Article
Psychology, Biological
Christoph Aurnhammer, Francesca Delogu, Harm Brouwer, Matthew W. Crocker
Summary: The integration of word meaning into an unfolding utterance representation is a crucial aspect of incremental language comprehension. This study aims to determine which component of the ERP signal, the N400 or the P600, is a direct reflection of integration processes. The results support the view that the P600 serves as a continuous index of integration effort and do not provide evidence for the N400 as a reliable indicator of integration. The findings also suggest a single-stream architecture and challenge the need for multi-stream accounts.
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Harm Brouwer, Francesca Delogu, Noortje J. Venhuizen, Matthew W. Crocker
Summary: Research has found that expectation-based theories of language comprehension, particularly Surprisal Theory, are effective in explaining the behavioral correlates of word-by-word processing difficulty. However, there is still uncertainty about which component(s) of the Event-Related brain Potential (ERP) signal reflects Surprisal and how these electrophysiological correlates are related to behavioral processing indices. By establishing a neurocomputational model and experimental design, a close link between Surprisal and the P600 component has been identified, providing an integrated explanation for processing difficulty in language comprehension.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Christoph Aurnhammer, Matthew W. Crocker, Harm Brouwer
Summary: This study demonstrates that the N400 amplitude and the P600 amplitude are inversely correlated on a trial-by-trial basis, supporting a single stream view and contradicting the processing mechanisms proposed by multi-stream models.
COGNITIVE NEURODYNAMICS
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Experimental
Torsten Kai Jachmann, Heiner Drenhaus, Maria Staudte, Matthew W. Crocker
Summary: Behavioral and ERP studies have revealed that speaker gaze can influence listeners' expectations and be considered an integral part of the communicative signal. This study further investigates the role of speaker gaze in confirming referential expectations induced by linguistic context. Results indicate that gaze cue directed towards unexpected referents attenuated effects on subsequent referring nouns, providing strong evidence for the importance of gaze in communication.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Rachel Ryskin, Laura Stearns, Leon Bergen, Marianna Eddy, Evelina Fedorenko, Edward Gibson
Summary: Recent evidence suggests that language processing is well-adapted to noise in the input and comprehenders can correct input errors through rational inference, with ERP components serving as useful indices of this process. The study found that the processing of sentences involving noise-induced semantic violations is associated with changes in ERP effects, which are correlated with the likelihood of comprehenders retrieving plausible alternatives.
Article
Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology
Alie G. Male, Chloe A. Smith, Bethanie Gouldthorp
Summary: Recent findings suggest that the right hemisphere is uniquely involved in integrating perceptual information from linguistic input to generate meaning. This study demonstrates that the RH contributes to language comprehension through integrative and perceptual processes, with positive ERP components potentially producing N400-effects.
BRAIN AND LANGUAGE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Francesca Delogu, Harm Brouwer, Matthew W. Crocker
Summary: The issue of spatiotemporal overlap between ERP components in language research can affect the interpretation of experimental results. This study demonstrates how considering the effects of overlap between N400 and P600 using rERP analysis can reconcile inconsistencies in findings and provide clear conclusions about their functional interpretations. The findings emphasize the importance of carefully considering component overlap when interpreting ERP patterns in language research.
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Ying Li, Xiaoxiao Lu, Yizhen Wang, Hanlin Wang, Yue Wang
Summary: The theory of embodied semantics suggests that verbal metaphors are strongly influenced by sensorimotor experience. However, the interaction between simulation and abstraction, as well as the time course of metaphorical meaning integration, is not well understood. In this study, it was found that Chinese verbal metaphors are processed through both simulation and abstraction, and the metaphorical meaning is integrated immediately with the unfolding of the sentence meaning.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Jing Bian, Hui Zhang, Chongfei Sun
Summary: This study found that late advanced L2 learners showed similar ERP patterns to native English speakers when processing agreement, indicating different processing routes for agreement and attraction effects. However, there was a clear quantitative difference between L2 learners and native speakers.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Susan Sayehli, Marianne Gullberg, Aaron J. Newman, Annika Andersson
Summary: This study examines the processing of variation in basic word order in native Swedish speakers. The results show that the naturally occurring word order "violation" is processed differently depending on the specific adverbial used, and that these patterns are related to individuals' own production patterns.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Kate Stone, Shravan Vasishth, Titus von der Malsburg
Summary: This study explores the impact of uncertainty on readers' predictions about meaning. The researchers conducted two ERP experiments using particle verbs in German and manipulated uncertainty by constraining the context. The results show that the manipulation of uncertainty may not have a clear effect on the N400 and PNP components studied.
Review
Neurosciences
Dorothee J. Chwilla
Summary: This article explores the impact of emotion on semantic and syntactic processing in language comprehension. The research findings suggest that mood affects online processing of word meaning and syntactic violations, and these effects are influenced by attention and contextual factors. The role of heuristics in mood-by-language interactions is also highlighted.
FRONTIERS IN HUMAN NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology
Yunlong Huang, Minghu Jiang, Yuling Wang, Dengfeng Yao
Summary: This study compares different conditions of event-related potentials (ERPs) and demonstrates the role of reprocessing in language comprehension. The condition with homophonic pseudowords elicits the largest P600 effect, indicating an important role of reprocessing in sentence comprehension.
LANGUAGE COGNITION AND NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Siqin Yang, Yeyi Cai, Wen Xie, Minghu Jiang
Summary: Previous studies using BA and BEI structures to study Chinese sentence processing have shown inconsistent results, leading to the current research on the more representative QING structure. The study found interactions between semantic violation, syntactic violation, and combined violation in different phases of processing, suggesting an interactive model for this specific Chinese sentence structure.
FRONTIERS IN HUMAN NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Jose Aleman Banon, Clara Martin
Summary: This study investigated how crosslinguistic (dis)similarities modulate anticipatory processing in the second language (L2) using event-related potentials. Results suggest that differences in the features encoded in the activated representation result in different predictive mechanisms among adult L2 learners.
Article
Neurosciences
Harm Brouwer, Francesca Delogu, Matthew W. Crocker
Summary: ERPs provide insight into neurocognitive processing in real-time. The typical approach to ERPs, WCS, often results in inconsistent findings. By using rERP estimation, it is possible to model the underlying LCS and explain the inconsistencies in WCS results.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Francesca Delogu, Harm Brouwer, Matthew W. Crocker
Summary: The issue of spatiotemporal overlap between ERP components in language research can affect the interpretation of experimental results. This study demonstrates how considering the effects of overlap between N400 and P600 using rERP analysis can reconcile inconsistencies in findings and provide clear conclusions about their functional interpretations. The findings emphasize the importance of carefully considering component overlap when interpreting ERP patterns in language research.
Article
Computer Science, Theory & Methods
Noortje J. Venhuizen, Petra Hendriks, Matthew W. Crocker, Harm Brouwer
Summary: Natural language semantics aims to combine the strengths of formal and distributional approaches to meaning, but their unification has proven difficult due to their fundamentally different representational currencies. Distributional Formal Semantics integrates distributionality into a formal semantic system, providing probabilistic, distributed meaning representations that capture fundamental semantic notions and enable probabilistic inference.
INFORMATION AND COMPUTATION
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Jesus Calvillo, Harm Brouwer, Matthew W. Crocker
Summary: Studies suggest that connectionist models can achieve systematicity, especially in language production. The new model proposed in the research can generate multiple new sentences in different situations, demonstrating semantic and syntactic generalization and arguably systematicity.
Article
Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology
Elisabeth Rabs, Francesca Delogu, Heiner Drenhaus, Matthew W. Crocker
Summary: Electrophysiological studies have found that situational event knowledge plays a significant role in language processing, but it is difficult to distinguish whether observed effects are driven by combinatorial expectations or simple association with the context. This study manipulated the situational expectancy of target words and the presence of associated, but inactive events in the context, and found that the N400 effect is influenced by both association with and combinatorial expectations derived from situational event knowledge.
LANGUAGE COGNITION AND NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Christoph Aurnhammer, Matthew W. Crocker, Harm Brouwer
Summary: This study demonstrates that the N400 amplitude and the P600 amplitude are inversely correlated on a trial-by-trial basis, supporting a single stream view and contradicting the processing mechanisms proposed by multi-stream models.
COGNITIVE NEURODYNAMICS
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Christoph Aurnhammer, Francesca Delogu, Harm Brouwer, Matthew W. Crocker
Summary: The integration of word meaning into an unfolding utterance representation is a crucial aspect of incremental language comprehension. This study aims to determine which component of the ERP signal, the N400 or the P600, is a direct reflection of integration processes. The results support the view that the P600 serves as a continuous index of integration effort and do not provide evidence for the N400 as a reliable indicator of integration. The findings also suggest a single-stream architecture and challenge the need for multi-stream accounts.
Article
Linguistics
Judith Koehne-Fuetterer, Heiner Drenhaus, Francesca Delogu, Vera Demberg
Summary: This study utilized visual world paradigm and ERP experiments to investigate how causal and concessive discourse connectives lead to highly incremental processing, causing anticipation of upcoming material. Anticipatory looks depend on the discourse connective, and facilitation of downstream material based on earlier connectives comes at the cost of reversing original expectations, as shown by a P600 effect.
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Harm Brouwer, Francesca Delogu, Noortje J. Venhuizen, Matthew W. Crocker
Summary: Research has found that expectation-based theories of language comprehension, particularly Surprisal Theory, are effective in explaining the behavioral correlates of word-by-word processing difficulty. However, there is still uncertainty about which component(s) of the Event-Related brain Potential (ERP) signal reflects Surprisal and how these electrophysiological correlates are related to behavioral processing indices. By establishing a neurocomputational model and experimental design, a close link between Surprisal and the P600 component has been identified, providing an integrated explanation for processing difficulty in language comprehension.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2021)