title: Seriality of semantic and phonological processes during overt speech in Mandarin as revealed by event-related brain potentials.
abstract: How is information transmitted across semantic and phonological levels in spoken word production? Recent evidence from speakers of Western languages such as English and Dutch suggests non-discrete transmission, but it is not clear whether this view can be generalized to other languages such as Mandarin, given potential differences in phonological encoding across languages. The present study used Mandarin speakers and combined a behavioral picture-word interference task with event-related potentials. The design factorially crossed semantic and phonological relatedness. Results showed semantic and phonological effects both in behavioral and electrophysiological measurements, with statistical additivity in latencies, and discrete time signatures (250-450 ms and 450-600 ms after picture onset for the semantic and phonological condition, respectively). Overall, results suggest that in Mandarin spoken production, information is transmitted from semantic to phonological levels in a sequential fashion. Hence, temporal signatures associated with spoken word production might differ depending on target language.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Institute of Linguistic Studies, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Xuebing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, UK.
authors.forename: Markus F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Damian
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China; Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Electronic address: qingfang.zhang@ruc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qingfang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D002681:China; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D010700:Phonetics; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012660:Semantics; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Electroencephalography; Phonological facilitation; Semantic interference; Speech production