title: The costs of freedom: an ERP -- study of non-canonical sentences.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The present investigation explored the electrophysiological correlates of working memory during sentence comprehension.
  
  
  METHODS
  Event-related brain potentials (ERP) were recorded from 29 channels in 22 subjects, while they read German sentences having subject-first (canonical) or object-first (non-canonical) word orders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three different ERP effects were observed: a negativity (maximum at Fc5) differentiating unambiguous object-first and subject-first sentences, interpreted as reflecting the demands of the object-first sentences on working memory; a second negativity (maximum at F7) to the subject noun-phrase in object-first sentences, interpreted as indicating retrieval of verbal material. Finally, a parietal positivity was found for ambiguous sentences that turned out to have a non-canonical word order, which was interpreted as indicating revision and reevaluation processes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present data underscore the different roles of working memory in comprehension.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology II, University of Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matzke
authors.forename: Heinke
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mai
authors.forename: Wido
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Nager
authors.forename: Jascha
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rüsseler
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Münte
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D011932:Reading