Jap Bernard A J, Hsu Yu-Yin
School of Arts and Social Sciences, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 7;15(1):11847. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-96240-y.
This study investigates the effects of verb bias on sentence comprehension in Standard Indonesian (SI), a language where the passive construction is frequent and salient. We examined the hypothesis that lexical biases influence processing efforts. To disentangle effects of verb bias from structural effects, we held structure constant by using only passive sentences in our event-related potential (ERPs) experiment. Using an SI corpus, we identified verbs more frequently used in passive sentences ("passive-bias verbs") and those more frequently used in active ones ("active-bias verbs") to form passive sentences. Cluster-based permutation tests revealed significant differences between conditions. In the postverbal region (adverb), passive sentences with active-bias verbs elicited a broadly distributed negative shift that corresponded to the N280 distribution, a component associated with grammatical processing complexity. This suggests that active-bias verbs in passive contexts impose greater processing demands than their passive-bias counterparts, reflecting the integration of verb-specific preferences with sentence structure. These findings highlight how verb bias influences sentence comprehension and provide insights into cross-linguistic differences. In languages with predominantly active-bias verbs, using them in passive constructions may amplify processing costs. This study shows the importance of lexical biases and structural preferences in shaping sentence processing, contributing to a broader understanding of the interaction between lexical and syntactic factors in language comprehension.
本研究调查了动词偏向对标准印尼语（SI）句子理解的影响，在这种语言中被动结构频繁且显著。我们检验了词汇偏向会影响加工努力的假设。为了区分动词偏向与结构效应的影响，我们在事件相关电位（ERP）实验中仅使用被动句，从而使结构保持不变。通过使用印尼语语料库，我们识别出在被动句中更频繁使用的动词（“被动偏向动词”）和在主动句中更频繁使用的动词（“主动偏向动词”），并据此构建被动句。基于聚类的置换检验揭示了不同条件之间的显著差异。在动词后区域（副词），带有主动偏向动词的被动句引发了广泛分布的负向偏移，这与N280分布相对应，N280是一个与语法加工复杂性相关的成分。这表明在被动语境中，主动偏向动词比被动偏向动词带来更大的加工需求，反映了动词特定偏好与句子结构的整合。这些发现凸显了动词偏向如何影响句子理解，并为跨语言差异提供了见解。在主要使用主动偏向动词的语言中，在被动结构中使用这些动词可能会增加加工成本。本研究表明了词汇偏向和结构偏好在塑造句子加工方面的重要性，有助于更全面地理解语言理解中词汇和句法因素之间的相互作用。
