On the brain response to syntactic anomalies: manipulations of word position and word class reveal individual differences.
In two experiments, event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 13 scalp locations while subjects read sentences containing a syntactically or a semantically anomalous word. The position (sentence-embedded vs sentence-final) and word class (open vs closed) of the syntactic anomalies were manipulated. In both experiments, semantically anomalous words elicited an enhanced N400 component. Syntactically anomalous closed class words elicited a widely distributed late positive wave (P600) regardless of the word's position and a smaller negative-going effect that was largest over anterior sites when the anomaly occurred in sentence-final position. The response to syntactically anomalous open class words revealed striking qualitative individual differences: These words elicited a P600 response in the majority of subjects and an N400 response in others. The proportion of subjects exhibiting the N400 response was greater when the anomaly occurred in sentence-final position. These results are interpreted in the context of prior findings, and implications for the hypothesis that syntactic and semantic anomalies elicit distinct brain potentials are discussed.
Osterhout
L
L
Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle 98195, USA.
D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D012660:Semantics