scholarly journals Tracking Colisteners’ Knowledge States During Language Comprehension

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olessia Jouravlev ◽  
Rachael Schwartz ◽  
Dima Ayyash ◽  
Zachary Mineroff ◽  
Edward Gibson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
N400 Effect ◽  
Comprehension Task ◽  
Knowledge States ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mental Resources ◽  
Processing Difficulty

When we receive information in the presence of other people, are we sensitive to what they do or do not understand? In two event-related-potential experiments, participants read implausible sentences (e.g., “The girl had a little beak”) in contexts that rendered them plausible (e.g., “The girl dressed up as a canary for Halloween”). No semantic-processing difficulty (no N400 effect) ensued when they read the sentences while alone in the room. However, when a confederate was present who did not receive the contexts so that the critical sentences were implausible for him or her, participants exhibited processing difficulty: the social-N400 effect. This effect was obtained when participants were instructed to adopt the confederate’s perspective—and critically, even without such instructions—but not when performing a demanding comprehension task. Thus, unless mental resources are limited, comprehenders engage in modeling the minds not only of those individuals with whom they directly interact but also of those individuals who are merely present during the linguistic exchange.

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.

scholarly journals Semantic Processing in Healthy Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease: A Systematic Review of the N400 Differences

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 770
Author(s):  
Marilyne Joyal ◽  
Charles Groleau ◽  
Clara Bouchard ◽  
Maximiliano A. Wilson ◽  
Shirley Fecteau
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
N400 Effect ◽  
Pathological Aging ◽  
Healthy Elderly

Semantic deficits are common in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). These deficits notably impact the ability to understand words. In healthy aging, semantic knowledge increases but semantic processing (i.e., the ability to use this knowledge) may be impaired. This systematic review aimed to investigate semantic processing in healthy aging and AD through behavioral responses and the N400 brain event-related potential. The results of the quantitative and qualitative analyses suggested an overall decrease in accuracy and increase in response times in healthy elderly as compared to young adults, as well as in individuals with AD as compared to age-matched controls. The influence of semantic association, as measured by N400 effect amplitudes, appears smaller in healthy aging and even more so in AD patients. Thus, semantic processing differences may occur in both healthy and pathological aging. The establishment of norms of healthy aging for these outcomes that vary between normal and pathological aging could eventually help early detection of AD.

scholarly journals The Social N400 effect: how the presence of other listeners affects language comprehension

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shirley-Ann Rueschemeyer ◽  
Tom Gardner ◽  
Cat Stoner
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
N400 Effect ◽  
The Social

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 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.

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.

scholarly journals Implicit Semantic Processing of Linguistic and Non-linguistic Stimuli in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emme O’Rourke ◽  
Emily L. Coderre
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Autistic Traits ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Adults With Autism ◽  
Priming Task ◽  
Adults With Asd

AbstractWhile many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience difficulties with language processing, non-linguistic semantic processing may be intact. We examined neural responses to an implicit semantic priming task by comparing N400 responses—an event-related potential related to semantic processing—in response to semantically related or unrelated pairs of words or pictures. Adults with ASD showed larger N400 responses than typically developing adults for pictures, but no group differences occurred for words. However, we also observed complex modulations of N400 amplitude by age and by level of autistic traits. These results offer important implications for how groups are delineated and compared in autism research.

scholarly journals When Heuristics Clash with Parsing Routines: ERP Evidence for Conflict Monitoring in Sentence Perception

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 1181-1197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marieke van Herten ◽  
Dorothee J. Chwilla ◽  
Herman H. J. Kolk
Keyword(s):  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Syntactic Analysis ◽  
Conflict Monitoring ◽  
N400 Effect ◽  
Word Meanings ◽  
Late Positivity ◽  
Error Related Negativity ◽  
Monitoring Process ◽  
Outcome Monitoring

Monitoring refers to a process of quality control designed to optimize behavioral outcome. Monitoring for action errors manifests itself in an error-related negativity in event-related potential (ERP) studies and in an increase in activity of the anterior cingulate in functional magnetic resonance imaging studies. Here we report evidence for a monitoring process in perception, in particular, language perception, manifesting itself in a late positivity in the ERP. This late positivity, the P600, appears to be triggered by a conflict between two interpretations, one delivered by the standard syntactic algorithm and one by a plausibility heuristic which combines individual word meanings in the most plausible way. To resolve this conflict, we propose that the brain reanalyzes the memory trace of the perceptual input to check for the possibility of a processing error. Thus, as in Experiment 1, when the reader is presented with semantically anomalous sentences such as, “The fox that shot the poacher…,” full syntactic analysis indicates a semantic anomaly, whereas the word-based heuristic leads to a plausible interpretation, that of a poacher shooting a fox. That readers actually pursue such a word-based analysis is indicated by the fact that the usual ERP index of semantic anomaly, the so-called N400 effect, was absent in this case. A P600 effect appeared instead. In Experiment 2, we found that even when the word-based heuristic indicated that only part of the sentence was plausible (e.g., “…that the elephants pruned the trees”), a P600 effect was observed and the N400 effect of semantic anomaly was absent. It thus seems that the plausibility of part of the sentence (e.g., that of pruning trees) was sufficient to create a conflict with the implausible meaning of the sentence as a whole, giving rise to a monitoring response.

scholarly journals Semantic Processing Impairment in Patients with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda G. Jaimes-Bautista ◽  
Mario Rodríguez-Camacho ◽  
Iris E. Martínez-Juárez ◽  
Yaneth Rodríguez-Agudelo
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Temporal Lobe Epilepsy ◽  
Temporal Lobe ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Semantic Networks ◽  
N400 Effect ◽  
Functional Reorganization ◽  
Electrophysiological Studies

The impairment in episodic memory system is the best-known cognitive deficit in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Recent studies have shown evidence of semantic disorders, but they have been less studied than episodic memory. The semantic dysfunction in TLE has various cognitive manifestations, such as the presence of language disorders characterized by defects in naming, verbal fluency, or remote semantic information retrieval, which affects the ability of patients to interact with their surroundings. This paper is a review of recent research about the consequences of TLE on semantic processing, considering neuropsychological, electrophysiological, and neuroimaging findings, as well as the functional role of the hippocampus in semantic processing. The evidence from these studies shows disturbance of semantic memory in patients with TLE and supports the theory of declarative memory of the hippocampus. Functional neuroimaging studies show an inefficient compensatory functional reorganization of semantic networks and electrophysiological studies show a lack of N400 effect that could indicate that the deficit in semantic processing in patients with TLE could be due to a failure in the mechanisms of automatic access to lexicon.

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