scholarly journals Semantic Integration in Sentences and Discourse: Evidence from the N400

1999 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 657-671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jos J. A. van Berkum ◽  
Peter Hagoort ◽  
Colin M. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Coherent Control ◽  
Critical Word ◽  
Semantic Integration ◽  
N400 Effect ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Global Discourse ◽  
Word Onset ◽  
Original Story

In two ERP experiments we investigated how and when the language comprehension system relates an incoming word to semantic representations of an unfolding local sentence and a wider discourse. In Experiment 1, subjects were presented with short stories. The last sentence of these stories occasionally contained a critical word that, although acceptable in the local sentence context, was semantically anomalous with respect to the wider discourse (e.g., Jane told the brother that he was exceptionally slow in a discourse context where he had in fact been very quick). Relative to coherent control words (e.g., quick), these discourse-dependent semantic anomalies elicited a large N400 effect that began at about 200 to 250 msec after word onset. In Experiment 2, the same sentences were presented without their original story context. Although the words that had previously been anomalous in discourse still elicited a slightly larger average N400 than the coherent words, the resulting N400 effect was much reduced, showing that the large effect observed in stories depended on the wider discourse. In the same experiment, single sentences that contained a clear local semantic anomaly elicited a standard sentence-dependent N400 effect (e.g., Kutas & Hillyard, 1980). The N400 effects elicited in discourse and in single sentences had the same time course, overall morphology, and scalp distribution. We argue that these findings are most compatible with models of language processing in which there is no fundamental distinction between the integration of a word in its local (sentence-level) and its global (discourse-level) semantic context.

scholarly journals Frequency-based Segregation of Syntactic and Semantic Unification during Online Sentence Level Language Comprehension

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (11) ◽  
pp. 2095-2107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel Bastiaansen ◽  
Peter Hagoort
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Critical Word ◽  
Beta Band ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Oscillatory Dynamics ◽  
Band Power ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Word Onset ◽  
Semantic Unification

During sentence level language comprehension, semantic and syntactic unification are functionally distinct operations. Nevertheless, both recruit roughly the same brain areas (spatially overlapping networks in the left frontotemporal cortex) and happen at the same time (in the first few hundred milliseconds after word onset). We tested the hypothesis that semantic and syntactic unification are segregated by means of neuronal synchronization of the functionally relevant networks in different frequency ranges: gamma (40 Hz and up) for semantic unification and lower beta (10–20 Hz) for syntactic unification. EEG power changes were quantified as participants read either correct sentences, syntactically correct though meaningless sentences (syntactic prose), or sentences that did not contain any syntactic structure (random word lists). Other sentences contained either a semantic anomaly or a syntactic violation at a critical word in the sentence. Larger EEG gamma-band power was observed for semantically coherent than for semantically anomalous sentences. Similarly, beta-band power was larger for syntactically correct sentences than for incorrect ones. These results confirm the existence of a functional dissociation in EEG oscillatory dynamics during sentence level language comprehension that is compatible with the notion of a frequency-based segregation of syntactic and semantic unification.

scholarly journals Seeing and Hearing Meaning: ERP and fMRI Evidence of Word versus Picture Integration into a Sentence Context

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 1235-1249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roel M. Willems ◽  
Aslı Özyürek ◽  
Peter Hagoort
Keyword(s):  
Visual Information ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Semantic Information ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Semantic Integration ◽  
Sentence Context ◽  
N400 Effect ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Pictures And Words

Understanding language always occurs within a situational context and, therefore, often implies combining streams of information from different domains and modalities. One such combination is that of spoken language and visual information, which are perceived together in a variety of ways during everyday communication. Here we investigate whether and how words and pictures differ in terms of their neural correlates when they are integrated into a previously built-up sentence context. This is assessed in two experiments looking at the time course (measuring event-related potentials, ERPs) and the locus (using functional magnetic resonance imaging, fMRI) of this integration process. We manipulated the ease of semantic integration of word and/or picture to a previous sentence context to increase the semantic load of processing. In the ERP study, an increased semantic load led to an N400 effect which was similar for pictures and words in terms of latency and amplitude. In the fMRI study, we found overlapping activations to both picture and word integration in the left inferior frontal cortex. Specific activations for the integration of a word were observed in the left superior temporal cortex. We conclude that despite obvious differences in representational format, semantic information coming from pictures and words is integrated into a sentence context in similar ways in the brain. This study adds to the growing insight that the language system incorporates (semantic) information coming from linguistic and extralinguistic domains with the same neural time course and by recruitment of overlapping brain areas.

scholarly journals Isn't It Ironic? An Electrophysiological Exploration of Figurative Language Processing

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanie Regel ◽  
Thomas C. Gunter ◽  
Angela D. Friederici
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Semantic Integration ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Brain Potentials ◽  
Late Positivity ◽  
Figurative Language Processing ◽  
N400 Component

Although the neurocognitive processes underlying the comprehension of figurative language, especially metaphors and idioms, have been studied extensively, less is known about the processing of irony. In two experiments using event-related brain potentials (ERPs), we examined the types of cognitive processes involved in the comprehension of ironic and literal sentences and their relative time course. The experiments varied in modality (auditory, visual), task demands (comprehension task vs. passive reading), and probability of stimulus occurrence. ERPs consistently revealed a large late positivity (i.e., P600 component) in the absence of an N400 component for irony compared to equivalent literal sentences independent of modality. This P600 was shown to be unaffected by the factors task demands and probability of occurrence. Taken together, the findings suggest that the observed P600 is related to irony processing, and might be a reflection of pragmatic interpretation processes. During the comprehension of irony, no semantic integration difficulty arises (absence of N400), but late inferential processes appear to be necessary for understanding ironic meanings (presence of P600). This finding calls for a revision of current models of figurative language processing.

scholarly journals Would adults with autism be less likely to bury the survivors?: An eye movement study of anomalous text reading

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 280-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheena K Au-Yeung ◽  
Johanna K Kaakinen ◽  
Simon P Liversedge ◽  
Valerie Benson
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Early Detection ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Critical Word ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Adults With Autism ◽  
Passage Level ◽  
Sentence Level

In a single eye movement experiment, we investigated the effects of context on the time course of local and global anomaly processing during reading in adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In one condition, short paragraph texts contained anomalous target words. Detection of the anomaly was only possible through evaluation of word meaning in relation to the global context of the whole paragraph ( Passage-Level Anomalies). In another condition, the anomaly could be detected via computation of a local thematic violation within a single sentence embedded in the paragraph ( Sentence-Level Anomalies). For the sentence-level anomalies, the ASD group, in contrast with the typically developing (TD) group, showed early detection of the anomaly as indexed by regressive eye movements from the critical target word upon fixation. Conversely, for the passage-level anomalies, and in contrast with the ASD group, the TD group showed early detection of the anomaly with increased regressive eye movements once the critical word had been fixated. The reversal of the pattern of regression path data for the two groups, for the sentence- and passage-level anomalies, is discussed in relation to cognitive accounts of ASD.

scholarly journals Electrophysiological Evidence for Early Contextual Influences during Spoken-Word Recognition: N200 Versus N400 Effects

2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 967-985 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniëlle van den Brink ◽  
Colin M. Brown ◽  
Peter Hagoort
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
Spoken Word Recognition ◽  
Spoken Word ◽  
Lexical Selection ◽  
Contextual Influences ◽  
N400 Effect ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Word Onset

An event-related brain potential experiment was carried out to investigate the time course of contextual influences on spoken-word recognition. Subjects were presented with spoken sentences that ended with a word that was either (a) congruent, (b) semantically anomalous, but beginning with the same initial phonemes as the congruent completion, or (c) semantically anomalous beginning with phonemes that differed from the congruent completion. In addition to finding an N400 effect in the two semantically anomalous conditions, we obtained an early negative effect in the semantically anomalous condition where word onset differed from that of the congruent completions. It was concluded that the N200 effect is related to the lexical selection process, where word-form information resulting from an initial phonological analysis and content information derived from the context interact.

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 On the Role of Bilateral Brain Hypofunction and Abnormal Lateralization of Cortical Information Flow as Neural Underpinnings of Conventional Metaphor Processing Impairment in Schizophrenia: An fMRI and EEG Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Przemysław Adamczyk ◽  
Martin Jáni ◽  
Tomasz S. Ligeza ◽  
Olga Płonka ◽  
Piotr Błądziński ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Information Flow ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Neural Circuits ◽  
Effective Connectivity ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Blood Oxygenation ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Metaphor Processing

AbstractFigurative language processing (e.g. metaphors) is commonly impaired in schizophrenia. In the present study, we investigated the neural activity and propagation of information within neural circuits related to the figurative speech, as a neural substrate of impaired conventional metaphor processing in schizophrenia. The study included 30 schizophrenia outpatients and 30 healthy controls, all of whom were assessed with a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) punchline-based metaphor comprehension task including literal (neutral), figurative (metaphorical) and nonsense (absurd) endings. The blood oxygenation level-dependent signal was recorded with 3T MRI scanner and direction and strength of cortical information flow in the time course of task processing was estimated with a 64-channel EEG input for directed transfer function. The presented results revealed that the behavioral manifestation of impaired figurative language in schizophrenia is related to the hypofunction in the bilateral fronto-temporo-parietal brain regions (fMRI) and various differences in effective connectivity in the fronto-temporo-parietal circuit (EEG). Schizophrenia outpatients showed an abnormal pattern of connectivity during metaphor processing which was related to bilateral (but more pronounced at the left hemisphere) hypoactivation of the brain. Moreover, we found reversed lateralization patterns, i.e. a rightward-shifted pattern during metaphor processing in schizophrenia compared to the control group. In conclusion, the presented findings revealed that the impairment of the conventional metaphor processing in schizophrenia is related to the bilateral brain hypofunction, which supports the evidence on reversed lateralization of the language neural network and the existence of compensatory recruitment of alternative neural circuits in schizophrenia.

EXPRESS: Selective adaptation in sentence comprehension: Evidence from event-related brain potentials

2020 ◽  
pp. 174702182098462
Author(s):  
Masataka Yano ◽  
Shugo Suwazono ◽  
Hiroshi Arao ◽  
Daichi Yasunaga ◽  
Hiroaki Oishi
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Processing System ◽  
Selective Adaptation ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Equal Probability ◽  
N400 Effect ◽  
Mixed Effect ◽  
Processing Cost ◽  
Low Probability

The present study conducted two event-related potential experiments to investigate whether readers adapt their expectations to morphosyntactically (Experiment 1) or semantically (Experiment 2) anomalous sentences when they are repeatedly exposed to them. To address this issue, we manipulated the probability of morphosyntactically/semantically grammatical and anomalous sentence occurrence through experiments. For the low probability block, anomalous sentences were presented less frequently than grammatical sentences (with a ratio of 1 to 4), while they were presented as frequently as grammatical sentences in the equal probability block. Experiment 1 revealed a smaller P600 effect for morphosyntactic violations in the equal probability block than in the low probability block. Linear mixed-effect models were used to examine how the size of the P600 effect changed as the experiment went along. The results showed that the smaller P600 effect of the equal probability block resulted from an amplitude’s decline in morphosyntactically violated sentences over the course of the experiment, suggesting an adaptation to morphosyntactic violations. In Experiment 2, semantically anomalous sentences elicited a larger N400 effect than their semantically natural counterparts regardless of probability manipulation. No evidence was found in favor of adaptation to semantic violations in that the processing cost of semantic violations did not decrease over the course of the experiment. Therefore, the present study demonstrated a dynamic aspect of language-processing system. We will discuss why the language-processing system shows a selective adaptation to morphosyntactic violations.

Two New Large Corpora for Vietnamese Aspect-based Sentiment Analysis at Sentence Level

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Dang Van Thin ◽  
Ngan Luu-Thuy Nguyen ◽  
Tri Minh Truong ◽  
Lac Si Le ◽  
Duy Tin Vo
Keyword(s):  
Sentiment Analysis ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Network Architectures ◽  
Low Resource ◽  
The Neural Network ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Push Forward ◽  
Polarity Classification ◽  
Learning Architectures ◽  
Single Approach

Aspect-based sentiment analysis has been studied in both research and industrial communities over recent years. For the low-resource languages, the standard benchmark corpora play an important role in the development of methods. In this article, we introduce two benchmark corpora with the largest sizes at sentence-level for two tasks: Aspect Category Detection and Aspect Polarity Classification in Vietnamese. Our corpora are annotated with high inter-annotator agreements for the restaurant and hotel domains. The release of our corpora would push forward the low-resource language processing community. In addition, we deploy and compare the effectiveness of supervised learning methods with a single and multi-task approach based on deep learning architectures. Experimental results on our corpora show that the multi-task approach based on BERT architecture outperforms the neural network architectures and the single approach. Our corpora and source code are published on this footnoted site. 1

scholarly journals A Cascaded Unsupervised Model for PoS Tagging

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Necva Bölücü ◽  
Burcu Can
Keyword(s):  
Linear Model ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Bayesian Model ◽  
Linear Models ◽  
Syntactic Category ◽  
Semantic Parsing ◽  
Pos Tagging ◽  
Part Of Speech ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Log Linear

Part of speech (PoS) tagging is one of the fundamental syntactic tasks in Natural Language Processing, as it assigns a syntactic category to each word within a given sentence or context (such as noun, verb, adjective, etc.). Those syntactic categories could be used to further analyze the sentence-level syntax (e.g., dependency parsing) and thereby extract the meaning of the sentence (e.g., semantic parsing). Various methods have been proposed for learning PoS tags in an unsupervised setting without using any annotated corpora. One of the widely used methods for the tagging problem is log-linear models. Initialization of the parameters in a log-linear model is very crucial for the inference. Different initialization techniques have been used so far. In this work, we present a log-linear model for PoS tagging that uses another fully unsupervised Bayesian model to initialize the parameters of the model in a cascaded framework. Therefore, we transfer some knowledge between two different unsupervised models to leverage the PoS tagging results, where a log-linear model benefits from a Bayesian model’s expertise. We present results for Turkish as a morphologically rich language and for English as a comparably morphologically poor language in a fully unsupervised framework. The results show that our framework outperforms other unsupervised models proposed for PoS tagging.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document