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 Event-related potentials reflect prediction errors and pop-out during comprehension of degraded speech

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Banellis ◽  
Rodika Sokoliuk ◽  
Conor J Wild ◽  
Howard Bowman ◽  
Damian Cruse
Keyword(s):  
Prediction Error ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Prediction Errors ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Degraded Speech ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Task Goals ◽  
Post Hoc

Abstract Comprehension of degraded speech requires higher-order expectations informed by prior knowledge. Accurate top-down expectations of incoming degraded speech cause a subjective semantic ‘pop-out’ or conscious breakthrough experience. Indeed, the same stimulus can be perceived as meaningless when no expectations are made in advance. We investigated the event-related potential (ERP) correlates of these top-down expectations, their error signals and the subjective pop-out experience in healthy participants. We manipulated expectations in a word-pair priming degraded (noise-vocoded) speech task and investigated the role of top-down expectation with a between-groups attention manipulation. Consistent with the role of expectations in comprehension, repetition priming significantly enhanced perceptual intelligibility of the noise-vocoded degraded targets for attentive participants. An early ERP was larger for mismatched (i.e. unexpected) targets than matched targets, indicative of an initial error signal not reliant on top-down expectations. Subsequently, a P3a-like ERP was larger to matched targets than mismatched targets only for attending participants—i.e. a pop-out effect—while a later ERP was larger for mismatched targets and did not significantly interact with attention. Rather than relying on complex post hoc interactions between prediction error and precision to explain this apredictive pattern, we consider our data to be consistent with prediction error minimization accounts for early stages of processing followed by Global Neuronal Workspace-like breakthrough and processing in service of task goals.

scholarly journals Neural correlates of acoustic dissonance in music: The role of musicianship, schematic and veridical expectations

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. e0260728
Author(s):  
Carlota Pagès-Portabella ◽  
Mila Bertolo ◽  
Juan M. Toro
Keyword(s):  
Musical Training ◽  
Time Windows ◽  
Early Time ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Neural Processing ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Integration Mechanisms

In western music, harmonic expectations can be fulfilled or broken by unexpected chords. Musical irregularities in the absence of auditory deviance elicit well-studied neural responses (e.g. ERAN, P3, N5). These responses are sensitive to schematic expectations (induced by syntactic rules of chord succession) and veridical expectations about predictability (induced by experimental regularities). However, the cognitive and sensory contributions to these responses and their plasticity as a result of musical training remains under debate. In the present study, we explored whether the neural processing of pure acoustic violations is affected by schematic and veridical expectations. Moreover, we investigated whether these two factors interact with long-term musical training. In Experiment 1, we registered the ERPs elicited by dissonant clusters placed either at the middle or the ending position of chord cadences. In Experiment 2, we presented to the listeners with a high proportion of cadences ending in a dissonant chord. In both experiments, we compared the ERPs of musicians and non-musicians. Dissonant clusters elicited distinctive neural responses (an early negativity, the P3 and the N5). While the EN was not affected by syntactic rules, the P3a and P3b were larger for dissonant closures than for middle dissonant chords. Interestingly, these components were larger in musicians than in non-musicians, while the N5 was the opposite. Finally, the predictability of dissonant closures in our experiment did not modulate any of the ERPs. Our study suggests that, at early time windows, dissonance is processed based on acoustic deviance independently of syntactic rules. However, at longer latencies, listeners may be able to engage integration mechanisms and further processes of attentional and structural analysis dependent on musical hierarchies, which are enhanced in musicians.

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 Neural Responses of Benefiting From the Prosocial Exchange: The Effect of Helping Behavior

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Olivo ◽  
Andrea Di Ciano ◽  
Jessica Mauro ◽  
Lucia Giudetti ◽  
Alan Pampallona ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prosocial Behavior ◽  
Occipital Cortex ◽  
Helping Behavior ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
Temporal Pole ◽  
Visual Cortices

Prosocial behavior is critical for the natural development of an individual as well as for promoting social relationships. Although this complex behavior results from gratuitous acts occurring between an agent and a recipient and a wealth of literature on prosocial behavior has investigated these actions, little is known about the effects on the recipient and the neurobiology underlying them. In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify neural correlates of receiving prosocial behavior in the context of real-world experiences, with different types of action provided by the agent, including practical help and effort appreciation. Practical help was associated with increased activation in a network of regions spanning across bilateral superior temporal sulcus, temporoparietal junction, temporal pole, and medial prefrontal cortex. Effort appreciation was associated with activation and increased task-modulated connectivity of the occipital cortex. Prosocial-dependent brain responses were associated with positive affect. Our results support the role of the theory of mind network and the visual cortices in mediating the positive effects of receiving gratuitous help. Moreover, they indicate that specific types of prosocial behavior are mediated by distinct brain networks, which further demonstrates the uniqueness of the psychological processes underlying prosocial actions.

scholarly journals The Influence of Stimulus Deviance on Electrophysiologic and Behavioral Responses to Novel Events

2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirk R. Daffner ◽  
Leonard F.M. Scinto ◽  
Vivian Calvo ◽  
Robert Faust ◽  
M. Marsel Mesulam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Button Press ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Background Stimulus ◽  
Preceding Context ◽  
Within Subjects

This study investigated the role of stimulus deviance in determining electrophysiologic and behavioral responses to “novelty.” Stimulus deviance was defined in terms of differences either from the immediately preceding context or from long-term experience. Subjects participated in a visual event-related potential (ERP) experiment, in which they controlled the duration of stimulus viewing with a button press, which served as a measure of exploratory behavior. Each of the three experimental conditions included a frequent repetitive background stimulus and infrequent stimuli that deviated from the background stimulus. In one condition, both background and deviant stimuli were simple, easily recognizable geometric figures. In another condition, both background and deviant stimuli were unusual/unfamiliar figures, and in a third condition, the background stimulus was a highly unusual figure, and the deviant stimuli were simple, geometric shapes. Deviant stimuli elicited larger N2-P3 amplitudes and longer viewing durations than the repetitive background stimulus, even when the deviant stimuli were simple, familiar shapes and the background stimulus was a highly unusual figure. Compared to simple, familiar deviant stimuli, unusual deviant stimuli elicited larger N2-P3 amplitudes and longer viewing times. Within subjects, the deviant stimuli that evoked the largest N2-P3 responses also elicited the longest viewing durations. We conclude that deviance from both immediate context and long-term prior experience contribute to the response to novelty, with the combination generating the largest N2-P3 amplitude and the most sustained attention. The amplitude of the N2-P3 may reflect how much “uncertainty” is evoked by a novel visual stimulus and signal the need for further exploration and cognitive processing.

scholarly journals Dissociable Contributions of Imagination and Willpower to the Malleability of Human Patience

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 894-906 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrianna C. Jenkins ◽  
Ming Hsu
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Intertemporal Choice ◽  
Framing Effects ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Behavioral Experiment ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Human Functioning

The ability to exercise patience is important for human functioning. Although it is known that patience can be promoted by using top-down control, or willpower, to override impatient impulses, patience is also malleable—in particular, susceptible to framing effects—in ways that are difficult to explain using willpower alone. So far, the mechanisms underlying framing effects on patience have been elusive. We investigated the role of imagination in these effects. In a behavioral experiment (Experiment 1), a classic framing manipulation (sequence framing) increased self-reported and independently coded imagination during intertemporal choice. In an investigation of neural responses during decision making (Experiment 2), sequence framing increased the extent to which patience was related to activation in brain regions associated with imagination, relative to activation in regions associated with willpower, and increased functional connectivity of brain regions associated with imagination, but not willpower, relative to regions associated with valuation. Our results suggest that sequence framing can increase the role of imagination in decision making without increasing the exertion of willpower.

Top-down Enhancement and Suppression of the Magnitude and Speed of Neural Activity

2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 507-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Gazzaley ◽  
Jeffrey W. Cooney ◽  
Kevin McEvoy ◽  
Robert T. Knight ◽  
Mark D'Esposito
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Task Instruction ◽  
Association Cortex ◽  
Neural Processing ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Directed Attention ◽  
Performance Deficits ◽  
Visual Association Cortex

Top-down modulation underlies our ability to selectively attend to relevant stimuli and to ignore irrelevant stimuli. Theories addressing neural mechanisms of top-down modulation are driven by studies that reveal increased magnitude of neural activity in response to directed attention, but are limited by a lack of data reporting modulation of neural processing speed, as well as comparisons with a perceptual (passive view) baseline necessary to evaluate the presence of enhancement and suppression. Utilizing functional MRI (fMRI) and event-related potential recordings (ERPs), we provide converging evidence that both themagnitude of neural activity and thespeed of neural processing are modulated by top-down influences. Furthermore, bothenhancement andsuppression occur relative to a perceptual baseline depending on task instruction. These findings reveal the fine degree of influence that goal-directed attention exerts upon activity within the visual association cortex. We further document capacity limitations in top-down enhancement corresponding with working memory performance deficits.

Top-Down Processing and Visual Reorientation Illusions in a Virtual Reality Environment

2004 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 143-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred W. Mast ◽  
Charles M. Oman
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Line Length ◽  
Perceptual Cues ◽  
Virtual Reality Environment ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Test Conditions ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Processing Mechanisms

The role of top-down processing on the horizontal-vertical line length illusion was examined by means of an ambiguous room with dual visual verticals. In one of the test conditions, the subjects were cued to one of the two verticals and were instructed to cognitively reassign the apparent vertical to the cued orientation. When they have mentally adjusted their perception, two lines in a plus sign configuration appeared and the subjects had to evaluate which line was longer. The results showed that the line length appeared longer when it was aligned with the direction of the vertical currently perceived by the subject. This study provides a demonstration that top-down processing influences lower level visual processing mechanisms. In another test condition, the subjects had all perceptual cues available and the influence was even stronger.

On the Methodology of Cartel agreements analysis

2014 ◽  
pp. 53-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Andreyashchenko ◽  
A. Zazdravnykh
Keyword(s):  
Economic Models ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Industrial Markets

This article is an attempt of summarizing key economic approaches to cartel agreements analysis, its stability, ways of estimating social consequences of cartel agreements. It is alleged that the traditional way of understanding the cartels’ role as completely negative is not accurate; this type of inter-corporate agreements may also bring positive effects on industrial markets. Typical limits of analytical apparatus, contradictions that appear while interpreting results of specific economic models are also represented in the article, as well as substantiation of a discrete role of pricing factor within the analysis of anti-competitive agreements.

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