Using the Recording of Event-Related Brain Potentials in the Study of Sentence Processing

An ERP study of syntactic processing in English and nonsense sentences

“…If this effect indexes processes based on semantics, as suggested in previous studies (Canseco-Gonzalez, 2000;Canseco-Gonzalez et al, 1997;Münte et al, 1997), the amplitude of the effect should be reduced when sentences lack semantic content. Since the syntactic violations employed in this study elicit an anterior negativity in an early latency range (< 300 ms) according to the pilot results, and since the critical words were all closed-class words, which would not elicit an N400 (Münte et al, 2001;Neville, Mills & Lawson, 1992;Nobre & McCarthy, 1994); such attenuation would provide evidence against the Timing Hypothesis proposed by Hahne and Jescheniak (2001).…”

“…2 These results suggest that early syntactic processing is performed even when semantic information is absent. However, differences in the distribution of the LAN between normal and Jabberwocky sentences observed in the Canseco-Gonzalez et al (Canseco-Gonzalez, 2000;Canseco-Gonzalez et al, 1997) study suggest that the processes underlying the effects elicited in the two sentence types are not identical (although Hahne and Jescheniak (2001) did not observe differences in the distribution of the ELAN between normal and Jabberwocky sentences).…”

“…With respect to anterior negativities, ELANs and LANs were elicited for both normal and Jabberwocky sentences (Canseco-Gonzalez, 2000;Canseco-Gonzalez et al, 1997;Hahne & Jescheniak, 2001). 2 These results suggest that early syntactic processing is performed even when semantic information is absent.…”

“…Canseco-Gonzalez and colleagues (Canseco-Gonzalez, 2000;Canseco-Gonzalez et al, 1997) and Münte, Matzke, and Johannes (1997) found a greatly reduced or absent P600 for Jabberwocky. These researchers had predicted that the P600 would be reduced when sentences lack semantic content as in Jabberwocky sentences.…”

“…Some researchers hypothesized that this reanalysis process is based on the semantics of the sentence (Münte et al, 1997). More specifically, the reanalysis process was argued to be an attempt to rescue the meaning of the sentence (Canseco-Gonzalez, 2000;Canseco-Gonzalez et al, 1997). Therefore, when sentences lack semantic content, at least a part of the processes underlying the P600 would not be executed since there is no semantic content to be rescued.…”