scholarly journals Contextual Acquisition of Concrete and Abstract Words: Behavioural and Electrophysiological Evidence

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 898
Author(s):  
Nadezhda Mkrtychian ◽  
Daria Gnedykh ◽  
Evgeny Blagovechtchenski ◽  
Diana Tsvetova ◽  
Svetlana Kostromina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Source Analysis ◽  
Learning Session ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Word Onset ◽  
Semantic Types ◽  
Abstract Words ◽  
Wernicke’S Area ◽  
And Control ◽  
Concrete Words

Abstract and concrete words differ in their cognitive and neuronal underpinnings, but the exact mechanisms underlying these distinctions are unclear. We investigated differences between these two semantic types by analysing brain responses to newly learnt words with fully controlled psycholinguistic properties. Experimental participants learned 20 novel abstract and concrete words in the context of short stories. After the learning session, event-related potentials (ERPs) to newly learned items were recorded, and acquisition outcomes were assessed behaviourally in a range of lexical and semantic tasks. Behavioural results showed better performance on newly learnt abstract words in lexical tasks, whereas semantic assessments showed a tendency for higher accuracy for concrete words. ERPs to novel abstract and concrete concepts differed early on, ~150 ms after the word onset. Moreover, differences between novel words and control untrained pseudowords were observed earlier for concrete (~150 ms) than for abstract (~200 ms) words. Distributed source analysis indicated bilateral temporo-parietal activation underpinning newly established memory traces, suggesting a crucial role of Wernicke’s area and its right-hemispheric homologue in word acquisition. In sum, we report behavioural and neurophysiological processing differences between concrete and abstract words evident immediately after their controlled acquisition, confirming distinct neurocognitive mechanisms underpinning these types of semantics.

On-line Assessment of Statistical Learning by Event-related Potentials

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 952-964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dilshat Abla ◽  
Kentaro Katahira ◽  
Kazuo Okanoya
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Word Segmentation ◽  
Tone Sequence ◽  
Choice Test ◽  
N400 Effect ◽  
Learning Session ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Word Onset ◽  
On Line

We investigated the neural processes involved in on-line statistical learning and word segmentation. Auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants were exposed to continuous, nonlinguistic auditory sequences, the elements of which were organized into “tritone words” that were sequenced in random order, with no silent spaces between them. After listening to three 6.6-min sessions of sequences, the participants performed a behavioral choice test, in which they were instructed to indicate the most familiar tone sequence in each test trial by pressing buttons. The participants were divided into three groups (high, middle, and low learners) based on their behavioral performance. The overall mean performance was 74.4%, indicating that the tone sequence was segmented and that the participants learned the tone words statistically. Grand-averaged ERPs showed that word onset (initial tone) elicited the largest N100 and N400 in the early learning session of high learners, but in middle learners, the word-onset effect was elicited in a later session, and there was no effect in low learners. The N400 amplitudes significantly differed between the three learning sessions in the high- and middle-learner groups. The results suggest that the N400 effect indicates not only on-line word segmentation but also the degree of statistical learning. This study provides insight into the neural mechanisms underlying on-line statistical learning processes.

Face and Word Recognition in Patients with Left and Right Hemispheric Lesions: Evidence from Reaction Times and ERPs

2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan R. Schweinberger ◽  
Thomas Klos ◽  
Werner Sommer
Keyword(s):  
Slow Wave ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Memory Search ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Performance Deficits ◽  
Set Size ◽  
Left Brain ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Abstract Words ◽  
Left Brain Damage

Abstract: We recorded reaction times (RTs) and event-related potentials (ERPs) in patients with unilateral lesions during a memory search task. Participants memorized faces or abstract words, which were then recognized among new ones. The RT deficit found in patients with left brain damage (LBD) for words increased with memory set size, suggesting that their problem relates to memory search. In contrast, the RT deficit found in patients with RBD for faces was apparently related to perceptual encoding, a conclusion also supported by their reduced P100 ERP component. A late slow wave (720-1720 ms) was enhanced in patients, particularly to words in patients with LBD, and to faces in patients with RBD. Thus, the slow wave was largest in the conditions with most pronounced performance deficits, suggesting that it reflects deficit-related resource recruitment.

scholarly journals Attending to Eliza: rapid brain responses reflect competence attribution in virtual social feedback processing

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 1073-1086 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Schindler ◽  
Gregory A Miller ◽  
Johanna Kissler
Keyword(s):  
Online Communication ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Linear Increase ◽  
Source Analysis ◽  
Social Feedback ◽  
Feedback Processing ◽  
Early Posterior Negativity ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Content Processing ◽  
Socially Motivated

Abstract In the age of virtual communication, the source of a message is often inferred rather than perceived, raising the question of how sender attributions affect content processing. We investigated this issue in an evaluative feedback scenario. Participants were told that an expert psychotherapist, a layperson or a randomly acting computer was going to give them online positive, neutral or negative personality feedback while high-density EEG was recorded. Sender attribution affected processing rapidly, even though the feedback was on average identical. Event-related potentials revealed a linear increase with attributed expertise beginning 150 ms after disclosure and most pronounced for N1, P2 and early posterior negativity components. P3 and late positive potential amplitudes were increased for both human senders and for emotionally significant (positive or negative) feedback. Strikingly, feedback from a putative expert prompted large P3 responses, even for inherently neutral content. Source analysis localized early enhancements due to attributed sender expertise in frontal and somatosensory regions and later responses in the posterior cingulate and extended visual and parietal areas, supporting involvement of mentalizing, embodied processing and socially motivated attention. These findings reveal how attributed sender expertise rapidly alters feedback processing in virtual interaction and have implications for virtual therapy and online communication.

An ERP Study of Expectation Violation in a Social Comparison Context

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xue Du ◽  
Glenn Hitchman ◽  
Qing-Lin Zhang ◽  
Jiang Qiu
Keyword(s):  
Social Comparison ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Cognitive Conflict ◽  
Parahippocampal Gyrus ◽  
Source Analysis ◽  
Dipole Source ◽  
Conflict Task ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Unknown Event

Previous studies pay more attention to the cognitive control in classical cognitive conflict task but the time-course of the expectation violation in a social comparison context remains unknown. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to explore the electrophysiological correlates of expectation violation by using a reward feedback paradigm in a social comparison context. Results showed that: Expectation incongruent stimuli (EIS) elicited a more positive ERP deflection (P400-700) than did expectation congruent stimuli (ECS) between 400 and 700 ms. Furthermore, dipole source analysis revealed that the generator of P400-700 was localized near the posterior cingulate gyrus (PCC), which might be involved in the monitoring and controlling of reward expectation conflict (expectation violation). EIS also elicited a more negative ERP deflection (N1000-1500) than did ECS between 1,000 and 1,500 ms. The generator of N1000-1500 was localized near the parahippocampal gyrus, which might be related to unpleasant emotions induced by a lack of reward feedback.

scholarly journals Event-related Potential Additivity as an Index of Neural Independence

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Valentine ◽  
Margarita Zeitlin ◽  
Chu-Hsuan Kuo ◽  
Lee Osterhout
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Source Analysis ◽  
Continuous Measure ◽  
Principle Of Superposition ◽  
Feature Similarity ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Stimulus Features ◽  
Font Color

Abstract Background Scalp-recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) are poorly suited for certain types of source analysis. For example, it is often difficult to precisely assess whether two ERP waveforms were produced by similar neural sources, especially when the waveforms share the same polarity and a similar scalp topography and temporal dynamics. We report here an alternative method to establishing independence of neural sources grounded in the principle of superposition, which stipulates that electrical fields summate where they intersect in time and space. We assessed the independence of two frequently reported positive waves in the ERP literature, the P300 (elicited by unexpected stimuli) and P600 (elicited by syntactic anomalies). Subjects read sentences that contained a word that was either non-anomalous, unexpected in one feature (capitalized, different font, different font color, or ungrammatical), or unexpected in two features (capitalized and different font style, capitalized and different font color, or capitalized and ungrammatical). Thus, in the double anomaly condition, the similarity between a shared feature (i.e., capitalization) and a second feature was systematically manipulated across conditions from larger degree (i.e., font style) to lesser degree (i.e., ungrammatical) of feature similarity. Results We quantified the degree of source independence for the features of interest by applying a novel Additivity Index, which compares ERPs elicited by the doubly anomalous words to composite waveforms formed by mathematically summing the ERP response to singly anomalous words. The degree of source independence is reflected by the degree of summation, with Additivity scores ranging from 0 (completely non-independent) to 1 (completely independent). The computed Additivity Index values varied with feature similarity in the predicted direction: similar features demonstrated lower Additivity Index values, or lower degrees of independence. On the other hand, dissimilar features manifested robust additivity, resulting in larger AI values. Conclusion We quantified the degree to which the P600 and P300 effects are neurally distinct across stimulus features with varying degrees of similarity by computing a continuous measure of independence via the Additivity Index. These findings indicate that the Additivity Index provides a valid and general method for quantifying the neural independence of scalp-recorded brain potentials.

scholarly journals Testing Models of the Visual Word Form Area Using Combined ERP and fMRI Using the Special Properties of Chinese Characters

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Xiang ◽  
Joseph Dien ◽  
Donald J. Bolger
Keyword(s):  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Source Analysis ◽  
Chinese Characters ◽  
Word Form ◽  
Partially Order ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Visual Word Form Area ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Native Chinese Speakers

AbstractThe visual word form area or VWFA has been of special interest for studies of reading and dyslexia and yet there are conflicting models regarding its function. Here we put the Local Combination Detector, Lexicon, and Interactive accounts to the test, using a combination of event-related potentials and functional magnetic resonance imaging. We do so using both pseudoword and reversed radical false word manipulations with Chinese characters, making use of its special properties. We recorded event-related potentials with 68 channels while twenty native Chinese speakers were making rhyme and meaning judgments on single Chinese characters and BOLD signals were collected in a 3T magnet using multi-plane EPI with a further fifteen native Chinese speakers. The word N170 showed a prolongation for reversed radical false characters while the VWFA also showed an effect of reversal, albeit only for pseudocharacters. Furthermore, an N450 rhyming effect was observed in the phonological task compared to the semantic task, but only via an interaction with reversal. The source analysis of the N450 co-registered with a Supplementary Motor Area activation. The combination of these observations suggests that the ventral orthographic pathway is partially order insensitive and that full phonological encoding occurs relatively late, supporting and expanding a model of dyslexia. Overall, they best support a version of the Lexicon account of the VWFA.

scholarly journals Suggested visual blockade during hypnosis: Top-down modulation of stimulus processing in a visual oddball task

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. e0257380
Author(s):  
Marcel Franz ◽  
Barbara Schmidt ◽  
Holger Hecht ◽  
Ewald Naumann ◽  
Wolfgang H. R. Miltner
Keyword(s):  
Computing Time ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Source Analysis ◽  
Oddball Paradigm ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Time Frequency ◽  
Frontoparietal Network ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Visual Oddball ◽  
Hypnotic Suggestions

Several theories of hypnosis assume that responses to hypnotic suggestions are implemented through top-down modulations via a frontoparietal network that is involved in monitoring and cognitive control. The current study addressed this issue re-analyzing previously published event-related-potentials (ERP) (N1, P2, and P3b amplitudes) and combined it with source reconstruction and connectivity analysis methods. ERP data were obtained from participants engaged in a visual oddball paradigm composed of target, standard, and distractor stimuli during a hypnosis (HYP) and a control (CON) condition. In both conditions, participants were asked to count the rare targets presented on a video screen. During HYP participants received suggestions that a wooden board in front of their eyes would obstruct their view of the screen. The results showed that participants’ counting accuracy was significantly impaired during HYP compared to CON. ERP components in the N1 and P2 window revealed no amplitude differences between CON and HYP at sensor-level. In contrast, P3b amplitudes in response to target stimuli were significantly reduced during HYP compared to CON. Source analysis of the P3b amplitudes in response to targets indicated that HYP was associated with reduced source activities in occipital and parietal brain areas related to stimulus categorization and attention. We further explored how these brain sources interacted by computing time-frequency effective connectivity between electrodes that best represented frontal, parietal, and occipital sources. This analysis revealed reduced directed information flow from parietal attentional to frontal executive sources during processing of target stimuli. These results provide preliminary evidence that hypnotic suggestions of a visual blockade are associated with a disruption of the coupling within the frontoparietal network implicated in top-down control.

scholarly journals Neural correlates of perceptual switching while listening to bistable auditory streaming stimuli

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
NC Higgins ◽  
DF Little ◽  
BD Yerkes ◽  
KM Nave ◽  
A Kuruvilla-Mathew ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Auditory Pathway ◽  
Constant Stimulus ◽  
Stream Segregation ◽  
Source Analysis ◽  
Conscious Perception ◽  
Auditory Streaming ◽  
Bistable Perception ◽  
Related Potentials

AbstractUnderstanding the neural underpinning of conscious perception remains one of the primary challenges of cognitive neuroscience. Theories based mostly on studies of the visual system differ according to whether the neural activity giving rise to conscious perception occurs in modality-specific sensory cortex or in associative areas, such as the frontal and parietal cortices. Here, we search for modality-specific conscious processing in the auditory cortex using a bistable stream segregation paradigm that presents a constant stimulus without the confounding influence of physical changes to sound properties. ABA_ triplets (i.e., alternating low, A, and high, B, tones, and _ gap) with a 700 ms silent response period after every third triplet were presented repeatedly, and human participants reported nearly equivalent proportions of 1- and 2-stream percepts. The pattern of behavioral responses was consistent with previous studies of visual and auditory bistable perception. The intermittent response paradigm has the benefit of evoking spontaneous perceptual switches that can be attributed to a well-defined stimulus event, enabling precise identification of the timing of perception-related neural events with event-related potentials (ERPs). Significantly more negative ERPs were observed for 2-streams compared to 1-stream, and for switches compared to non-switches during the sustained potential (500-1000 ms post-stimulus onset). Further analyses revealed that the negativity associated with switching was independent of switch direction, suggesting that spontaneous changes in perception have a unique neural signature separate from the observation that 2-streams has more negative ERPs than 1-stream. Source analysis of the sustained potential showed activity associated with these differences originating in anterior superior temporal gyrus, indicating involvement of the ventral auditory pathway that is important for processing auditory objects.Significance StatementWhen presented with ambiguous stimuli, the auditory system takes the available information and attempts to construct a useful percept. When multiple percepts are possible from the same stimuli, however, perception fluctuates back and forth between alternating percepts in a bistable manner. Here, we examine spontaneous switches in perception using a bistable auditory streaming paradigm with a novel intermittent stimulus paradigm, and measure sustained electrical activity in anterior portions of auditory cortex using event-related potentials. Analyses revealed enhanced sustained cortical activity when perceiving 2-streams compared to 1-stream, and when a switch occurred regardless of switch direction. These results indicate that neural responses in auditory cortex reflect both the content of perception and neural dynamics related to switches in perception.

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