The Electrophysiology of Basic Phrase Building

Abstract

A defining trait of linguistic competence is the ability to combine elements into increasingly complex structures to denote, and to comprehend, a potentially infinite number of meanings. Recent magnetoencephalography (MEG) work has investigated these processes by comparing the response to nouns in combinatorial (blue car) and non-combinatorial (rnsh car) contexts. In the current study we extended this paradigm using electroencephalography (EEG) to dissociate the role of semantic content from phonological well-formedness (yerl car). We used event-related potential (ERP) recordings in order to better relate the observed neurophysiological correlates of basic combinatorial operations to prior ERP work on comprehension. We found that nouns in combinatorial contexts (blue car) elicited a greater centro-parietal negativity between 180-400ms, independent of the phonological well-formedness of the context word. We discuss the potential relationship between this ‘combinatorial’ effect and classic N400 effects. We also report preliminary evidence for an early anterior negative deflection immediately preceding the critical noun in combinatorial contexts, which we tentatively interpret as an electrophysiological reflex of syntactic structure initialization.

Meaning composition in minimal phrasal contexts: distinct ERP effects of intensionality and denotation

“…Either way, our data are consistent with the hypothesis that syntax-driven meaning composition modulates the P600's amplitude (Baggio 2018), and with proposals relating the P600 to operations at the syntax-semantics interface (Bornkessel-Schlesewsky & Schlesewsky, 2008;Kuperberg, 2007). These results do not support the view that phrasal composition is reflected by the N400 (Neufeld et al, 2016), nor are our findings in line with MEG studies indicating that compositional processing occurs at around 400 msec in the vmPFC (e.g. , 2013.…”

“…However, even on integration or hybrid accounts, the N400 reflects forms of top-down, context-sensitive unification of word meaning, and not bottom-up, syntaxdriven composition. The result of Neufeld et al (2016), because of the time course of the observed ERP, is not a clear-cut instance of an N400. In light of functional models and previous evidence, therefore, the link between the N400 and syntax-driven meaning composition is tenuous.…”

“…How do these MEG findings on minimal phrase composition relate to ERP results? Neufeld et al (2016) used the same paradigm as Pylkkänen (2011, 2013) in an ERP study. They found an effect of composition in the same time frame as the former MEG studies (∼180-250 msec) when comparing the semantic condition to the unpronounceable consonant string.…”

Neural basis of basic composition: what we have learned from the red–boat studies and their extensions

“…Since our red-boat studies were in a sense a mini-version of the popular sentence versus list paradigm, a LATL effect made sense and usefully showed both the timing of this activity-not obtainable from fMRI or PET-and that the LATL is engaged by just a single step of composition, as opposed to needing a full sentence as a stimulus. When simple composition is measured with EEG, combinatory effects are seen in time-windows similar to the LATL and vmPFC effects observed in MEG [4].…”

EEG signatures of elementary composition: disentangling genuine composition and expectancy processes

“…Certainly, our work shows that some results previously published could be confounded with expectancybased processes. This has been addressed clearly for Neufeld et al (2016); however this issue is also present in other reports using visual , 2013c and auditory (Bemis & Pylkkänen, 2013a) stimuli. In these cases, the authors do not analyze or plot the April 30, 2020 activity elicited before second word onset, and they do not discuss the potential issues that their experimental design entails.…”