DOUBLE-NUMBER MARKING MATTERS FOR BOTH L1 AND L2 PROCESSING OF NONLOCAL AGREEMENT SIMILARLY

Abstract The present study uses event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine nonlocal agreement processing between native (L1) English speakers and Chinese–English second language (L2) learners, whose L1 lacks number agreement. We manipulated number marking with determiners (the vs. that/these) to see how determiner-specification influences both native and nonnative processing downstream for verbal number agreement. Behavioral and ERP results suggest both groups detected nonlocal agreement violations, indexed by a P600 effect. Moreover, the manipulation of determiner-number specification revealed a facilitation effect across the board in both grammaticality judgment and ERP responses for both groups: increased judgment accuracy and a larger P600 effect amplitude for sentences containing violations with demonstratives rather than bare determiners. Contrary to some claims regarding the potential for nonnative processing, the present data suggest that L1 and L2 speakers show similar ERP responses when processing agreement, even when the L1 lacks the relevant distinction.

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Sensory-Motor Modulations of EEG Event-Related Potentials Reflect Walking-Related Macro-Affordances

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci11111506 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (11) ◽

pp. 1506

Author(s):

Annalisa Tosoni ◽

Emanuele Cosimo Altomare ◽

Marcella Brunetti ◽

Pierpaolo Croce ◽

Filippo Zappasodi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Functional Organization ◽

Sensory Information ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Stimulus Presentation ◽

Fundamental Principle ◽

Facilitation Effect ◽

Extrapersonal Space ◽

Sensory Motor ◽

Related Potentials

One fundamental principle of the brain functional organization is the elaboration of sensory information for the specification of action plans that are most appropriate for interaction with the environment. Using an incidental go/no-go priming paradigm, we have previously shown a facilitation effect for the execution of a walking-related action in response to far vs. near objects/locations in the extrapersonal space, and this effect has been called “macro-affordance” to reflect the role of locomotion in the coverage of extrapersonal distance. Here, we investigated the neurophysiological underpinnings of such an effect by recording scalp electroencephalography (EEG) from 30 human participants during the same paradigm. The results of a whole-brain analysis indicated a significant modulation of the event-related potentials (ERPs) both during prime and target stimulus presentation. Specifically, consistent with a mechanism of action anticipation and automatic activation of affordances, a stronger ERP was observed in response to prime images framing the environment from a far vs. near distance, and this modulation was localized in dorso-medial motor regions. In addition, an inversion of polarity for far vs. near conditions was observed during the subsequent target period in dorso-medial parietal regions associated with spatially directed foot-related actions. These findings were interpreted within the framework of embodied models of brain functioning as arising from a mechanism of motor-anticipation and subsequent prediction error which was guided by the preferential affordance relationship between the distant large-scale environment and locomotion. More in general, our findings reveal a sensory-motor mechanism for the processing of walking-related environmental affordances.

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Grammatical Gender and Number Agreement in Spanish: An ERP Comparison

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/0898929052880101 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 137-153 ◽

Cited By ~ 191

Author(s):

Horacio Barber ◽

Manuel Carreiras

Keyword(s):

Event Related Potentials ◽

Grammatical Gender ◽

Spanish Speakers ◽

Lexical Representation ◽

Number Agreement ◽

Number Representations ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Read Word ◽

Anterior Negativity

The role of grammatical gender and number representations in syntactic processes during reading in Spanish was studied using the event-related potentials (ERPs) technique. The electroencephalogram was recorded with a dense array of 128 electrodes while Spanish speakers read word pairs (Experiment 1) or sentences (Experiment 2) in which gender or number agreement relationships were manipulated. Disagreement in word pairs formed by a noun and an adjective (e.g., faro–alto [lighthouse–high]) produced an N400-type effect, while word pairs formed by an article and a noun (e.g., el–piano [the-piano]) showed an additional left anterior negativity effect (LAN). Agreement violations with the same words inserted in sentences (e.g., El piano estaba viejo y desafinado [the m-s piano m-s was old m-s and off-key]) resulted in a pattern of LAN–P600. This effect was found both when the violation occurred in the middle of the sentence (at the adjective), as well as when this happened at the beginning of the sentence (at the noun), but the last segment of the P600 effect was greater for the middle sentence position, which could indicate differences in the complexity of reanalysis processes. Differences between grammatical gender and number disagreement were found in late measures. In the word pairs experiment, P3 peak latency varied across conditions, being later for gender than for number disagreement. Similarly, in the sentence experiment, the last segment of the P600 effect was greater for gender than for number violations. These event-related potentials (ERPs) effects lend support to the idea that reanalysis or repair processes after grammatical disagreement detection could involve more steps in the case of gender disagreement, as grammatical gender is a feature of the lexical representation in contrast to number, which is considered a morphological feature that combines with the stem of the word.

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EXAMINING THE CONTRIBUTION OF MARKEDNESS TO THE L2 PROCESSING OF SPANISH PERSON AGREEMENT

Studies in Second Language Acquisition ◽

10.1017/s0272263120000479 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-30

Author(s):

José Alemán Bañón ◽

David Miller ◽

Jason Rothman

Keyword(s):

Native Speakers ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

First Person ◽

Top Down ◽

Advanced Learners ◽

L2 Processing ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Third Person ◽

English Speaking ◽

Person Agreement

Abstract We used event‑related potentials to investigate how markedness impacts person agreement in English‑speaking learners of L2‑Spanish. Markedness was examined by probing agreement with both first‑person (marked) and third‑person (unmarked) subjects. Agreement was manipulated by crossing first‑person subjects with third‑person verbs and vice versa. Native speakers showed a P600 for both errors, larger for “first‑person subject + third‑person verb” violations. This aligns with claims that, when the first element in the dependency is marked (first person), the parser generates stronger predictions regarding upcoming agreeing elements using feature activation. Twenty‑two upper‑intermediate/advanced learners elicited a P600 across both errors. Learners were equally accurate detecting both errors, but the P600 was marginally reduced for “first‑person subject + third‑person verb” violations, suggesting that learners overused unmarked forms (third person) online. However, this asymmetry mainly characterized lower‑proficiency learners. Results suggest that markedness impacts L2 agreement without constraining it, although learners are less likely to use marked features top‑down.

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Fronto-central P3a to distracting sounds: an index of their arousing properties

10.1101/333419 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Rémy Masson ◽

Aurélie Bidet-Caulet

Keyword(s):

Attentional Capture ◽

Early Phase ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Orienting Response ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Facilitation Effect ◽

Target Modality ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Subjective Arousal

AbstractThe P3a observed after novel events is an event-related potential comprising an early fronto-central phase and a late fronto-parietal phase. It has classically been considered to reflect the attention processing of distracting stimuli. However, novel sounds can lead to behavioral facilitation as much as behavioral distraction. This illustrates the duality of the orienting response which includes both an attentional and an arousal component. Using a paradigm with visual or auditory targets to detect and irrelevant unexpected distracting sounds to ignore, we showed that the facilitation effect by distracting sounds is independent of the target modality and endures more than 1500 ms. These results confirm that the behavioral facilitation observed after distracting sounds is related to an increase in unspecific phasic arousal on top of the attentional capture. Moreover, the amplitude of the early phase of the P3a to distracting sounds positively correlated with subjective arousal ratings, contrary to other event-related potentials. We propose that the fronto-central early phase of the P3a would index the arousing properties of distracting sounds and would be linked to the arousal component of the orienting response. Finally, we discuss the relevance of the P3a as a marker of distraction.

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Mood Induction Differently Affects Early Neural Correlates of Evaluative Word Processing in L1 and L2

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2020.588902 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

Author(s):

Johanna Kissler ◽

Katarzyna Bromberek-Dyzman

Keyword(s):

Word Processing ◽

Mood Induction ◽

First Language ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

General Effect ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Happy Mood ◽

Sad Mood ◽

L1 And L2

We investigate how mood inductions impact the neural processing of emotional adjectives in one’s first language (L1) and a formally acquired second language (L2). Twenty-three student participants took part in an EEG experiment with two separate sessions. Happy or sad mood inductions were followed by series of individually presented positive, negative, or neutral adjectives in L1 (German) or L2 (English) and evaluative decisions had to be performed. Visual event-related potentials elicited during word processing were analyzed during N1 (125–200 ms), Early Posterior Negativities (EPN, 200–300 ms and 300–400 ms), N400 (350–450 ms), and the Late Positive Potential (LPP, 500–700 ms). Mood induction differentially impacted word processing already on the N1, with stronger left lateralization following happy than sad mood induction in L1, but not in L2. Moreover, regardless of language, early valence modulation was found following happy but not sad mood induction. Over occipital areas, happy mood elicited larger amplitudes of the mood-congruent positive words, whereas over temporal areas mood-incongruent negative words had higher amplitudes. In the EPN-windows, effects of mood and valence largely persisted, albeit with no difference between L1 and L2. N400 amplitude was larger for L2 than for L1. On the LPP, mood-incongruent adjectives elicited larger amplitudes than mood-congruent ones. Results reveal a remarkably early valence-general effect of mood induction on cortical processing, in line with previous reports of N1 as a first marker of contextual integration. Interestingly, this effect differed between L1 and L2. Moreover, mood-congruent effects were found in perceptual processing and mood-incongruent ERP amplification in higher-order evaluative stages.

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Examining second language development using event-related potentials

Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism ◽

10.1075/lab.3.2.04gab ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 213-232 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Alison Gabriele ◽

Robert Fiorentino ◽

José Alemán Bañón

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Processing ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Second Language Processing ◽

Advanced Learners ◽

Number Agreement ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Structural Distance

This cross-sectional study examines the role of L1-L2 differences and structural distance in the processing of gender and number agreement by English-speaking learners of Spanish at three different levels of proficiency. Preliminary results show that differences between the L1 and L2 impact L2 development, as sensitivity to gender agreement violations, as opposed to number agreement violations, emerges only in learners at advanced levels of proficiency. Results also show that the establishment of agreement dependencies is impacted by the structural distance between the agreeing elements for native speakers and for learners at intermediate and advanced levels of proficiency but not for low proficiency. The overall pattern of results suggests that the linguistic factors examined here impact development but do not constrain ultimate attainment; for advanced learners, results suggest that second language processing is qualitatively similar to native processing.

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PROCESSING FOCUS STRUCTURE IN L1 AND L2 FRENCH

Studies in Second Language Acquisition ◽

10.1017/s0272263113000594 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 36 (3) ◽

pp. 535-564 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Robert V. Reichle ◽

David Birdsong

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

L2 Proficiency ◽

Contrastive Focus ◽

L2 Learners ◽

Focus Condition ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Focus Marking ◽

L1 And L2

This study examined the event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by focus processing among first language (L1) speakers and second language (L2) learners of French. Participants read wh-questions containing explicit focus marking, followed by responses instantiating contrastive and informational focus. We hypothesized that L2 proficiency would modulate nativelikeness in L2 processing. For the L1 and L2 groups, widespread word-long positive shifts reflected the processing of nouns receiving informational and contrastive focus. Nouns receiving contrastive focus showed an increased anterior negativity compared to informational focus for both groups. Second language proficiency modulated the amplitude of this negativity effect, and subgroup analyses of low- and high-proficiency L2 learners showed no significant effect of focus condition among low-proficiency learners. This modulatory relationship between L2 proficiency and nativelikeness of processing is consistent with the dynamic sequence of L2 ERPs observed for morphosyntactic processing and extends those findings to the syntax-pragmatics interface phenomenon of focus processing.

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Seven-year-olds recall non-adjacent dependencies after overnight retention

10.1101/670257 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Gesa Schaadt ◽

Mariella Paul ◽

R. Muralikrishnan ◽

Claudia Männel ◽

Angela D. Friederici

Keyword(s):

Native Language ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Judgment Task ◽

List Type ◽

Retention Period ◽

Lasting Effect ◽

Grammaticality Judgment ◽

Brain Responses ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Behavioral Improvement

AbstractBecoming a successful speaker depends on acquiring and learning grammatical dependencies between neighboring and non-neighboring linguistic elements (non-adjacent dependencies; NADs). Previous studies have demonstrated children’s and adults’ ability to distinguish NADs from NAD violations right after familiarization. However, demonstrating NAD recall after retention is crucial to demonstrate a lasting effect of NAD learning. We tested 7-year-olds’ NAD learning in a natural, non-native language on one day and NAD recall on the next day by means of event-related potentials (ERPs). Our results revealed ERPs with a more positive amplitude to NAD violations than correct NADs after familiarization on day one, but ERPs with a more negative amplitude to NAD violations on day two. This change from more positive to more negative ERPs to NAD violations possibly indicates that children’s representations of NADs changed during an overnight retention period, potentially associated with children’s NAD learning. Indeed, our descriptive analyses showed that both ERP patterns (i.e., day one: positive, day two: negative) were related to stronger behavioral improvement (i.e., more correct answers on day two compared to day one) in a grammaticality judgment task from day one to day two. We suggest these findings to indicate that children successfully built associative representations of NADs on day one and then strengthened these associations during overnight retention, revealing NAD recall on day two. The present results suggest that 7-year-olds readily track NADs in a natural, non-native language and are able to recall NADs after a retention period involving sleep, providing evidence of a lasting effect of NAD learning.Highlights7-year-olds’ non-adjacent dependency learning in a foreign language testedChildren gave grammaticality judgments while electroencephalography was recordedBrain responses revealed children’s learning of non-adjacent dependenciesBrain responses after overnight retention showed different polarityChildren’s recall of dependencies after sleep associated with representation change

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An ERP Study on Attraction Effects in Advanced L2 Learners

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.616804 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Jing Bian ◽

Hui Zhang ◽

Chongfei Sun

Keyword(s):

Native Speakers ◽

Quantitative Difference ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

N400 Effect ◽

L2 Processing ◽

Asymmetrical Pattern ◽

L2 Learners ◽

Related Potentials ◽

The Subject ◽

Attraction Effects

In English, the rule of agreement is quite simple: verbs must agree with their subject head nouns in terms of number features. Despite this simplicity, agreement processing is always interrupted when the subject phrase of the sentence “The key to the cabinets is on the table,” contains two nouns with a mismatch in number features commonly known as attraction effects. This study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine whether late advanced second language (L2) learners can acquire native-like sensitivity of attraction effects. The results revealed that L2 learners showed ERP patterns qualitatively similar to native English speakers: ungrammatical verbs following singular attractors elicited a P600 effect relative to their grammatical counterparts, whereas this positivity was replaced by an N400 effect when plural attractors intervened between the subject head nouns and the verbs. Of particular interest, given that, compared to native speakers, the amplitude of the P600 effect elicited by L2 learners was smaller, there was a quantitative difference between native speakers and L2 learners. We proposed that these two ERP components represented the two processing routes of agreement: the P600 effect indexed a full, combinatorial process, which parsed morphosyntactic features between agreement controllers and targets, whereas the N400 effect indexed a shallow, heuristic process, which evaluated lexical associations between agreeing elements. Moreover, similar to native speakers, advanced L2 learners showed an asymmetrical pattern of attraction effects, in that plural attractors were interfered with ungrammaticality at disagreeing verbs, but they did not cause any difficulties in processing grammatical sentences at agreeing verbs. The overall results suggested that compared to native processing, L2 processing of complex agreement with attractor interference was shallower and therefore late advanced L2 learners could not achieve native-like attraction effects.

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Different effects of L1 and L2 phonology on L3 lexical learning: An ERP study

Second language Research ◽

10.1177/02676583211054448 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 026765832110544

Author(s):

Stanislav Mulík ◽

Haydée Carrasco-Ortiz

Keyword(s):

First Language ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Brain Response ◽

Third Language ◽

L2 Phonology ◽

Before And After ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Lexical Learning ◽

L1 And L2 ◽

Novel Words

This study investigated the influence of phonological word representations from both first language (L1) and second language (L2) on third language (L3) lexical learning in L1-dominant Spanish–English bilinguals. More specifically, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to determine whether L1 Spanish and L2 English phonology modulates bilinguals’ brain response to newly learned L3 Slovak words, some of which had substantial phonological overlap with either L1 or L2 words (interlingual homophones) in comparison to matched control words with little or no phonological overlap. ERPs were recorded from a group of 20 Spanish–English bilinguals in response to 120 auditory Slovak words, both before and after a three-day-long learning period during which they associated the L3 Slovak novel words with their L1 Spanish translations. Behaviorally, both L1 Spanish and L2 English homophony facilitated the learning of L3 Slovak words in a similar manner. In contrast, the electrophysiological results of the post-training ERPs, but not the pre-training ERPs, showed an N100 effect for L2 English interlingual homophones and opposite N400 effects for L1 Spanish and L2 English interlingual homophones in comparison to control words. These findings suggest different neurocognitive mechanisms in the use of L1 and L2 phonological information when learning novel words in an L3.

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