title: ERP Evidence for the Activation of Syntactic Structure During Comprehension of Lexical Idiom.
abstract: The present study used event-related potentials to investigate whether the syntactic structure was activated in the comprehension of lexical idioms, and if so, whether it varied as a function of familiarity and semantic transparency. Participants were asked to passively read the "1+2" structural Chinese lexical idioms with each being presented following 3-5 contextual "1+2" (congruent-structure condition) or "2+1" structural Chinese phrases (incongruent-structure condition). The N400 ERP responses showed more positivity in congruent-structure condition relative to incongruent-structure condition in idioms with high familiarity and high semantic transparency, but less positivity in congruent-structure condition in idioms with high familiarity but low semantic transparency, idioms with low familiarity but high semantic transparency, and idioms with low familiarity and low semantic transparency. Our results suggest that syntactic structure, as the unnecessarity of lexical idiomatic words, was nevertheless activated, independent of familiarity and semantic transparency.
authors.affiliation: Center for Studies of Psychological Application & School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.|Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Guangzhou, China.|Guangdong Center of Mental Assistance and Contingency Technique for Emergency, Guangzhou, China.|CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Meichao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Center for Studies of Psychological Application & School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China. atlupsy@gmail.com.|Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Guangzhou, China. atlupsy@gmail.com.|Guangdong Center of Mental Assistance and Contingency Technique for Emergency, Guangzhou, China. atlupsy@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Aitao
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5885-5798
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Center for Studies of Psychological Application & School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.|Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Guangzhou, China.|Guangdong Center of Mental Assistance and Contingency Technique for Emergency, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Pingfang
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Song
mesh_terms: D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D011932:Reading; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012660:Semantics; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: ERP; Familiarity; Lexical idiom; Semantic transparency; Structure