Semantic Illusion Depends On Information Structure: ERP Evidence  

Oleh:

Wang, Lin ; Hagoort, Peter ; Yang, Yufang

Jenis: Article from Journal
Dalam koleksi: Brain Research vol. 1282 (2009), page 50–56.
Topik: Information structure; Wh-question–answer pair; Semantic integration; Semantic illusion; N400 effect
Fulltext: Semantic Illusion Depends On Information Structure ERP Evidence.pdf (461.23KB)

Isi artikel

Next to propositional content, speakers distribute information in their utterances in such a way that listeners can make a distinction between new (focused) and given (non-focused) information. This is referred to as information structure. We measured event-related potentials (ERPs) to explore the role of information structure in semantic processing. Following different questions in wh-question–answer pairs (e.g. What kind of vegetable did Ming buy for cooking today? /Who bought the vegetables for cooking today?), the answer sentences (e.g., Ming bought eggplant/beef to cook today.) contained a critical word, which was either semantically appropriate (eggplant) or inappropriate (beef), and either focus or non-focus. The results showed a full N400 effect only when the critical words were in focus position. In non-focus position a strongly reduced N400 effect was observed, in line with the well-known semantic illusion effect. The results suggest that information structure facilitates semantic processing by devoting more resources to focused information.

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