title: Focusing on the N400: an exploration of selective attention during reading.
abstract: In a series of two experiments, subjects read sentences wherein words were flanked in the lower visual field by irrelevant words (i.e., flankers). The visual angle between the words in the sentence and the flanker words was manipulated (i.e., 0.57 degrees, 0.97 degrees, 1.37 degrees). Sentence endings were either congruent or incongruent; incongruent endings elicited a large N400 component. Flanker effects were observed for sentence final words on electrophysiological measures during the reading task and on subsequent recognition memory performance for sentence final and new words. For both measures, the flanker effect interacted with the congruency of the sentence ending as well as the visual angle between the sentence final word and its flanker. The largest and earliest flanker effects were observed for congruent endings at the smallest visual angle (0.57 degrees); congruent endings and flankers in intermediate visual angle (0.97 degrees) conditions displayed a similar flanker-related negativity but with a longer onset latency (490 vs. 280 ms). Congruent endings and their flankers in the largest visual angle (1.57 degrees) conditions revealed no flanker effect.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Experimental and Occupational Psychology, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: T C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Gunter
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kutas
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mulder
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Buijink
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D011932:Reading; D012660:Semantics; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*