scholarly journals Semantic Processing of Sentences in Preschoolers With Specific Language Impairment: Evidence From the N400 Effect

2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 627-639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Pijnacker ◽  
Nina Davids ◽  
Marjolijn van Weerdenburg ◽  
Ludo Verhoeven ◽  
Harry Knoors ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Time Windows ◽  
N400 Effect ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Sentence Level

Purpose Given the complexity of sentence processing and the specific problems that children with specific language impairment (SLI) experience, we investigated the time course and characteristics of semantic processing at the sentence level in Dutch preschoolers with SLI. Method We measured N400 responses to semantically congruent and incongruent spoken sentences (e.g., “My father is eating an apple/*blanket”) in a group of 37 Dutch preschoolers with SLI and in a group of 25 typically developing (TD) peers. We compared the time course and amplitude of the N400 effect between the two groups. Results The TD group showed a strong posterior N400 effect in time windows 300–500 ms and 500–800 ms. In contrast, the SLI group demonstrated only a reliable N400 effect in the later time window, 500–800 ms, and did not show a stronger presence at posterior electrodes. Conclusion The findings suggest that the neuronal processing of semantic information at sentence level is atypical in preschoolers with SLI compared with TD children.

scholarly journals Are all code-switches processed the same? Examining semantic v. language unexpectancy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Valdés Kroff ◽  
Patricia Roman ◽  
Paola E. Dussias
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Time Windows ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
N400 Effect ◽  
Online Processing ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Main Effect

Prior studies using the event-related potential (ERP) technique show that integrating sentential code-switches in online processing lead to a broadly distributed late positivity component while processing semantically unexpected continuations instead lead to the emergence of an N400 effect. While the N400 is generally assumed to index lexico-semantic processing, the LPC has two different interpretations. One account suggests that it reflects the processing of an improbable or unexpected event while an alternative account proposes sentence-level reanalysis. To investigate the relative costs of semantic to language-based unexpectancies (i.e., code-switches), the current study tests 24 Spanish-English bilinguals in an ERP reading study. Semantically constrained Spanish frames either varied in their semantic expectancy (high vs low expectancy) and/or their language continuation (same language vs code-switch) while participants’ electrophysiological responses were recorded. The Spanish-to-English switch direction provides a more naturalistic test for integration costs to code-switching as it better approximates the code-switching practices of the target population. Analyses across three time windows show a main effect for semantic expectancy in the N400 time window and a main effect for code-switching in the LPC time window. Additional analyses based on the self-reported code-switching experience of the participants suggested an early positivity linked to less experience with code-switching. The results suggest that not all code-switches lead to similar integration costs and that prior experience with code-switching is an important additional factor that modulates online processing.

Anticipatory sentence processing in children with specific language impairment: Evidence from eye movements during listening

2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
LLORENÇ ANDREU ◽  
MÒNICA SANZ-TORRENT ◽  
JOHN C. TRUESWELL
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Anticipatory Eye Movements ◽  
And Control

ABSTRACTTwenty-five children with specific language impairment (SLI; age 5 years, 3 months [5;3]–8;2), 50 typically developing children (3;3–8;2), and 31 normal adults participated in three eye-tracking experiments of spoken language comprehension that were designed to investigate the use of verb information during real-time sentence comprehension in Spanish. In Experiment 1, participants heard sentences like El niño recorta con cuidado el papel (The boy trims carefully the paper) in the presence of four depicted objects, only one of which satisfied the semantic restrictions of the verb recorta (e.g., paper, clock, fox, and dinosaur). Eye movements revealed that children with SLI, like other groups, were able to recognize and retrieve the meaning of the verb rapidly enough to anticipate the upcoming semantically appropriate referent, prior to actually hearing the noun phrase el papel (the paper). Experiments 2 and 3 revealed that for all groups of participants, anticipatory eye movements were also modulated by the semantic fit of the object serving as the patient/theme of the verb. Relatively fine-grained semantic information of a verb was computed fast enough even by children with SLI to result in anticipatory eye movements to semantically appropriate referents. Children with SLI did differ from age-matched controls, but only slightly in terms of overall anticipatory looking at target objects; the time course of looking between these groups was quite similar. In addition, no differences were found between children with SLI and control children matched for mean length of utterance. Implications for theories that characterize SLI are discussed.

Relation of working memory to off-line and real-time sentence processing in children with specific language impairment

2000 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES W. MONTGOMERY
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Load Condition ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Processing Task

In this study we examined the influence of working memory on the off-line and real-time sentence comprehension/processing of children with specific language impairment (SLI). A total of 12 children with SLI, 12 normally developing children matched for chronological age (CA), and 12 children matched for receptive syntax (RS) completed three tasks. In the working memory task, children recalled as many words as possible under three processing load conditions varying in the number of mental operations (i.e., no load, single load, dual load). In the off-line comprehension task, children listened to linguistically nonredundant and redundant sentences. In the real-time sentence processing task, children monitored sentences for the occurrence of a target word appearing at the beginning, middle, or end of a test sentence and pushed a response pad as quickly as possible upon hearing the target. In the memory task, SLI children recalled fewer words in the dual-load condition relative to CA peers, who showed no condition effect. The SLI and RS groups performed similarly overall; however, both groups recalled fewer words in the dual-load condition than in the other conditions. In the off-line task, the SLI group comprehended fewer sentences of both types relative to the CA controls and fewer redundant sentences relative to themselves and to the RS controls. A significant correlation between working memory and sentence comprehension was found for the SLI group and control groups. For the on-line task, between-group analyses revealed that the SLI group yielded an overall slower word recognition reaction time than the CA and RS groups. Working memory and sentence processing were not correlated for any group. Results were interpreted to suggest that SLI children have a more limited functional working memory capacity than their CA peers. Children with SLI also appear to have greater difficulty managing their working memory resources relative to both age peers and younger children when performing a conventional off-line sentence comprehension task but not a real-time sentence processing task.

Lexical Decay During Online Sentence Processing in Adults With Specific Language Impairment

2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 2253-2260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard H. Poll ◽  
Holly S. Watkins ◽  
Carol A. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Decay Rate ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Presentation Rate ◽  
Group Presentation ◽  
Processing Efficiency ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Rate Interaction

Purpose Decay of memory traces is an important component of many theories of working memory, but there is conflicting evidence on whether the rate of decay differs for individuals with specific language impairment (SLI) as compared to peers with typical language. The authors tested the hypothesis that adults with SLI have a slower decay rate. Method Twenty adults with SLI, ages 18–27 years, and 23 age-matched peers identified target words in sentences. Sentences were presented at normal and slow rates. Participants separately judged whether a picture and sentence matched in meaning as a measure of sentence processing efficiency. Results After controlling for sentence processing efficiency, the group with SLI was slower to detect words in sentences. Response times for the group with SLI increased less in the slow condition as compared to the group with typical language, resulting in a Group × Presentation Rate interaction. Conclusions The Group × Presentation Rate interaction is consistent with a slower lexical decay rate for adults with SLI, but differences in the ability to manage interference could not be ruled out. The findings suggest that decay rate differences may play a role in the working memory limitations found in individuals with SLI.

Real-time sentence processing in children with specific language impairment: The contribution of lexicosemantic, syntactic, and world-knowledge information

2011 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
FABRIZIO PIZZIOLI ◽  
MARIE-ANNE SCHELSTRAETE
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Semantic Information ◽  
Receptive Vocabulary ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
World Knowledge ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Syntactic Information

ABSTRACTThe present study investigated how lexicosemantic information, syntactic information, and world knowledge are integrated in the course of oral sentence processing in children with specific language impairment (SLI) as compared to children with typical language development. A primed lexical-decision task was used where participants had to make a lexical decision on the last word of a sentence. Thirty-nine children were tested: 13 children with SLI, 13 younger children matched on receptive vocabulary, and 13 age-matched children. We manipulated (a) the semantic fit between the target and the prime sentence, (b) the syntactic structure of the prime (syntactic vs. asyntactic), and (c) the lexical association between the target word and the prime. Despite being slower overall, children with SLI showed a significant priming effect. Syntactic information had a similar impact on thematic integration in control children and children with SLI, although the latter were more sensitive to lexicosemantic association and world knowledge than control groups. In addition, children with SLI appeared to use semantic information even when the sentence was asyntactic. The results suggest thematic integration problems in SLI: syntactic and semantic information contribute independently to the thematic structure but are not integrated to generate the emerging higher order representation.

scholarly journals Processing Binding Relations in Specific Language Impairment

2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (6) ◽  
pp. 1384-1394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard G. Schwartz ◽  
Arild Hestvik ◽  
Liat Seiger-Gardner ◽  
Diana Almodovar
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Core Knowledge ◽  
Interference Effects ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Intact Core

Purpose This sentence processing experiment examined the abilities of children with specific language impairment (SLI) and children with typical language development (TD) to establish relations between pronouns or reflexives and their antecedents in real time. Method Twenty-two children with SLI and 24 age-matched children with TD (7;3–10;11 [years;months]) participated in a cross-modal picture priming experiment to determine whether they selectively activated the correct referent at the pronoun or reflexive in sentences. Triplets of auditory sentences, identical except for the presence of a pronoun, a reflexive, or a noun phrase along with a picture probe were used. Results The children with TD were slightly more accurate in their animacy judgments of pictures, but the groups exhibited the same reaction time (RT) pattern. Both groups were slower for sentences with pronouns than with reflexives or noun phrases. The children with SLI had longer RTs than their peers with TD. Conclusions Children with SLI activated only the appropriate antecedent at the pronoun or reflexive, reflecting intact core knowledge of binding as was true for their TD peers. The overall slower RT for children with SLI suggests that any deficit may be the result of processing deficits, perhaps attributable to interference effects.

scholarly journals Metaphors are like lenses: Electrophysiological correlates of novel meaning processing in bilingualism

2021 ◽  
pp. 136700692199682
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Jankowiak ◽  
Marcin Naranowicz ◽  
Karolina Rataj
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Time Windows ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Late Time ◽  
N400 Effect ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
L1 And L2

Aims and objectives: The study provides new insights into how bilingual speakers process semantically complex novel meanings in their native (L1) and non-native language (L2). Methodology: The study employs an EEG method with a semantic decision task to novel nominal metaphors, novel similes, as well as literal and anomalous sentences presented in participants’ L1 and L2. Data and analysis: In total, 29 native speakers of Polish (L1) who were highly proficient in English (L2) took part in the study. The collected EEG signal was analyzed in terms of an event-related potential analysis. The statistical analyses were based on behavioral data (reaction times and accuracy rates) as well as mean amplitudes for the four conditions in the two languages within the N400 and LPC time windows. Findings: The results revealed the N400 effect of utterance type modulated by language nativeness, where the brainwaves for anomalous sentences, novel nominal metaphors, and novel similes converged in L2, while in L1 a graded effect was observed from anomalous sentences to novel nominal metaphors, novel similes and literal sentences. In contrast, within the late time window, a more pronounced sustained negativity to novel nominal metaphors than novel similes was observed in both languages, thus indicating that meaning integration mechanisms might be of similar automaticity in L1 and L2 when bilingual speakers are highly proficient in their L2. Altogether, the present results point to a more taxing mechanisms involved in lexico-semantic access in L2 than L1, yet such an increased effort seems to be resolved within the meaning integration phase. Originality: The findings present novel insights into how bilinguals construct new unfamiliar meanings and show how and when cognitive mechanisms engaged in this process are modulated by language nativeness. Significance: The study might provide crucial implications for further research on bilingual semantic processing as well as human creativity.

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