[N400 event-related potentials of semantic matching of sentence-ending words in healthy Chinese subjects].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate of changes in N400 event-related potentials (ERPs) in recognition of semantically matching ending words of Chinese sentences for analysis of the characteristics of Chinese sentence N400 in healthy subjects.


METHODS
Fifteen healthy right-handed volunteers aging from 21 to 36 years old were tested for N400 when they were asked to read Chinese sentences with semantically matching or mismatching ending words.


RESULTS
Significant differences were found in N400 latencies and amplitudes when the subjects were reading the carefully designed Chinese sentences (P<0.05). The latencies of N400 were delayed and the amplitudes increased when the subjects were confronted with mismatching ending words, in the event of which N400 amplitudes were higher in the left than in the right hemisphere of the brain.


CONCLUSIONS
N400 in Chinese sentence-ending word matching test is close by related to the semantic context of the word recognition, and possesses clinically valuable recognition potential for assessing language disorders.
Chen
Xuan
X
Department of Neurology, Nanfang Hospital, First Military Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.
Jin
Mei
M
D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D011930:Reaction Time; D011932:Reading; D012660:Semantics