Are all code-switches processed the same? Examining semantic v. language unexpectancy

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.

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Metaphors are like lenses: Electrophysiological correlates of novel meaning processing in bilingualism

International Journal of Bilingualism ◽

10.1177/1367006921996820 ◽

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.

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Semantic Processing of Sentences in Preschoolers With Specific Language Impairment: Evidence From the N400 Effect

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2016_jslhr-l-15-0299 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 60 (3) ◽

pp. 627-639 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

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.

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

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci10110770 ◽

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.

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Electrophysiological signatures of English onomatopoeia

Language and Cognition ◽

10.1017/langcog.2019.38 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 15-35 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

GABRIELLA VIGLIOCCO ◽

YE ZHANG ◽

NICOLA DEL MASCHIO ◽

ROSANNA TODD ◽

JYRKI TUOMAINEN

Keyword(s):

Target Word ◽

Language Processing ◽

Semantic Processing ◽

Time Window ◽

Time Windows ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Semantic Activation ◽

Level Ii ◽

Lexical Effects ◽

Related Potentials

abstractOnomatopoeia is widespread across the world’s languages. They represent a relatively simple iconic mapping: the phonological/phonetic properties of the word evokes acoustic related features of referents. Here, we explore the EEG correlates of processing onomatopoeia in English. Participants were presented with a written cue-word (e.g., leash) and then with a spoken target-word. The target-word was either an onomatopoeia (e.g., bark), a sound-related but arbitrary word (e.g., melody), or another arbitrary word (e.g., bike). Participants judged whether the cue- and the target-word were similar in meaning. We analysed Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) in different time-windows: (i) early (100–200 and 200–250 ms) to assess differences in processing at the form-level; (ii) the N400 time-window (300–500 ms) in order to establish if there are differences in semantic processing across our word-types; and (iii) late (600–900 ms) to assess post-lexical effects. We found that onomatopoeia differed from the other words in the N400 time-window: when cue and target were unrelated, onomatopoeic words led to greater negativity which can be accounted for in terms of enhanced semantic activation of onomatopoeia which leads to greater salience of the mismatch. We discuss results in the context of a growing body of literature investigating iconicity in language processing and development.

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Tracking Colisteners’ Knowledge States During Language Comprehension

Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/0956797618807674 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 30 (1) ◽

pp. 3-19 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

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.

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Concurrent use of animacy and event-knowledge during comprehension: Evidence from event-related potentials

10.31234/osf.io/2qbmp ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Mariana Vega-Mendoza ◽

Martin John Pickering ◽

Mante S. Nieuwland

Keyword(s):

Real World ◽

Semantic Processing ◽

Sentence Comprehension ◽

Time Window ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Semantic Relatedness ◽

Judgment Task ◽

N400 Effect ◽

Event Knowledge ◽

Related Potentials

In two ERP experiments, we investigated whether readers prioritize animacy over real-world event-knowledge during sentence comprehension. We used the paradigm of Paczynski and Kuperberg (2012), who argued that animacy is prioritized based on the observations that the ‘related anomaly effect’ (reduced N400s for context-related anomalous words compared to unrelated words) does not occur for animacy violations, and that animacy violations but not relatedness violations elicit P600 effects. Participants read passive sentences with plausible agents (e.g., The prescription for the mental disorder was written by the psychiatrist) or implausible agents that varied in animacy and semantic relatedness (schizophrenic/guard/pill/fence). In Experiment 1 (with a plausibility judgment task), plausible sentences elicited smaller N400s relative to all types of implausible sentences. Moreover, animate words elicited smaller N400s than inanimate words, and related words elicited smaller N400s than unrelated words. Crucially, at the P600 time-window, we observed more positive ERPs for animate than inanimate words and for related than unrelated words at anterior regions. In Experiment 2 (with no judgment task), we observed an N400 effect with animacy violations, but no other effects. Taken together, the results of our experiments fail to support a prioritized role of animacy information over real-world event-knowledge, but they support an interactive, constraint-based view on incremental semantic processing.

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Separating Event-related Potential Effects for Conceptual Fluency and Episodic Familiarity

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_01131 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 29 (8) ◽

pp. 1402-1414 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Regine Bader ◽

Axel Mecklinger

Keyword(s):

Time Window ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

N400 Effect ◽

Priming Effects ◽

Conceptual Priming ◽

Conceptual Fluency ◽

New Words ◽

Conceptual Processing ◽

Scalp Distribution ◽

Unrelated Condition

ERP old/new effects have been associated with different subprocesses of episodic recognition memory. The notion that recollection is reflected in the left parietal old/new effect seems to be uncontested. However, an association between episodic familiarity and the mid-frontal old/new effect is not uncontroversial. It has been argued that the mid-frontal old/new effect is functionally equivalent to the N400 and hence merely reflects differences in conceptual fluency between old and new items. Therefore, it is related to episodic familiarity only in situations in which conceptual fluency covaries with familiarity. Alternatively, the old/new effect in this time window reflects an interaction of episodic familiarity and conceptual processing with each making a unique functional contribution. To test this latter account, we manipulated conceptual fluency and episodic familiarity orthogonally in an incidental recognition test: Visually presented old and new words were preceded by either conceptually related or unrelated auditory prime words. If the mid-frontal old/new effect is functionally distinguishable from conceptual priming effects, an ERP contrast reflecting pure priming (correct rejections in the related vs. unrelated condition) and a contrast reflecting priming plus familiarity (hits in the related vs. correct rejections in the unrelated condition) should differ in scalp distribution. As predicted, the pure priming contrast had a right-parietal distribution, as typically observed for the N400 effect, whereas the priming plus familiarity contrast was significantly more frontally accentuated. These findings implicate that old/new effects in this time window are driven by unique functional contributions of episodic familiarity and conceptual processing.

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No evidence from MVPA for different processes underlying the N300 and N400 incongruity effects in object-scene processing

10.31234/osf.io/gjtda ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Dejan Draschkow ◽

Edvard Heikel ◽

Melissa L.-H. Vo ◽

Christian Fiebach ◽

Jona Sassenhagen

Keyword(s):

Semantic Processing ◽

Time Window ◽

Scene Perception ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Human Cognition ◽

Time Resolved ◽

Time Points ◽

Context Sensitive ◽

High Level ◽

Time Point

Attributing meaning to diverse visual input is a core feature of human cognition. Violating environmental expectations (e.g., a toothbrush in the fridge) induces a late event-related negativity of the event-related potential/ERP. This N400 ERP has not only been linked to the semantic processing of language, but also to objects and scenes. Inconsistent object-scene relationships are additionally associated with an earlier negative deflection of the EEG signal between 250 and 350 ms. This N300 is hypothesized to reflect pre-semantic perceptual processes. To investigate whether these two components are truly separable or if the early object-scene integration activity (250–350 ms) shares certain levels of processing with the late neural correlates of meaning processing (350–500 ms), we used time-resolved multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) where a classifier trained at one time point in a trial (e.g., during the N300 time window) is tested at every other time point (i.e., including the N400 time window). Forty participants were presented with semantic inconsistencies, in which an object was inconsistent with a scene's meaning. Replicating previous findings, our manipulation produced significant N300 and N400 deflections. MVPA revealed above chance decoding performance for classifiers trained during time points of the N300 component and tested during later time points of the N400, and vice versa. This provides no evidence for the activation of two separable neurocognitive processes following the violation of context-dependent predictions in visual scene perception. Our data supports the early appearance of high-level, context-sensitive processes in visual cognition.

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Modality Switches Occur Early and Extend Late in Conceptual Processing: Evidence From ERPs - Master's Thesis

10.31234/osf.io/5gjvk ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Pablo Bernabeu

Keyword(s):

Word Recognition ◽

Functional Role ◽

Time Window ◽

Time Windows ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Visual Modality ◽

Conceptual Processing ◽

Master's Thesis ◽

Word Onset

The engagement of sensory brain regions during word recognition is widely documented, yet its precise relevance is less clear. It would constitute perceptual simulation only if it has a functional role in conceptual processing. We investigated this in an Event-Related Potential (ERP) experiment implementing the conceptual modality switch paradigm. In each trial, participants verified the relation between a property word and a concept word. Orthogonally, we manipulated the conceptual modality of successive trials, and tested whether switching modalities incurred any processing costs at different stages of word recognition. Unlike previous studies, we time-locked ERPs to the first word of target trials, in order to measure the modality transitions from the beginning, and also to reduce confounds within the target trial. Further, we included different types of switch—one from auditory to visual modality, and one from haptic to visual—, which were compared to the non-switch—visual to visual. Also, one group of participants was asked to respond quickly (n = 21), and another group to respond self-paced (n = 21), whilst a few others received no constraints (n = 5). We found ERP effects in four typical time windows from 160 to 750 ms post word onset. The overall effect is characterized by a negativity for modality-switching relative to not switching, and it increases over time. Further, the effect arises with both types of switch, and influences both participant groups within anterior and posterior brain regions. The emergence of this effect in the first time window particularly suggests that sensory regions may have a functional role in conceptual processing. The increased effect later on converges with previous studies in supporting the compatibility of distributional and embodied processing. On a less conclusive note, more research may be necessary to ascertain the nature of the effect at late stages.

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Selective Devaluation Affects the Processing of Preferred Rewards

Cognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience ◽

10.3758/s13415-021-00904-x ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Dana M. Huvermann ◽

Christian Bellebaum ◽

Jutta Peterburs

Keyword(s):

Time Window ◽

Time Windows ◽

Reward Processing ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Gambling Task ◽

Motivational State ◽

Promising Tool ◽

High Preference ◽

Desire To Eat ◽

Specific Food

AbstractThe present study investigated whether the representation of subjective preferences in the event-related potential is manipulable through selective devaluation, i.e., the consumption of a specific food item until satiety. Thirty-four participants completed a gambling task in which they chose between virtual doors to find one of three snack items, representing a high, medium, or low preference outcome as defined by individual desire-to-eat ratings. In one of two test sessions, they underwent selective devaluation of the high preference outcome. In the other, they completed the task on an empty stomach. Consistent with previous findings, averaged across sessions, amplitudes were increased for more preferred rewards in the time windows of P2, late FRN, and P300. As hypothesised, we also found a selective devaluation effect for the high preference outcome in the P300 time window, reflected in a decrease in amplitude. The present results provide evidence for modulations of reward processing not only by individual factors, such as subjective preferences, but also by the current motivational state. Importantly, the present data suggest that selective devaluation effects in the P300 may be a promising tool to further characterise altered valuation of food rewards in the context of eating disorders and obesity.

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