) were compared with those of non-canonical word order in two types of Japanese complex sentences; namely, in those which can be described as being in a middle-scrambled condition (MSC) and in those in a long-scrambled condition (LSC). The sustained anterior negativity (SAN) and the P600 in the pregap position were observed in the LSC, compared to the CC, and they are consistent with previous findings. The SAN, exhibiting a tripartite nature in morphology and scalp distribution, mainly reflected a storage cost of scrambled elements in sentence comprehension. The subsequent P600 had a left fronto-temporal maximum, distinguished from a posterior P600, taken as a reflector of the thematic role assignment in previous related studies. It is argued that the P600 in the present study reflects a cost of structural integration intensively depending on the case marker information. A compositional interpretation of sentence meanings was also observed, reflected in an anterior negativity at the postgap verbal position, which cannot be differentiated at the pregap verbal position in the languages of subject-verb-object (SVO) word order.

scholarly journals Concurrent use of animacy and event-knowledge during comprehension: Evidence from event-related potentials

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana Vega-Mendoza ◽  
Martin John Pickering ◽  
Mante S. Nieuwland
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Semantic Relatedness ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
N400 Effect ◽  
Event Knowledge ◽  
Related Potentials

In two ERP experiments, we investigated whether readers prioritize animacy over real-world event-knowledge during sentence comprehension. We used the paradigm of Paczynski and Kuperberg (2012), who argued that animacy is prioritized based on the observations that the ‘related anomaly effect’ (reduced N400s for context-related anomalous words compared to unrelated words) does not occur for animacy violations, and that animacy violations but not relatedness violations elicit P600 effects. Participants read passive sentences with plausible agents (e.g., The prescription for the mental disorder was written by the psychiatrist) or implausible agents that varied in animacy and semantic relatedness (schizophrenic/guard/pill/fence). In Experiment 1 (with a plausibility judgment task), plausible sentences elicited smaller N400s relative to all types of implausible sentences. Moreover, animate words elicited smaller N400s than inanimate words, and related words elicited smaller N400s than unrelated words. Crucially, at the P600 time-window, we observed more positive ERPs for animate than inanimate words and for related than unrelated words at anterior regions. In Experiment 2 (with no judgment task), we observed an N400 effect with animacy violations, but no other effects. Taken together, the results of our experiments fail to support a prioritized role of animacy information over real-world event-knowledge, but they support an interactive, constraint-based view on incremental semantic processing.

scholarly journals Neural signatures of predictive language processing in parkinson’s disease with and without mild cognitive impairment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia León-Cabrera ◽  
Javier Pagonabarraga ◽  
Joaquín Morís ◽  
Saúl Martínez-Horta ◽  
Juan Marín-Lahoz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Final Word ◽  
Related Potentials

ABSTRACTCognitive deficits are common in Parkinson’s disease (PD), with some PD patients meeting criteria for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). An unaddressed question is whether linguistic prediction is preserved in PD. This ability is nowadays deemed crucial in achieving fast and efficient comprehension, and it may be negatively impacted by cognitive deterioration. To fill this gap of knowledge, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to evaluate mechanisms of linguistic prediction in a sample of PD patients (on dopamine compensation) with and without MCI. To this end, participants read sentence contexts that were predictive or not about a sentence-final word. The final word appeared after 1 second, matching or mismatching the prediction. The introduction of the interval allowed to capture neural responses both before and after sentence-final words, reflecting semantic anticipation and processing. PD patients with normal cognition (N = 58) showed ERP responses comparable to those of matched controls. Specifically, in predictive contexts, a slow negative potential developed prior to sentence-final words, reflecting semantic anticipation. Later, expected words elicited reduced N400 responses (compared to unexpected words), indicating facilitated semantic processing. Besides, PD patients with MCI (N = 20) showed a prolongation of the N400 congruency effect (compared to matched PD patients without MCI), indicating that further cognitive decline impacts semantic processing. Finally, lower verbal fluency scores correlated with prolonged N400 congruency effects and with reduced pre-word differences in all PD patients (N = 78). This relevantly points to a role of deficits in temporal-dependent mechanisms in PD, besides prototypical frontal dysfunction, in altered semantic anticipation and semantic processing during sentence comprehension.

Auditory Sentence Comprehension in Children with Reading Disabilities: An Event-Related Potentials Study.

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Mario Rodríguez Camacho ◽  
B. Bravo ◽  
Belen Prieto Corona ◽  
Erzsébet Marosi ◽  
Juan F. Silva Pereyra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reading Disabilities ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Related Potentials
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document