Human brain potentials to reading syntactic errors in sentences of different complexity.
In order to determine if an event-related brain potential (ERP) effect described for syntactic violations (P600/SPS) varies with the amount of reprocessing entailed by a violation, number incongruencies were presented either within simple declarative or within subordinate clauses. ERPs were recorded while 12 German subjects read the stimulus materials presented word by word on a video monitor. The ERPs showed a P600/SPS effect for all sentence types, which was smallest in amplitude and earliest in latency for simple declarative sentences. This effect therefore qualifies as a metric for the amount and timing of syntactic reprocessing entailed by a syntactic error. In addition, a late frontal negativity (1000-1400 ms range) was found for the simple declarative sentences.
Münte
T F
TF
Department of Neurology, Med. Hochschule Hannover, Germany. tmuente@cogsci.ucsd.edu
Szentkuti
A
A
Wieringa
B M
BM
Matzke
M
M
Johannes
S
S
D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011932:Reading; D012016:Reference Values