scholarly journals Definitely saw it coming? An ERP study on the role of article gender and definiteness in predictive processing

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damien S. Fleur ◽  
Monique Flecken ◽  
Joost Rommers ◽  
Mante S. Nieuwland
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Functional Significance ◽  
Convincing Evidence ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Predictive Processing ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Bayesian Analyses

ABSTRACTPeople sometimes anticipate specific words during language comprehension. Consistent with word anticipation, pre-nominal articles elicit differential neural activity when they mismatch the gender of a predictable noun compared with when they match. However, the functional significance of this pre-nominal effect is unclear: Do people only predict the noun or do they predict the entire article-noun combination? We addressed this question in an event-related potential study (N=48) with pre-registered data acquisition and analyses, capitalizing on gender-marking on Dutch definite articles and the lack thereof on indefinite articles. Participants read mini-story contexts that strongly suggested either a definite or indefinite noun phrase (e.g., ‘het/een boek’, the/a book) as its best continuation, followed by a definite noun phrase with the expected noun or an unexpected, different gender noun (‘het boek/de roman’, the book/the novel). We observed an enhanced negativity (N400) for articles that were unexpectedly definite or mismatched the expected gender, with the former effect being strongest. Pre-registered analyses and exploratory Bayesian analyses did not yield convincing evidence that the effect of gender-mismatch depended on expected definiteness. While prediction of article form cannot be excluded, it may not be required to elicit pre-nominal effects.

scholarly journals Electrophysiological signatures of memory reactivation in humans

2020 ◽  
Vol 375 (1799) ◽  
pp. 20190293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Schreiner ◽  
Tobias Staudigl
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Functional Significance ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Memory Reactivation ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Neural Processes

The reactivation of neural activity that was present during the encoding of an event is assumed to be essential for human episodic memory retrieval and the consolidation of memories during sleep. Pioneering animal work has already established a crucial role of memory reactivation to prepare and guide behaviour. Research in humans is now delineating the neural processes involved in memory reactivation during both wakefulness and sleep as well as their functional significance. Focusing on the electrophysiological signatures of memory reactivation in humans during both memory retrieval and sleep-related consolidation, this review provides an overview of the state of the art in the field. We outline recent advances, methodological developments and open questions and specifically highlight commonalities and differences in the neuronal signatures of memory reactivation during the states of wakefulness and sleep. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘Memory reactivation: replaying events past, present and future’.

scholarly journals Awake reactivation and suppression after brief task exposure depend on task novelty

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji Won Bang ◽  
Dobromir Rahnev
Keyword(s):  
Performance Improvement ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Memory Consolidation ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Exact Role ◽  
Visual Training ◽  
Early Visual Cortex ◽  
Task Processing ◽  
The Brain

AbstractPreviously learned information is known to be reactivated during periods of quiet wakefulness and such awake reactivation is considered to be a key mechanism for memory consolidation. We recently demonstrated that feature-specific awake reactivation occurs in early visual cortex immediately after extensive visual training on a novel task. To understand the exact role of awake reactivation, here we investigated whether such reactivation depends specifically on the task novelty. Subjects completed a brief visual task that was either novel or extensively trained on previous days. Replicating our previous results, we found that awake reactivation occurs for the novel task even after a brief learning period. Surprisingly, however, brief exposure to the extensively trained task led to “awake suppression” such that neural activity immediately after the exposure diverged from the pattern for the trained task. Further, subjects who had greater performance improvement showed stronger awake suppression. These results suggest that the brain operates different post-task processing depending on prior visual training.

scholarly journals When inefficient speech-motor control affects speech comprehension: atypical electrophysiological correlates of language prediction in stuttering

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Gastaldon ◽  
Pierpaolo Busan ◽  
Giorgio Arcara ◽  
Francesca Peressotti
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Predictive Processing ◽  
Speech Motor Control ◽  
Speech Comprehension ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
N400 Effect ◽  
Time Frequency ◽  
Speech Motor

It is well attested that people predict forthcoming information during language comprehension. The literature presents different proposals on how this ability could be implemented. Here, we tested the hypothesis according to which language production mechanisms have a role in such predictive processing. To this aim, we studied two electroencephalographic correlates of predictability during speech comprehension ‒ pre-target alpha‒beta (8-30 Hz) power decrease and the post-target N400 event-related potential (ERP) effect, ‒ in a population with impaired speech-motor control, i.e., adults who stutter (AWS), compared to typically fluent adults (TFA). Participants listened to sentences that could either constrain towards a target word or not, allowing or not to make predictions. We analyzed time-frequency modulations in a silent interval preceding the target and ERPs at the presentation of the target. Results showed that, compared to TFA, AWS display: i) a widespread and bilateral reduced power decrease in posterior temporal and parietal regions, and a power increase in anterior regions, especially in the left hemisphere (high vs. low constraining) and ii) a reduced N400 effect (non-predictable vs. predictable). The results suggest a reduced efficiency in generating predictions in AWS with respect to TFA. Additionally, the magnitude of the N400 effect in AWS is correlated with alpha power change in the right pre-motor and supplementary motor cortex, a key node in the dysfunctional network in stuttering. Overall, the results support the idea that processes and neural structures prominently devoted to speech planning and execution support prediction during language comprehension.

scholarly journals SPECIFICITY OF CONTRAST IN VICTORIA TOKAREVA'S NOVEL "FRACTURE"

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 969-975
Author(s):  
G.S. Golovanova
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Functional Significance ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Relationship

The purpose of the article is to analyze the functional significance of contrast in the text of the novel “Fracture”. The tasks are to describe the image of contrast in different language ways and means, to show the relationship between contrast and pointe as a specific feature of the novel genre, to characterize contrast as an effective method of actualizing textual meanings and identifying the author’s intention. The novelty of the study is determined by the involvement of a new language material to deepen the idea of the specificity and artistic role of contrast in the genre of short stories.

scholarly journals Going the Extra Mile: Effects of Discourse Context on Two Late Positivities During Language Comprehension

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor Brothers ◽  
Eddie W. Wlotko ◽  
Lena Warnke ◽  
Gina R. Kuperberg
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Neural Processing ◽  
Linguistic Context ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Prior Context ◽  
Preceding Context

During language comprehension, online neural processing is strongly influenced by the constraints of the prior context. Although the N400 event-related potential (ERP) response (300–500 ms) is known to be sensitive to a word’s semantic predictability, less is known about a set of late positive-going ERP responses (600–1,000 ms) that can be elicited when an incoming word violates strong predictions about upcoming content (late frontal positivity) or about what is possible given the prior context (late posterior positivity/P600). Across three experiments, we systematically manipulated the length of the prior context and the source of lexical constraint to determine their influence on comprehenders’ online neural responses to these two types of prediction violations. In Experiment 1, within minimal contexts, both lexical prediction violations and semantically anomalous words produced a larger N400 than expected continuations ( James unlocked the door/laptop/gardener), but no late positive effects were observed. Critically, the late posterior positivity/P600 to semantic anomalies appeared when these same sentences were embedded within longer discourse contexts (Experiment 2a), and the late frontal positivity appeared to lexical prediction violations when the preceding context was rich and globally constraining (Experiment 2b). We interpret these findings within a hierarchical generative framework of language comprehension. This framework highlights the role of comprehension goals and broader linguistic context, and how these factors influence both top-down prediction and the decision to update or reanalyze the prior context when these predictions are violated.

scholarly journals The Role of Literal Features During Processing of Novel Verbal Metaphors

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camilo R. Ronderos ◽  
Ernesto Guerra ◽  
Pia Knoeferle
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Lexical Decision Task ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Metaphor Comprehension ◽  
Video Clips ◽  
The North ◽  
Slow Moving

When a word is used metaphorically (for example “walrus” in the sentence “The president is a walrus”), some features of that word's meaning (“very fat,” “slow-moving”) are carried across to the metaphoric interpretation while other features (“has large tusks,” “lives near the north pole”) are not. What happens to these features that relate only to the literal meaning during processing of novel metaphors? In four experiments, the present study examined the role of the feature of physical containment during processing of verbs of physical containment. That feature is used metaphorically to signify difficulty, such as “fenced in” in the sentence “the journalist's opinion was fenced in after the change in regime.” Results of a lexical decision task showed that video clips displaying a ball being trapped by a box facilitated comprehension of verbs of physical containment when the words were presented in isolation. However, when the verbs were embedded in sentences that rendered their interpretation metaphorical in a novel way, no such facilitation was found, as evidenced by two eye-tracking reading studies. We interpret this as suggesting that features that are critical for understanding the encoded meaning of verbs but are not part of the novel metaphoric interpretation are ignored during the construction of metaphorical meaning. Results and limitations of the paradigm are discussed in relation to previous findings in the literature both on metaphor comprehension and on the interaction between language comprehension and the visual world.

ROLE OF THE NOVEL INTRODUCED PAN-INTESTINAL CAPSULE ENDOSCOPY SYSTEM IN CELIAC DISEASE

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
F Foerster ◽  
K Mönkemüller ◽  
PR Galle ◽  
H Neumann
Keyword(s):  
Celiac Disease ◽  
Capsule Endoscopy ◽  
The Novel

Patterns: Rosamond Lehmann

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vike Martina Plock
Keyword(s):  
Coming Of Age ◽  
Public Image ◽  
Market Forces ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Fashion Industry ◽  
To The Lighthouse ◽  
Fashion Magazines ◽  
Female Authorship ◽  
Rosamond Lehmann

This chapter analyzes the role of fashion as a discursive force in Rosamond Lehmann’s 1932 coming-of-age novel Invitation to the Waltz. Reading the novel alongside such fashion magazines as Vogue, it demonstrates Lehmann’s awareness that 1920s fashion, in spite of its carefully stylized public image as harbinger of originality, emphasized the importance of following preconceived (dress) patterns in the successful construction of modern feminine types. Invitation to the Waltz, it argues, opposes the production of patterned types and celebrates difference and disobedience in its stead. At the same time, the novel’s formal appearance is nonetheless dependent on the very same tenets it criticizes. On closer scrutiny, it is seen to reveal its resemblance to Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse (1927). A tension between imitation and originality determines sartorial fashion choices. This chapter shows that female authorship in the inter-war period was subjected to the same market forces that controlled and sustained the organization of the fashion industry.

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