Ji Liyan, Cai Lin
School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China.
Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Keio University, Yokohama, 223-8522 Japan.
Cogn Neurodyn. 2022 Feb;16(1):101-115. doi: 10.1007/s11571-021-09700-2. Epub 2021 Aug 4.
Language comprehension requires the processing of both linguistic and extra-linguistic information, such as syntax, semantics, and pragmatic information. Previous studies have systematically examined the interplay between syntactic and semantic processing. However, there is a lack of data on how pragmatic processing proceeds and its interaction with semantic processing. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), the present study manipulated the semantic coherence of a verb phrase (VP) and the respect consistency of the object noun phrase in the VP, resulting in four types of critical sentences. Participants read 160 critical Chinese sentences and 220 filler sentences. After electroencephalogram recordings, they completed the Autism Quotient Communication (AQ-Comm) subscale and a sentence acceptability rating task. The ERP results showed that respect violation elicited a larger N400 response and a late negative activity in the pragmatically less-skilled subgroup (as indexed by higher scores on the AQ-Comm subscale). In contrast, respect violation elicited a P600 response in the pragmatically skilled subgroup (as indexed by lower scores on the AQ-Comm subscale). The double violation condition elicited an ERP pattern that was similar to that of the semantic violation condition in both subgroups, suggesting that respect violation effects were present only when the VP was semantically coherent. These results suggest that semantic violation can preclude readers from engaging in pragmatic inferencing, regardless of the participants' pragmatic skills. Strategies for resolving respect violation and corresponding brain activities vary according to participants' pragmatic abilities.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11571-021-09700-2.
语言理解需要处理语言和非语言信息，如句法、语义和语用信息。以往的研究系统地考察了句法和语义处理之间的相互作用。然而，关于语用处理如何进行以及它与语义处理的相互作用，缺乏相关数据。本研究使用事件相关电位（ERP），操纵动词短语（VP）的语义连贯性和VP中宾语名词短语的尊敬一致性，产生了四种类型的关键句子。参与者阅读了160个关键中文句子和220个填充句子。在脑电图记录后，他们完成了自闭症商数沟通（AQ-Comm）子量表和句子可接受性评级任务。ERP结果表明，在语用能力较差的亚组中（以AQ-Comm子量表上的较高分数为指标），尊敬违反引发了更大的N400反应和晚期负向活动。相比之下，在语用能力较强的亚组中（以AQ-Comm子量表上的较低分数为指标），尊敬违反引发了P600反应。双重违反条件在两个亚组中引发的ERP模式与语义违反条件相似，表明只有当VP语义连贯时才会出现尊敬违反效应。这些结果表明，语义违反会使读者无法进行语用推理，无论参与者的语用技能如何。解决尊敬违反的策略和相应的大脑活动因参与者的语用能力而异。
在线版本包含可在10.1007/s11571-021-09700-2获取的补充材料。
