Event-related brain potential evidence for animacy processing asymmetries during sentence comprehension

The notion that the working-memory system is not to be located in the prefrontal cortex, but rather constituted by the interplay between temporal and frontal areas, is of some attraction. However, at least for the domain of sentence comprehension, this perspective is promoted on the basis of sparse data. For this domain, the authors not only missed out on the chance to systematically integrate event-related brain potential (ERP) and neuroimaging data when interpreting their own findings on semantic aspects of working memory, but also neglected syntactic aspects of working memory and computation altogether.

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An event-related brain potential study of sentence comprehension in preschoolers: semantic and morphosyntactic processing

Cognitive Brain Research ◽

10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2004.10.015 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 23 (2-3) ◽

pp. 247-258 ◽

Cited By ~ 50

Author(s):

Juan Silva-Pereyra ◽

Maritza Rivera-Gaxiola ◽

Patricia K. Kuhl

Keyword(s):

Sentence Comprehension ◽

Brain Potential ◽

Potential Study

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Rules and Heuristics during Sentence Comprehension: Evidence from a Dual-task Brain Potential Study

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn.2009.21106 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 21 (7) ◽

pp. 1365-1379 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Manuel Martín-Loeches ◽

Annekathrin Schacht ◽

Pilar Casado ◽

Annette Hohlfeld ◽

Rasha Abdel Rahman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Dual Task ◽

Sentence Comprehension ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Task Design ◽

Sentence Context ◽

Syntactic Processing ◽

Sentence Structure ◽

Brain Potential ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Computational Procedures

Whether syntactic and semantic processes during sentence comprehension follow strict sets of rules or succumb to context-dependent heuristics was studied by recording event-related potentials in a dual-task design. In one condition, sentence-extraneous acoustic material was either semantically congruent or incongruent relative to an adjective in the visually presented sentence, the latter being either semantically correct or incorrect within the sentence context. Homologous syntactic (gender) manipulations were performed in another condition. Syntactic processing within the sentence appeared to be blind to the syntactic content of the second task. In contrast, semantically incongruous material of the second task induced fluctuations typically associated with the detection of within-sentence semantic anomalies (N400) even in semantically correct sentences. Subtle but extant differences in topography between this N400 and that obtained with within-sentence semantic violations add to recent proposals of separate semantic subsystems differing in their specificity for sentence structure and computational procedures. Semantically incongruous material of the second task also influenced later stages of the processing of semantically incorrect adjectives (P600 component), which are traditionally assumed to pertain to the syntactic domain. This result is discussed in the light of current proposals of a third combinatorial stream in sentence comprehension.

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Short-term semantic retention during on-line sentence comprehension. Brain potential evidence from filler-gap constructions

Cognitive Brain Research ◽

10.1016/s0926-6410(02)00168-4 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 178-190 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Henk J. Haarmann ◽

Katherine A. Cameron ◽

Daniel S. Ruchkin

Keyword(s):

Sentence Comprehension ◽

Short Term ◽

Brain Potential ◽

On Line

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When Hearing Does Not Mean Understanding: On the Neural Processing of Syntactically Complex Sentences by Listeners With Hearing Loss

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2020_jslhr-20-00262 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-13

Author(s):

Margreet Vogelzang ◽

Christiane M. Thiel ◽

Stephanie Rosemann ◽

Jochem W. Rieger ◽

Esther Ruigendijk

Keyword(s):

Hearing Loss ◽

Sentence Processing ◽

Secondary Task ◽

Sentence Comprehension ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Cognitive Demands ◽

Sentence Complexity ◽

Complex Sentences ◽

And Task

Purpose Adults with mild-to-moderate age-related hearing loss typically exhibit issues with speech understanding, but their processing of syntactically complex sentences is not well understood. We test the hypothesis that listeners with hearing loss' difficulties with comprehension and processing of syntactically complex sentences are due to the processing of degraded input interfering with the successful processing of complex sentences. Method We performed a neuroimaging study with a sentence comprehension task, varying sentence complexity (through subject–object order and verb–arguments order) and cognitive demands (presence or absence of a secondary task) within subjects. Groups of older subjects with hearing loss ( n = 20) and age-matched normal-hearing controls ( n = 20) were tested. Results The comprehension data show effects of syntactic complexity and hearing ability, with normal-hearing controls outperforming listeners with hearing loss, seemingly more so on syntactically complex sentences. The secondary task did not influence off-line comprehension. The imaging data show effects of group, sentence complexity, and task, with listeners with hearing loss showing decreased activation in typical speech processing areas, such as the inferior frontal gyrus and superior temporal gyrus. No interactions between group, sentence complexity, and task were found in the neuroimaging data. Conclusions The results suggest that listeners with hearing loss process speech differently from their normal-hearing peers, possibly due to the increased demands of processing degraded auditory input. Increased cognitive demands by means of a secondary visual shape processing task influence neural sentence processing, but no evidence was found that it does so in a different way for listeners with hearing loss and normal-hearing listeners.

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A New Technique to Measure the Level of Interest Using Heartbeat-Evoked Brain Potential

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027/0269-8803/a000257 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 35 (1) ◽

pp. 15-22

Author(s):

Kohei Fuseda ◽

Jun’ichi Katayama

Keyword(s):

Brain Activity ◽

Random Order ◽

Overt Response ◽

Brain Potential ◽

Probe Technique ◽

Dynamic Stimuli ◽

Attentional Resources ◽

Opposite Sex ◽

A New Technique ◽

Task Irrelevant

Abstract. Interest is a positive emotion related to attention. The event-related brain potential (ERP) probe technique is a useful method to evaluate the level of interest in dynamic stimuli. However, even in the irrelevant probe technique, the probe is presented as a physical stimulus and steals the observer’s attentional resources, although no overt response is required. Therefore, the probe might become a problematic distractor, preventing deep immersion of participants. Heartbeat-evoked brain potential (HEP) is a brain activity, time-locked to a cardiac event. No probe is required to obtain HEP data. Thus, we aimed to investigate whether the HEP can be used to evaluate the level of interest. Twenty-four participants (12 males and 12 females) watched attractive and unattractive individuals of the opposite sex in interesting and uninteresting videos (7 min each), respectively. We performed two techniques each for both the interesting and the uninteresting videos: the ERP probe and the HEP techniques. In the former, somatosensory stimuli were presented as task-irrelevant probes while participants watched videos: frequent (80%) and infrequent (20%) stimuli were presented at each wrist in random order. In the latter, participants watched videos without the probe. The P2 amplitude in response to the somatosensory probe was smaller and the positive wave amplitudes of HEP were larger while watching the videos of attractive individuals than while watching the videos of unattractive ones. These results indicate that the HEP technique is a useful method to evaluate the level of interest without an external probe stimulus.

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