Event-related potentials reveal anomalous morphosyntactic processing in developmental dyslexia

2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 1135-1162 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHIARA CANTIANI ◽  
MARIA LUISA LORUSSO ◽  
PAOLO PEREGO ◽  
MASSIMO MOLTENI ◽  
MARIA TERESA GUASTI
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Developmental Dyslexia ◽  
Oral Language ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Electrophysiological Data ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Subject Number ◽  
Language Difficulties ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Main Factors

ABSTRACTIn the light of the literature describing oral language difficulties in developmental dyslexia (DD), event-related potentials were used in order to compare morphosyntactic processing in 16 adults with DD (aged 20–28 years) and unimpaired controls. Sentences including subject–verb agreement violations were presented auditorily, with grammaticality and subject number as main factors. Electrophysiological data revealed differences between groups concerning both the latency of the P600 component and the additional presence in the DD group of a negativity broadly diffused all over the scalp. Moreover, these electrophysiological anomalies increased when plural sentences were processed. On the whole, the results support the hypothesis of a linguistic deficit and of different language processing modalities in DD participants.

scholarly journals Language distance and non-native syntactic processing: Evidence from event-related potentials

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 400-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
ADAM ZAWISZEWSKI ◽  
EVA GUTIÉRREZ ◽  
BEATRIZ FERNÁNDEZ ◽  
ITZIAR LAKA
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Syntactic Processing ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
The Third ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Processing Differences ◽  
Head Parameter

In this study, we explore native and non-native syntactic processing, paying special attention to the language distance factor. To this end, we compared how native speakers of Basque and highly proficient non-native speakers of Basque who are native speakers of Spanish process certain core aspects of Basque syntax. Our results suggest that differences in native versus non-native language processing strongly correlate with language distance: native/non-native processing differences obtain if a syntactic parameter of the non-native grammar diverges from the native grammar. Otherwise, non-native processing will approximate native processing as levels of proficiency increase. We focus on three syntactic parameters: (i) the head parameter, (ii) argument alignment (ergative/accusative), and (iii) verb agreement. The first two diverge in Basque and Spanish, but the third is the same in both languages. Our results reveal that native and non-native processing differs for the diverging syntactic parameters, but not for the convergent one. These findings indicate that language distance has a significant impact in non-native language processing.

scholarly journals Reduced Visual Magnocellular Event-Related Potentials in Developmental Dyslexia

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 48
Author(s):  
John Stein
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Developmental Dyslexia ◽  
Reading Ability ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Reverse Pattern ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
The Right ◽  
Visual Hemifields ◽  
Electroencephalogram Eeg

(1) Background—the magnocellular hypothesis proposes that impaired development of the visual timing systems in the brain that are mediated by magnocellular (M-) neurons is a major cause of dyslexia. Their function can now be assessed quite easily by analysing averaged visually evoked event-related potentials (VERPs) in the electroencephalogram (EEG). Such analysis might provide a useful, objective biomarker for diagnosing developmental dyslexia. (2) Methods—in adult dyslexics and normally reading controls, we recorded steady state VERPs, and their frequency content was computed using the fast Fourier transform. The visual stimulus was a black and white checker board whose checks reversed contrast every 100 ms. M- cells respond to this stimulus mainly at 10 Hz, whereas parvocells (P-) do so at 5 Hz. Left and right visual hemifields were stimulated separately in some subjects to see if there were latency differences between the M- inputs to the right vs. left hemispheres, and these were compared with the subjects’ handedness. (3) Results—Controls demonstrated a larger 10 Hz than 5 Hz fundamental peak in the spectra, whereas the dyslexics showed the reverse pattern. The ratio of subjects’ 10/5 Hz amplitudes predicted their reading ability. The latency of the 10 Hz peak was shorter during left than during right hemifield stimulation, and shorter in controls than in dyslexics. The latter correlated weakly with their handedness. (4) Conclusion—Steady state visual ERPs may conveniently be used to identify developmental dyslexia. However, due to the limited numbers of subjects in each sub-study, these results need confirmation.

scholarly journals Proficiency Differences in Syntactic Processing of Monolingual Native Speakers Indexed by Event-related Potentials

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 2728-2744 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Pakulak ◽  
Helen J. Neville
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Proficiency Scores

Although anecdotally there appear to be differences in the way native speakers use and comprehend their native language, most empirical investigations of language processing study university students and none have studied differences in language proficiency, which may be independent of resource limitations such as working memory span. We examined differences in language proficiency in adult monolingual native speakers of English using an ERP paradigm. ERPs were recorded to insertion phrase structure violations in naturally spoken English sentences. Participants recruited from a wide spectrum of society were given standardized measures of English language proficiency, and two complementary ERP analyses were performed. In between-groups analyses, participants were divided on the basis of standardized proficiency scores into lower proficiency and higher proficiency groups. Compared with lower proficiency participants, higher proficiency participants showed an early anterior negativity that was more focal, both spatially and temporally, and a larger and more widely distributed positivity (P600) to violations. In correlational analyses, we used a wide spectrum of proficiency scores to examine the degree to which individual proficiency scores correlated with individual neural responses to syntactic violations in regions and time windows identified in the between-groups analyses. This approach also used partial correlation analyses to control for possible confounding variables. These analyses provided evidence for the effects of proficiency that converged with the between-groups analyses. These results suggest that adult monolingual native speakers of English who vary in language proficiency differ in the recruitment of syntactic processes that are hypothesized to be at least in part automatic as well as of those thought to be more controlled. These results also suggest that to fully characterize neural organization for language in native speakers it is necessary to include participants of varying proficiency.

Prediction and integration in native and second-language processing of elliptical structures

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
EDITH KAAN ◽  
JOSEPH KIRKHAM ◽  
FRANK WIJNEN
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Syntactic Analysis ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Frontal Negativity ◽  
Related Potentials

According to recent views of L2-sentence processing, L2-speakers do not predict upcoming information to the same extent as do native speakers. To investigate L2-speakers’ predictive use and integration of syntactic information across clauses, we recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) from advanced L2-learners and native speakers while they read sentences in which the syntactic context did or did not allow noun-ellipsis (Lau, E., Stroud, C., Plesch, S., & Phillips, C. (2006). The role of structural prediction in rapid syntactic analysis. Brain and Language, 98, 74–88.) Both native and L2-speakers were sensitive to the context when integrating words after the potential ellipsis-site. However, native, but not L2-speakers, anticipated the ellipsis, as suggested by an ERP difference between elliptical and non-elliptical contexts preceding the potential ellipsis-site. In addition, L2-learners displayed a late frontal negativity for ungrammaticalities, suggesting differences in repair strategies or resources compared with native speakers.

scholarly journals Common Ground Information Affects Reference Resolution: Evidence From Behavioral Data, ERPs, and Eye-Tracking

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Richter ◽  
Mariella Paul ◽  
Barbara Höhle ◽  
Isabell Wartenburger
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Referential Communication ◽  
Reference Resolution ◽  
Early Integration ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Socially Situated

One of the most important social cognitive skills in humans is the ability to “put oneself in someone else’s shoes,” that is, to take another person’s perspective. In socially situated communication, perspective taking enables the listener to arrive at a meaningful interpretation of what is said (sentence meaning) and what is meant (speaker’s meaning) by the speaker. To successfully decode the speaker’s meaning, the listener has to take into account which information he/she and the speaker share in their common ground (CG). We here further investigated competing accounts about when and how CG information affects language comprehension by means of reaction time (RT) measures, accuracy data, event-related potentials (ERPs), and eye-tracking. Early integration accounts would predict that CG information is considered immediately and would hence not expect to find costs of CG integration. Late integration accounts would predict a rather late and effortful integration of CG information during the parsing process that might be reflected in integration or updating costs. Other accounts predict the simultaneous integration of privileged ground (PG) and CG perspectives. We used a computerized version of the referential communication game with object triplets of different sizes presented visually in CG or PG. In critical trials (i.e., conflict trials), CG information had to be integrated while privileged information had to be suppressed. Listeners mastered the integration of CG (response accuracy 99.8%). Yet, slower RTs, and enhanced late positivities in the ERPs showed that CG integration had its costs. Moreover, eye-tracking data indicated an early anticipation of referents in CG but an inability to suppress looks to the privileged competitor, resulting in later and longer looks to targets in those trials, in which CG information had to be considered. Our data therefore support accounts that foresee an early anticipation of referents to be in CG but a rather late and effortful integration if conflicting information has to be processed. We show that both perspectives, PG and CG, contribute to socially situated language processing and discuss the data with reference to theoretical accounts and recent findings on the use of CG information for reference resolution.

scholarly journals Morpheme Analysis Associated with German Noun Plural Endings among Second Language (L2) Learners Using Event-Related Potentials (ERPs)

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 866
Author(s):  
Guiyoung Son
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Mechanism Model ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Syntactic Process ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Anterior Negativity ◽  
Dual Mechanism

This paper aims to examine the morpho-syntactic process of noun plural endings, “-n” and “-s”, in adult second language (L2) learners using event-related potentials (ERPs). German noun plural endings consist of many inflectional forms. They are one of the difficulties faced by German L2 learners. We recorded an electroencephalogram (EEG) study of German L2 learners by dividing study subjects into low and high L2 learners according to the learning level. We examined what ERP components were associated with L2 language processing. All participants were Korean German L2 learners who had achieved varying levels of proficiency. As a result of our analysis, we confirmed different morpho-syntactic processing between the two groups. First, N400 was detected at any learning level. It confirmed language processing supportive of the Full-Listing Model for irregular endings. Second, we confirmed left anterior negativity (LAN), as detected in both low and high proficiency L2 learners. LAN is supportive of a Full-Parsing Model for regular endings, as it was detected in both low and high proficiency L2 learners. However, P600 was detected in highly proficient L2 learners only. It implies that high proficiency learners differ from low proficiency L2 learners. P600 is processed in a reparsing process after recognition of grammatical errors. Based on this result, more active use of a Dual Mechanism Model is possible as learning levels improve. It confirms that improvement in L2 learners results in an approach to cognitive processing similar to that of German first language (L1) speakers.

Language Acquisition and Cerebral Specialization in 20-Month-Old Infants

1993 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra L. Mills ◽  
Sharon A. Coffey-Corina ◽  
Helen J. Neville
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Left Hemisphere ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Anterior Posterior

The purpose of the present study was to examine patterns of neural activity relevant to language processing in 20-month-old infants, and to determine whether or not changes in cerebral organization occur as a function of specific changes in language development. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded as children listened to a series of words whose meaning was understood by the child, words whose meaning the child did not understand, and backward words. The results showed that specific and different ERP components discriminated comprehended words from unknown and from backward words. Distinct lateral and anterior-posterior specializations were apparent in EW responsiveness to the different types of words. Moreover, the results suggested that increasing language abilities were associated with increasing cerebral specialization for language processing over the temporal and parietal regions of the left hemisphere.

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