scholarly journals Retrieval (N400) and integration (P600) in expectation-based comprehension

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. e0257430
Author(s):  
Christoph Aurnhammer ◽  
Francesca Delogu ◽  
Miriam Schulz ◽  
Harm Brouwer ◽  
Matthew W. Crocker
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Lexical Association ◽  
Reading Experiment ◽  
Continuous Relation ◽  
Open Question

Expectation-based theories of language processing, such as Surprisal theory, are supported by evidence of anticipation effects in both behavioural and neurophysiological measures. Online measures of language processing, however, are known to be influenced by factors such as lexical association that are distinct from—but often confounded with—expectancy. An open question therefore is whether a specific locus of expectancy related effects can be established in neural and behavioral processing correlates. We address this question in an event-related potential experiment and a self-paced reading experiment that independently cross expectancy and lexical association in a context manipulation design. We find that event-related potentials reveal that the N400 is sensitive to both expectancy and lexical association, while the P600 is modulated only by expectancy. Reading times, in turn, reveal effects of both association and expectancy in the first spillover region, followed by effects of expectancy alone in the second spillover region. These findings are consistent with the Retrieval-Integration account of language comprehension, according to which lexical retrieval (N400) is facilitated for words that are both expected and associated, whereas integration difficulty (P600) will be greater for unexpected words alone. Further, an exploratory analysis suggests that the P600 is not merely sensitive to expectancy violations, but rather, that there is a continuous relation. Taken together, these results suggest that the P600, like reading times, may reflect a meaning-centric notion of Surprisal in language comprehension.

Event-related Potential Correlates of Negation in a Sentence–Picture Verification Paradigm

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 1355-1370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Lüdtke ◽  
Claudia K. Friedrich ◽  
Mónica De Filippis ◽  
Barbara Kaup
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Priming Effect ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Foreground Object ◽  
Negative Particle ◽  
Sentence Meaning ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Main Effects

In a sentence–picture verification paradigm, participants were presented in a rapid-serial-visual-presentation paradigm with affirmative or negative sentences (e.g., “In the front of the tower there is a/no ghost”) followed by a matching or mismatching picture. Response latencies and event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured during reading and verification. An enhanced negative shift in the ERPs for the subject noun (i.e., “ghost”) in negative, compared to affirmative sentences, was found during reading. We relate this ERP deflection to enhanced processing demands required by the negative particle no. Although this effect suggests a direct impact of negation on language processing, results for picture processing reveal that negation is not immediately integrated into sentence meaning. When the delay of picture presentation was short (250 msec), verification latencies and ERPs evoked by the picture showed a priming effect independent of whether the sentence contained a negation. Unprimed pictures (foreground object not mentioned in the sentence) led to longer latencies and higher N400 amplitudes than primed pictures (foreground object mentioned in the sentence). Main effects of negation showed up only in a late positive-going ERP effect. In contrast, when the delay was long (1500 msec), we observed main effects of truth value and negation in addition to the priming effect already in the N400 time window, that is, negation is fully integrated into sentence meaning only at a later point in the comprehension process. When negation has not yet been integrated, verification decisions appear to be modulated by additional time-consuming reanalysis processes.

scholarly journals The Impact of Proficiency on Syntactic Second-language Processing of German and Italian: Evidence from Event-related Potentials

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 2030-2048 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja Rossi ◽  
Manfred F. Gugler ◽  
Angela D. Friederici ◽  
Anja Hahne
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Word Category ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Anterior Negativity ◽  
The Impact

The present study investigated the role of proficiency in late second-language (L2) processing using comparable stimuli in German and Italian. Both sets of stimuli consisted of simple active sentences including a word category violation, a morphosyntactic agreement violation, or a combination of the two. Four experiments were conducted to study high- and low-proficiency L2 learners of German as well as high- and low-proficiency L2 learners of Italian. High-proficiency L2 learners in both languages showed the same event-related potential (ERP) components as native speakers for all syntactic violations. For the word category violation, they displayed an early anterior negativity (ELAN), an additional negativity reflecting reference-related processes, and a late P600 evidencing processes of reanalysis. For the processing of the morphosyntactic error, an anterior negativity (LAN) and a P600 were observed, whereas for the combined violation, the same ERP components were found as in the pure category violation. In high-proficiency L2 learners, the timing of the processing steps was equivalent to that of native speakers, although some amplitude differences were present. Low-proficiency L2 learners, however, showed qualitative differences in the agreement violation characterized by the absence of the LAN and quantitative differences reflected in a delayed P600 in every violation condition. These findings emphasize that with a high proficiency, late L2 learners can indeed show native-like neural responses with the timing approximating that of native speakers. This challenges the idea that there are fundamental differences in language processing in the brain between natives and late L2 learners.

scholarly journals Situating language in a minimal social context: how seeing a picture of the speaker’s face affects language comprehension

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Hernández-Gutiérrez ◽  
Francisco Muñoz ◽  
Jose Sánchez-García ◽  
Werner Sommer ◽  
Rasha Abdel Rahman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Semantic Level ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Processing Resources ◽  
Mere Presence ◽  
Anterior Negativity ◽  
Communicative Context

Abstract Natural use of language involves at least two individuals. Some studies have focused on the interaction between senders in communicative situations and how the knowledge about the speaker can bias language comprehension. However, the mere effect of a face as a social context on language processing remains unknown. In the present study, we used event-related potentials to investigate the semantic and morphosyntactic processing of speech in the presence of a photographic portrait of the speaker. In Experiment 1, we show that the N400, a component related to semantic comprehension, increased its amplitude when processed within this minimal social context compared to a scrambled face control condition. Hence, the semantic neural processing of speech is sensitive to the concomitant perception of a picture of the speaker’s face, even if irrelevant to the content of the sentences. Moreover, a late posterior negativity effect was found to the presentation of the speaker’s face compared to control stimuli. In contrast, in Experiment 2, we found that morphosyntactic processing, as reflected in left anterior negativity and P600 effects, is not notably affected by the presence of the speaker’s portrait. Overall, the present findings suggest that the mere presence of the speaker’s image seems to trigger a minimal communicative context, increasing processing resources for language comprehension at the semantic level.

Electrophysiological Methods in the Study of Language Processing

2019 ◽  
pp. 41-71
Author(s):  
Michelle Leckey ◽  
Kara D. Federmeier
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Design ◽  
Temporal Resolution ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Ideal Method ◽  
Electrophysiological Methods

Gaining an understanding of the neural correlates of language is a difficult task given the rapidity of language processing. The excellent temporal resolution associated with event-related potentials (ERPs) makes them an ideal method for investigations in this area. This chapter discusses factors that must be considered when using ERPs and provides guidelines for effective experimental design and recording and analysis of ERP data. It then discusses the characteristics of a number of ERP components used in the study of language comprehension and production, offering examples of how these have been implemented within a variety of research areas.

scholarly journals Event Related Potential Signal Capture Can Be Enhanced through Dynamic SNR-Weighted Channel Pooling

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (21) ◽  
pp. 7258
Author(s):  
Sujoy Ghosh Ghosh Hajra ◽  
Careesa C. Liu ◽  
Shaun D. Fickling ◽  
Gabriela M. Pawlowski ◽  
Xiaowei Song ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Simulated Data ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
New Technique ◽  
Pool Data ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Brain Functions ◽  
Related Potentials

Background: Electroencephalography (EEG)-derived event-related potentials (ERPs) provide information about a variety of brain functions, but often suffer from low inherent signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). To overcome the low SNR, techniques that pool data from multiple sensors have been applied. However, such pooling implicitly assumes that the SNR among sensors is equal, which is not necessarily valid. This study presents a novel approach for signal pooling that accounts for differential SNR among sensors. Methods: The new technique involves pooling together signals from multiple EEG channels weighted by their respective SNRs relative to the overall SNR of all channels. We compared ERP responses derived using this new technique with those derived using both individual channels as well as traditional averaged-based channel pooling. The outcomes were evaluated in both simulated data and real data from healthy adult volunteers (n = 37). Responses corresponding to a range of ERP components indexing auditory sensation (N100), attention (P300) and language processing (N400) were evaluated. Results: Simulation results demonstrate that, compared to traditional pooling technique, the new SNR-weighted channel pooling technique improved ERP response effect size in cases of unequal noise among channels (p’s < 0.001). Similarly, results from real-world experimental data showed that the new technique resulted in significantly greater ERP effect sizes compared to either traditional pooling or individual channel approach for all three ERP components (p’s < 0.001). Furthermore, the new channel pooling approach also resulted in larger ERP signal amplitudes as well as greater differences among experimental conditions (p’s < 0.001). Conclusion: These results suggest that the new technique improves the capture of ERP responses relative to traditional techniques. As such, SNR-weighted channel pooling can further enable widespread applications of ERP techniques, especially those that require rapid assessments in noisy out-of-laboratory environments.

Neural dynamics of trainee teachers' emotional conflict processing: An event-related potential study

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (7) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Li Jin ◽  
Xu Li ◽  
Jiamei Lu ◽  
Nianqu Chen ◽  
Lin Cheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
School Context ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
The Body ◽  
Educational Context ◽  
Congruent Condition ◽  
Slow Potential ◽  
Emotional Conflict ◽  
Trainee Teachers ◽  
Related Potentials

We investigated emotional conflict in an educational context with an emotional body–word Stroop paradigm, examining whether the N450 (a late fronto-central phasic negative event-related potential signature) and slow potential (SP) effects could be evoked in trainee teachers. The N450 effect is characterized by topography and negative polarity of an incongruent minus congruent difference potential, and the SP effect has positive polarity (incongruent minus congruent difference potential). Positive and negative body language examples were obtained from pupils in an actual school context, and emotional words were selected. Compound stimuli were presented, each comprising a congruent or incongruent word displayed across a body image. Event-related potentials were recorded while participants judged body expression valence. Reaction times were longer and accuracies were lower for the incongruent compared to the congruent condition. The N450 component amplitude in the incongruent condition was more negative than in the congruent condition. Results showed a behavioral interference effect and an N450 effect for trainee teachers in this context, thus indicating that the body–word task was efficient in assessing emotional conflict in an educational context, and trainee teachers' perception of body expressions of students could be influenced by emotional signals. The findings further the understanding of emotional conflict in an educational context.

scholarly journals Eliciting and Recording Event Related Potentials (ERPs) in Behaviourally Unresponsive Populations: A Retrospective Commentary on Critical Factors

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 835
Author(s):  
Alexander Rokos ◽  
Richard Mah ◽  
Rober Boshra ◽  
Amabilis Harrison ◽  
Tsee Leng Choy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Stimulus Presentation ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Critical Factors ◽  
Healthy Elderly ◽  
States Of Consciousness ◽  
Long Latency ◽  
Eeg Data ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
The Relationship

A consistent limitation when designing event-related potential paradigms and interpreting results is a lack of consideration of the multivariate factors that affect their elicitation and detection in behaviorally unresponsive individuals. This paper provides a retrospective commentary on three factors that influence the presence and morphology of long-latency event-related potentials—the P3b and N400. We analyze event-related potentials derived from electroencephalographic (EEG) data collected from small groups of healthy youth and healthy elderly to illustrate the effect of paradigm strength and subject age; we analyze ERPs collected from an individual with severe traumatic brain injury to illustrate the effect of stimulus presentation speed. Based on these critical factors, we support that: (1) the strongest paradigms should be used to elicit event-related potentials in unresponsive populations; (2) interpretation of event-related potential results should account for participant age; and (3) speed of stimulus presentation should be slower in unresponsive individuals. The application of these practices when eliciting and recording event-related potentials in unresponsive individuals will help to minimize result interpretation ambiguity, increase confidence in conclusions, and advance the understanding of the relationship between long-latency event-related potentials and states of consciousness.

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