title: Additive effects of repetition and predictability during comprehension: evidence from event-related potentials.
abstract: Previous research has shown that neural responses to words during sentence comprehension are sensitive to both lexical repetition and a word's predictability in context. While previous research has often contrasted the effects of these variables (e.g. by looking at cases in which word repetition violates sentence-level constraints), little is known about how they work in tandem. In the current study we examine how recent exposure to a word and its predictability in context combine to impact lexical semantic processing. We devise a novel paradigm that combines reading comprehension with a recognition memory task, allowing for an orthogonal manipulation of a word's predictability and its repetition status. Using event-related brain potentials (ERPs), we show that word repetition and predictability have qualitatively similar and additive effects on the N400 amplitude. We propose that prior exposure to a word and predictability impact lexical semantic processing in an additive and independent fashion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Linguistics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America; Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, Donostia - San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Spain.
authors.forename: Wing-Yee
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Chow
authors.affiliation: Department of Linguistics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Sol
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lago
authors.affiliation: Department of Linguistics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America; Department of Linguistics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America.
authors.forename: Shannon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Barrios
authors.affiliation: Department of Linguistics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.affiliation: Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Morini
authors.affiliation: Department of Linguistics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lau
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D060865:Repetition Priming / Q000502:physiology*