Cowles H W, Kluender Robert, Kutas Marta, Polinsky Maria
University of Florida, Linguistics, P.O. Box 115454, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
Brain Lang. 2007 Sep;102(3):228-42. doi: 10.1016/j.bandl.2007.04.004. Epub 2007 May 22.
This study investigates brain responses to violations of information structure in wh-question-answer pairs, with particular emphasis on violations of focus assignment in it-clefts (It was the queen that silenced the banker). Two types of ERP responses in answers to wh-questions were found. First, all words in the focus-marking (cleft) position elicited a large positivity (P3b) characteristic of sentence-final constituents, as did the final words of these sentences, which suggests that focused elements may trigger integration effects like those seen at sentence end. Second, the focusing of an inappropriate referent elicited a smaller, N400-like effect. The results show that comprehenders actively use structural focus cues and discourse-level restrictions during online sentence processing. These results, based on visual stimuli, were different from the brain response to auditory focus violations indicated by pitch-accent [Hruska, C., Steinhauer, K., Alter, K., & Steube, A. (2000). ERP effects of sentence accents and violations of the information structure. In Poster presented at the 13th annual CUNY conference on human sentence processing, San Diego, CA.], but similar to brain responses to newly introduced discourse referents [Bornkessel, I., Schlesewsky, M., & Friederici, A. (2003). Contextual information modulated initial processes of syntactic integration: the role of inter- versus intrasentential predictions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 29, 871-882.].
本研究调查大脑对特殊疑问句-回答对中信息结构违反情况的反应，特别强调对分裂句（“是女王让银行家沉默了”）中焦点分配违反情况的研究。在对特殊疑问句的回答中发现了两种类型的ERP反应。首先，焦点标记（分裂句）位置中的所有单词都引发了一种句子末尾成分特有的大的正波（P3b），这些句子的最后一个单词也是如此，这表明焦点元素可能会引发类似于句子末尾所见的整合效应。其次，对不适当所指对象的聚焦引发了较小的、类似N400的效应。结果表明，理解者在在线句子处理过程中会积极使用结构焦点线索和语篇层面的限制。这些基于视觉刺激的结果与音高重音所表明的对听觉焦点违反的大脑反应不同[赫鲁斯卡，C.，施泰因豪尔，K.，阿尔特，K.，& 施图贝，A.（2000年）。句子重音和信息结构违反的ERP效应。在第13届纽约城市大学人类句子处理年度会议上展示的海报，加利福尼亚州圣地亚哥。]，但与对新引入的语篇所指对象的大脑反应相似[博恩凯塞尔，I.，施莱舍夫斯基，M.，& 弗里德里希，A.（2003年）。语境信息调节句法整合的初始过程：句间与句内预测的作用。《实验心理学杂志：学习、记忆与认知》，29，871 - 882。]。
