Phillips Colin, Kazanina Nina, Abada Shani H
Department of Linguistics, University of Maryland, 1401 Marie Mount Hall, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 2005 Mar;22(3):407-28. doi: 10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2004.09.012. Epub 2004 Nov 19.
In behavioral studies on sentence comprehension, much evidence indicates that shorter dependencies are preferred over longer dependencies, and that longer dependencies incur a greater processing cost. However, it remains uncertain which of the various steps involved in the processing of long-distance dependencies is responsible for the increased cost of longer dependencies. Previous sentence comprehension studies using event-related potentials (ERPs) have revealed response components that reflect the construction [J. King, M. Kutas, Who did what and when? Using word- and clause-level ERPs to monitor working memory usage in reading. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 7, (1995) 376-395.] and completion [E. Kaan, A. Harris, E. Gibson, P. Holcomb, The P600 as an index of syntactic integration difficulty. Language and Cognitive Processes, 5, (2000) 159-201.] of long-distance wh-dependencies. This article reports one off-line rating study and one ERP study that manipulated both the presence of wh-dependencies and the length of the dependencies (one clause vs. two clauses), with the aim of clarifying the locus of length-sensitivity and the functional role of associated ERP components. Results of the off-line study confirm that longer wh-dependencies incur greater processing cost. Results of the ERP study indicate that both a sustained anterior negativity that follows the initiation of the wh-dependency and also a late posterior positivity (P600) that marks the completion of the dependency are sensitive to the presence of a wh-dependency, but do not show amplitude variations reflecting the length of the dependency. However, the P600 is delayed when it marks the completion of a longer wh-dependency. This suggests that both the sustained negativity and the P600 reflect length-insensitive aspects of the construction of syntactic dependencies. In addition, an N400 component is elicited in the middle of the two clause wh-dependency, upon encountering a verb with an argument structure that prevents completion of the dependency.
在句子理解的行为研究中，大量证据表明，较短的依存关系比长依存关系更受青睐，而且长依存关系会带来更高的处理成本。然而，在远距离依存关系处理过程中涉及的各个步骤中，究竟哪一步导致了长依存关系成本的增加，仍不明确。先前使用事件相关电位（ERP）进行的句子理解研究揭示了反映远距离wh-依存关系构建[J. 金，M. 库塔斯，谁做了什么以及何时做的？使用词级和从句级ERP监测阅读中的工作记忆使用情况。《认知神经科学杂志》，7，（1995）376 - 395。]和完成[E. 卡恩，A. 哈里斯，E. 吉布森，P. 霍尔科姆，P600作为句法整合难度指标。《语言与认知过程》，5，（2000）159 - 201。]的反应成分。本文报告了一项离线评级研究和一项ERP研究，这两项研究对wh-依存关系的存在和依存关系的长度（一个从句与两个从句）进行了操纵，目的是阐明长度敏感性的位置以及相关ERP成分的功能作用。离线研究结果证实，较长的wh-依存关系会带来更高的处理成本。ERP研究结果表明，wh-依存关系开始后持续出现的前部负波以及标志着依存关系完成的后部晚期正波（P600）都对wh-依存关系的存在敏感，但未表现出反映依存关系长度的幅度变化。然而，当P600标志着较长wh-依存关系的完成时，其出现会延迟。这表明持续负波和P600都反映了句法依存关系构建中对长度不敏感的方面。此外，在两个从句的wh-依存关系中间，当遇到一个具有阻止依存关系完成的论元结构的动词时，会引发一个N400成分。
