title: The role of gender information in pronoun resolution: evidence from Chinese.
abstract: Although previous studies have consistently demonstrated that gender information is used to resolve pronouns, the mechanisms underlying the use of gender information continue to be controversial. The present study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate whether working memory modulates the effect of gender information on pronoun resolution. The critical pronoun agreed or disagreed with its antecedent in gender. Moreover, the distance between a pronoun and its antecedent was varied to assess the influence of working memory. Compared with the congruent pronouns, the incongruent pronouns elicited an N400 effect in the short distance condition and a P600 effect in the long distance condition. The results suggest that the effect of gender information on pronoun comprehension is modulated by working memory.
authors.affiliation: Center for the Study of Applied Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Lijing
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Tamara Y
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Swaab
authors.forename: Hsuan-Chih
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Suiping
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002681:China; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008037:Linguistics; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult