title: The time course of spoken word recognition in Mandarin Chinese: a unimodal ERP study.
abstract: In the present study, two experiments were carried out to investigate the time course of spoken word recognition in Mandarin Chinese using both event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavioral measures. To address the hypothesis that there is an early phonological processing stage independent of semantics during spoken word recognition, a unimodal word-matching paradigm was employed, in which both prime and target words were presented auditorily. Experiment 1 manipulated the phonological relations between disyllabic primes and targets, and found an enhanced P2 (200-270 ms post-target onset) as well as a smaller early N400 to word-initial phonological mismatches over fronto-central scalp sites. Experiment 2 manipulated both phonological and semantic relations between monosyllabic primes and targets, and replicated the phonological mismatch-associated P2, which was not modulated by semantic relations. Overall, these results suggest that P2 is a sensitive electrophysiological index of early phonological processing independent of semantics in Mandarin Chinese spoken word recognition.
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition and Department of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: huangxj@cnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xianjun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: University of California Davis, Center for Mind and Brain, Davis, CA 95618-5412, USA; University of California Davis, Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA 95618-5412, USA. Electronic address: jchyang@ucdavis.edu.
authors.forename: Jin-Chen
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition and Department of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition and Department of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Chunyan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D012660:Semantics; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Mandarin Chinese; N400; P2; Spoken word recognition; Unimodality