Siyanova-Chanturia Anna, Conklin Kathy, Caffarra Sendy, Kaan Edith, van Heuven Walter J B
School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
School of English, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom.
Brain Lang. 2017 Dec;175:111-122. doi: 10.1016/j.bandl.2017.10.004. Epub 2017 Nov 2.
Language comprehension is sensitive to the predictability of the upcoming information. Prediction allows for smooth, expedient and successful communication. While general discourse-based constraints have been investigated in detail, more specific phrase-level prediction has received little attention. We address this gap by exploring the ERPs elicited during the comprehension of English binomials - familiar and predictable multi-word expressions. In Experiment 1a, participants read binomial expressions (knife and fork), infrequent strongly associated phrases (spoon and fork), and semantic violations (theme and fork). In Experiment 1b, participants read the same stimuli without "and". Experiment 1a revealed that binomials elicited larger P300s and smaller N400s compared to the other conditions, reflecting the activation of a 'template' that matches the upcoming information (P300) and pointing to easier semantic integration (N400). In contrast, no differences were observed between binomials and associates in Experiment 1b. We conclude that distinct mechanisms underlie the processing of predicable and novel sequences.
语言理解对即将出现的信息的可预测性很敏感。预测有助于实现流畅、便捷且成功的交流。虽然基于一般话语的限制已得到详细研究，但更具体的短语层面的预测却很少受到关注。我们通过探究在理解英语二项式（熟悉且可预测的多词表达）过程中引发的事件相关电位（ERP）来填补这一空白。在实验1a中，参与者阅读二项式表达（刀叉）、不常见的强关联短语（勺子和叉子）以及语义违反情况（主题和叉子）。在实验1b中，参与者阅读相同的刺激材料，但没有“和”。实验1a表明，与其他条件相比，二项式引发了更大的P300和更小的N400，这反映了与即将出现的信息相匹配的“模板”的激活（P300），并表明语义整合更容易（N400）。相比之下，在实验1b中，二项式和关联短语之间未观察到差异。我们得出结论，可预测序列和新序列的处理背后存在不同的机制。
