On understanding idiomatic language: The salience hypothesis assessed by ERPs

Laurent, Jean‐Paul; Denhières, Guy; Passerieux, Christine; Iakimova, Galina; Hardy-Baylé, Marie-Christine

doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2005.10.076

Cited by 76 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Laurent, Denhieres, Passerieux, Iakimova, and Hardy-Bayle (2006) observed smaller N400 amplitudes for the last word of an idiom when its idiomatic meaning was more salient than when it was less salient (as assessed in terms of conventionality, frequency, familiarity, or prototypicality). Proverbio, Crotti, Zani, and Adorni (2009) observed a larger N400 to words in idiomatic than literal phrases.…”

Section: Electrophysiological Signatures Of Semantic Processingmentioning

confidence: 87%

Context-dependent Semantic Processing in the Human Brain: Evidence from Idiom Comprehension

Rommers

Dijkstra

Bastiaansen

2013

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

119

183

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Abstract■ Language comprehension involves activating word meanings and integrating them with the sentence context. This study examined whether these routines are carried out even when they are theoretically unnecessary, namely, in the case of opaque idiomatic expressions, for which the literal word meanings are unrelated to the overall meaning of the expression. Predictable words in sentences were replaced by a semantically related or unrelated word. In literal sentences, this yielded previously established behavioral and electrophysiological signatures of semantic processing: semantic facilitation in lexical decision, a reduced N400 for semantically related relative to unrelated words, and a power increase in the gamma frequency band that was disrupted by semantic violations. However, the same manipulations in idioms yielded none of these effects. Instead, semantic violations elicited a late positivity in idioms. Moreover, gamma band power was lower in correct idioms than in correct literal sentences. It is argued that the brainʼs semantic expectancy and literal word meaning integration operations can, to some extent, be "switched off" when the context renders them unnecessary. Furthermore, the results lend support to models of idiom comprehension that involve unitary idiom representations. ■

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Section: Electrophysiological Signatures Of Semantic Processingmentioning

confidence: 87%

Context-dependent Semantic Processing in the Human Brain: Evidence from Idiom Comprehension

Rommers

Dijkstra

Bastiaansen

2013

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

119

183

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…This suggests that salience (or expectancy) is critical when processing idioms. That is, highly salient expressions are more easily processed than less salient expressions (Laurent, Denhieres, Passerieux, Iakimova, & Hardy-Bayle, 2006). An earlier study exploring idiomatic, literal, and non-sense language processing in schizophrenics and healthy controls also revealed N400 effects.…”

Section: Electrophysiological Investigations On Figurative Language Pmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurophysiological Markers of Phrasal Verb Processing: Evidence from L1 and L2 Speakers

Paulmann¹,

Ghareeb-Ali²,

Felser³

2015

Bilingual Figurative Language Processing

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Language is often ambiguous. For instance, verb-preposition strings such as look up can be interpreted either as a single verb-plus-preposition combination leading to a literal interpretation (e.g., to look up the chimney), or can be interpreted as a so-called phrasal verb which requires a figurative interpretation (e.g., to look up the number). Past research has primarily used behavioural methodologies to investigate how first (L1) and second language (L2) learners deal with this phenomenon. However, Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) are highly time sensitive and may shed additional light on this issue. In this chapter, we will first provide an overview of evidence on phrasal verb processing in L1 and L2 speakers. We will then present some of our own ERP data exploring phrasal verb processing in native speakers of English and native Arabic-speaking L2 learners of English. We will conclude with directions for future ERP research in this domain.

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“…With regard to figurative language comprehension, N400 effects were often seen in response to metaphors (Coulson & Van Petten, 2002, 2007Tartter, Gomes, Dubrovsky, Molholm, & Stewart, 2002;Pynte, Besson, Robichon, & Poli, 1996), or proverbs and idioms (Ferretti, Schwint, & Katz, 2007;Laurent, Denhieres, Passerieux, Iakimova, & Hardy-Bayle, 2006). Cornejo et al (2007) found an N400-like component for irony, which depended on the interpretative strategy applied.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Isn't It Ironic? An Electrophysiological Exploration of Figurative Language Processing

Regel¹,

Gunter²,

Friederici³

2011

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

196

152

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Abstract■ Although the neurocognitive processes underlying the comprehension of figurative language, especially metaphors and idioms, have been studied extensively, less is known about the processing of irony. In two experiments using event-related brain potentials (ERPs), we examined the types of cognitive processes involved in the comprehension of ironic and literal sentences and their relative time course. The experiments varied in modality (auditory, visual), task demands (comprehension task vs. passive reading), and probability of stimulus occurrence. ERPs consistently revealed a large late positivity (i.e., P600 component) in the absence of an N400 component for irony compared to equivalent literal sentences independent of modality. This P600 was shown to be unaffected by the factors task demands and probability of occurrence. Taken together, the findings suggest that the observed P600 is related to irony processing, and might be a reflection of pragmatic interpretation processes. During the comprehension of irony, no semantic integration difficulty arises (absence of N400), but late inferential processes appear to be necessary for understanding ironic meanings (presence of P600). This finding calls for a revision of current models of figurative language processing. ■

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On understanding idiomatic language: The salience hypothesis assessed by ERPs

Cited by 76 publications

References 53 publications

Context-dependent Semantic Processing in the Human Brain: Evidence from Idiom Comprehension

Context-dependent Semantic Processing in the Human Brain: Evidence from Idiom Comprehension

Neurophysiological Markers of Phrasal Verb Processing: Evidence from L1 and L2 Speakers

Isn't It Ironic? An Electrophysiological Exploration of Figurative Language Processing

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