An electrophysiological investigation of discourse coherence in healthy adults

Abstract

This study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate discourse-coherence processing. Because there are scant data on ERP indices of discourse coherence in typical adults, it is important to study a non-clinical population before examining clinical populations. Twelve adults listened to a story with sentences in a coherent versus incoherent order. Sequences of nonsense syllables served as a control. ERPs in the 200-400 ms time window, reflecting phonological and lexical processing, and in the 600-900 ms time window, reflecting later discourse processing for integration, were investigated. Results revealed a right anterior and posterior positivity that was greater for coherent than for incoherent discourse during the 600-900 ms time window. These findings point to an index of discourse coherence and further suggest that ERPs can be used as a clinical tool to study discourse-processing disorders in populations with brain damage, such as aphasia and traumatic brain injury.

Electrophysiological indices of brain activity to content and function words in discourse

“…This supports our claim that the process of integrating the following context with the first word of a sentence, as reflected by the right LAP, is not modulated by lexical factors such as word category, but by more general factors related to building sentence-level meaning. Our previous studies using randomly ordered sentences and ignored sentences suggests that this is an active process and reflects discourse-level processing rather than simple lexical access of word meaning (Shafer et al 2005, Neumann et al 2014.…”

“…A novel approach to examining ERP correlates of sentence processing was undertaken by Shafer et al (2000Shafer et al ( , 2005 and Neumann et al (2014). To our knowledge, no other researchers have yet used this approach.…”

“…To investigate further the processing of the right LAP, the order of sentences was randomized in one condition to determine whether the coherence of the discourse, reflecting semantic integration, would modulate the right LAP (Neumann et al . ). This study revealed a sustained right LAP beyond 600 ms from sentence onset only in the condition with coherently ordered sentences.…”

Processing of Phonological and Orthographic Information in Word Recognition in Discourse Reading

“…A language unit longer than a sentence forms a discourse, within which elements are related in a highly structured way (Neumann, Epstein, Yu, Benasich, & Shafer, 2014). In discourse reading, readers integrate local information into the preceding context or create a coherent representation of the information accordingly (Guzmán & Klin, 2000).…”

The Impact of Sports-Related Concussions on the Language System

“…ERPs are portions of the ongoing electroencephalogram (EEG) time-locked to the onset and presentation of stimuli during sensory/cognitive tasks. ERPs are favored for their temporal sensitivity, typically recording changes in brain activity at 250-1000Hz and are generally considered as valuable tools for predicting cognitive-communication outcomes [38], such as those following traumatic brain injuries [39].…”