The costs of freedom: an ERP -- study of non-canonical sentences.
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.
Matzke
Mike
M
Department of Neurology II, University of Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany
Mai
Heinke
H
Nager
Wido
W
Rüsseler
Jascha
J
Münte
Thomas
T
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