Event-related brain potential markers of high-language proficiency in adults

Weber‐Fox, Christine; Davis, Laura J; Cuadrado, Elizabeth

doi:10.1016/s0093-934x(02)00587-4

Cited by 31 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…The finding that individual differences impact the strategy used during sentence comprehension has been observed in a number of previous studies (Malaia, Wilbur, & Weber-Fox, 2009; Newman, Lee, & Ratliff, 2009; Weber-Fox, Davis, & Cuadrado, 2003; Wekerly & Kutas, 1999). For example, an EEG study investigating the processing of object-relative clauses (Malaia et al, 2009) found that participants selectively relied either on syntactic (phrase structure) or semantic information for thematic role re-assignment, which in turn determined the timing of integrative processing for comprehension.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 58%

Does degree of handedness in a group of right-handed individuals affect language comprehension?

Newman

Malaia

Seo

2014

Brain and Cognition

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The impact of handedness on language processing has been studied extensively and the results indicate that there is a relationship between the two variables; however, the nature of the relationship is not at all clear. In the current study we explored degree of handedness (DH) opposed to direction in a group of right-handed individuals. fMRI was used to explore the impact of DH on the sentence comprehension network. The results revealed that during sentence comprehension activation in regions linked to semantic memory (e.g., anterior temporal cortex) were modulated by DH. Also, unexpectedly the precuneus/posterior cingulate gyrus which has been linked to episodic memory was also affected by DH. These results extend those reported previously by showing that the neural architecture that supports sentence comprehension is modulated by DH. More specifically, together the results presented here support the hypothesis proposed by Townsend et al. (2001) that DH interacts with the language system and impacts the strategy used during sentence comprehension.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 58%

Does degree of handedness in a group of right-handed individuals affect language comprehension?

Newman

Malaia

Seo

2014

Brain and Cognition

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“…Weber-Fox, Davis, and Cuadrado (2003) found that individuals who scored higher on a spoken grammar test had an earlier N280 to closed-class words over left anterior regions, suggesting greater efficiency related to syntactic processing in higher proficiency individuals. If ERP components associated with syntactic processing are sensitive to differences in linguistic proficiency, then the evidence discussed above raises the hypothesis that components elicited by phrase structure violations in low proficiency participants should be less focal than those elicited in higher proficiency individuals.…”

Section: Individual Differences and Effects Of Experiencementioning

confidence: 88%

Proficiency Differences in Syntactic Processing of Monolingual Native Speakers Indexed by Event-related Potentials

Pakulak

Neville²

2010

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

149

117

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While anecdotally there appear to be differences in the way native speakers use and comprehend their native language, most empirical investigations of language processing study university students and none have studied differences in language proficiency which may be independent of resource limitations such as working memory span. We examined differences in language proficiency in adult monolingual native speakers of English using an event-related potential (ERP) paradigm. ERPs were recorded to insertion phrase structure violations in naturally spoken English sentences. Participants recruited from a wide spectrum of society were given standardized measures of English language proficiency, and two complementary ERP analyses were performed. In between-groups analyses, participants were divided, based on standardized proficiency scores, into Lower Proficiency (LP) and Higher Proficiency (HP) groups. Compared to LP participants, HP participants showed an early anterior negativity that was more focal, both spatially and temporally, and a larger and more widely distributed positivity (P600) to violations. In correlational analyses, we utilized a wide spectrum of proficiency scores to examine the degree to which individual proficiency scores correlated with individual neural responses to syntactic violations in regions and time windows identified in the between-group analyses. This approach also employed partial correlation analyses to control for possible confounding variables. These analyses provided evidence for the effects of proficiency that converged with the between-groups analyses. These results suggest that adult monolingual native speakers of English who vary in language proficiency differ in the recruitment of syntactic processes that are hypothesized to be at least in part automatic as well as of those thought to be more controlled. These results also suggest that in order to fully characterize neural organization for language in native speakers it is necessary to include participants of varying proficiency.Anecdotally, it appears that there exist differences in the way native speakers use and comprehend their native language. Beginning with Chomsky's (1965) claim that linguistic theory should be concerned with an ideal speaker-listener with perfect linguistic knowledge, differences in linguistic proficiency among native speakers have often been assumed to be the result of resource limitations or performance errors considered to be independent of and irrelevant to grammatical knowledge. Numerous studies of bilinguals, young children, children with specific language impairment, and deaf adults have found that event-related potentials (ERPs) are sensitive to differences in language proficiency (Mills,

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“…Studies using behavioral measures of sentence comprehension reveal substantial variation in adult performance (e.g., Dąbrowska & Street, 2006). Adults who score higher in language proficiency also display different patterns of brain responses involved in lexical access (Weber-Fox, Davis & Cuadrado, 2003) and syntactic processing (Pakulak & Neville, 2010), compared to adults with lower proficiency scores. One explanation is that variability on language processing tasks is due to individual differences in fixed cognitive capacities such as working memory (Just & Carpenter, 1992).…”

Section: The Significance Of Individual Differences In Early Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

Individual Differences in Lexical Processing at 18 Months Predict Vocabulary Growth in Typically Developing and Late‐Talking Toddlers

2011

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Using online measures of familiar word recognition in the looking-while-listening procedure, this prospective longitudinal study revealed robust links between processing efficiency and vocabulary growth from 18 to 30 months in children classified as typically-developing (n = 46) and as “late talkers” (n = 36) at 18 months. Those late-talkers who were more efficient in word recognition at 18 months were also more likely to “bloom”, showing more accelerated vocabulary growth over the following year, compared to late-talkers less efficient in early speech processing. Such findings support the emerging view that early differences in processing efficiency evident in infancy have cascading consequences for later learning and may be continuous with individual differences in language proficiency observed in older children and adults.

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Event-related brain potential markers of high-language proficiency in adults

Cited by 31 publications

References 27 publications

Does degree of handedness in a group of right-handed individuals affect language comprehension?

Does degree of handedness in a group of right-handed individuals affect language comprehension?

Proficiency Differences in Syntactic Processing of Monolingual Native Speakers Indexed by Event-related Potentials

Individual Differences in Lexical Processing at 18 Months Predict Vocabulary Growth in Typically Developing and Late‐Talking Toddlers

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