title: The P600-as-P3 hypothesis revisited: single-trial analyses reveal that the late EEG positivity following linguistically deviant material is reaction time aligned.
abstract: The P600, a late positive ERP component following linguistically deviant stimuli, is commonly seen as indexing structural, high-level processes, e.g. of linguistic (re)analysis. It has also been identified with the P3 (P600-as-P3 hypothesis), which is thought to reflect a systemic neuromodulator release facilitating behavioural shifts and is usually response time aligned. We investigated single-trial alignment of the P600 to response, a critical prediction of the P600-as-P3 hypothesis. Participants heard sentences containing morphosyntactic and semantic violations and responded via a button press. The elicited P600 was perfectly response aligned, while an N400 following semantic deviations was stimulus aligned. This is, to our knowledge, the first single-trial analysis of language processing data using within-sentence behavioural responses as temporal covariates. Results support the P600-as-P3 perspective and thus constitute a step towards a neurophysiological grounding of language-related ERPs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Germanic Linguistics, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany; Department of English and Linguistics, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Jona
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sassenhagen
authors.affiliation: Department of English and Linguistics, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schlesewsky
authors.affiliation: Department of Germanic Linguistics, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany; School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia. Electronic address: Ina.Bornkessel-Schlesewsky@unisa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Ina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bornkessel-Schlesewsky
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology*; D008125:Locus Coeruleus / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000378:metabolism; D011930:Reaction Time; D012660:Semantics; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D009638:Norepinephrine
keywords: Attention; Locus Coeruleus; N400; P3; P600; Reorienting; Semantics; Sentence processing; Single-trial analysis; Syntax