The time course of verb processing in Dutch sentences.
The verb has traditionally been characterized as the central element in a sentence. Nevertheless, the exact role of the verb during the actual ongoing comprehension of a sentence as it unfolds in time remains largely unknown. This paper reports the results of two Cross-Modal Lexical Priming (CMLP) experiments detailing the pattern of verb priming during on-line processing of Dutch sentences. Results are contrasted with data from a third CMLP experiment on priming of nouns in similar sentences. It is demonstrated that the meaning of a matrix verb remains active throughout the entire matrix clause, while this is not the case for the meaning of a subject head noun. Activation of the meaning of the verb only dissipates upon encountering a clear signal as to the start of a new clause.
de Goede
Dieuwke
D
University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands. dieuwke.degoede@mpi.nl
Shapiro
Lewis P
LP
Wester
Femke
F
Swinney
David A
DA
Bastiaanse
Roelien
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D032882:Comprehension; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D011930:Reaction Time; D012660:Semantics; D013060:Speech; D013067:Speech Perception; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult