Is animacy special?

Between bodily action and conventionalized structure: The neural mechanisms of constructed action in sign language comprehension

Sign languages (SLs) are expressed through different bodily actions, ranging from re-enactment of physical events (constructed action, CA) to sequences of lexical signs with internal structure (plain telling, PT). Despite the prevalence of CA in signed interactions and its significance for SL comprehension, its neural dynamics remain unexplored. We examined the processing of different types of CA (subtle, reduced, and overt) and PT in 35 adult deaf or hearing native signers. The electroencephalographic-based processing of signed sentences with incongruent targets was recorded. Attenuated N300 and early N400 were observed for CA in deaf but not in hearing signers. No differences were found between sentences with CA types in all signers, suggesting a continuum from PT to overt CA. Deaf signers focused more on body movements; hearing signers on faces. We conclude that CA is processed less effortlessly than PT, arguably because of its strong focus on bodily actions.

Cognition-Emotion Interaction during L2 Sentence Comprehension: The Correlation of ERP and GSR Responses to Sense Combinations

This study mainly examined the role of the combination of three senses (i.e., auditory, visual, and tactile) and five senses (i.e., auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory) in the correlation between electrophysiological and electrodermal responses underlying second language (L2) sentence comprehension. Forty subjects did two acceptability judgment tasks, encompassing congruent and semantically/pragmatically incongruent sentences. The event-related potential (ERP) and galvanic skin response (GSR) data for both the target and final words of the sentences were collected and analyzed. The results revealed that there is an interaction between cognitive and emotional responses in both semantically and pragmatically incongruent sentences, yet the timing of the interaction is longer in sentences with pragmatic incongruity due to their complexity. Based on the ERP and GSR correlation results, it was further found that the five-sense combination approach improves L2 sentence comprehension and interest in learning materials yet reduces the level of excitement or arousal. While this approach might be beneficial for some learners, it might be detrimental for those in favor of stimulating learning environments.

Ignoring the alternatives: The N400 is sensitive to stimulus preactivation alone

The N400 component of the event-related brain potential is a neural signal of processing difficulty. In the language domain, it is widely believed to be sensitive to the degree to which a given word or its semantic features have been preactivated in the brain based on the preceding context. However, it has also been shown that the brain often preactivates many words in parallel. It is currently unknown whether the N400 is also affected by the preactivations of alternative words other than the stimulus that is actually presented. This leaves a weak link in the derivation chain-how can we use the N400 to understand the mechanisms of preactivation if we do not know what it indexes? This study directly addresses this gap. We estimate the extent to which all words in a lexicon are preactivated in a given context using the predictions of contemporary large language models. We then directly compare two competing possibilities: that the amplitude of the N400 is sensitive only to the extent to which the stimulus is preactivated, and that it is also sensitive to the preactivation states of the alternatives. We find evidence of the former. This result allows for better grounded inferences about the mechanisms underlying the N400, lexical preactivation in the brain, and language processing more generally.

Why are human animacy judgments continuous rather than categorical? A computational modeling approach

Introduction

The concept of animacy is often taken as a basic natural concept, in part I because most cases seem unambiguous. Most entities either are or are not animate. However, human animacy judgments do not reflect this binary classification. They suggest that there are borderline cases, such as virus, amoeba, fly, and imaginary beings (giant, dragon, god). Moreover, human roles (professor, mother, girlfriend) are consistently recognized as animate by far less than 100% of human judges.

Method

In this paper, I use computational modeling to identify features associated with human animacy judgments, modeling human animacy and living/non-living judgments using both bottom-up predictors (the principal components from a word embedding model) and top-down predictors (cosine distances from the names of animate categories).

Results

The results suggest that human animacy judgments may be relying on information obtained from imperfect estimates of category membership that are reflected in the word embedding models. Models using cosine distance from category names mirror human judgments in distinguishing strongly between humans (estimated lower animacy by the measure) and other animals (estimated higher animacy by the measure).

Discussion

These results are consistent with a family resemblance approach to the apparently categorical concept of animacy.

Passive Voice Comprehension during Thematic-Role Assignment in Russian-Speaking Children Aged 4-6 Is Reflected in the Sensitivity of ERP to Noun Inflections

Children tend to rely on semantics rather than syntax during sentence comprehension. In transitive sentences, with no reliance on semantics, the syntax-based strategy becomes critical. We aimed to describe developmental changes of brain mechanisms for syntax processing in typically developing (TD) four to six year old’s. A specially designed sentence-picture matching task using active (AV) and passive (PV) voice enforced children to use grammar cues for sentence comprehension. Fifty children with above >60% level of accuracy in PV sentences comprehension demonstrated brain sensitivity to voice grammar markers-inflections of the second noun phrase (NP2), which was expressed in a greater event-related potentials (ERP) amplitude to PV vs. AV sentences in four-, five-, and six-year-old children. The biphasic positive-negative component at 200−400 ms was registered in the frontocentral and bilateral temporoparietal areas. Only in six-year-old children P600 was registered in the right temporoparietal area. LAN-like negativity seems to be a mechanism for distinguishing AV from PV in the early stages of mastering syntax processing of transitive sentences in four to five year old children. Both behavioral and ERP results distinguished six-year-olds from four-year-old’s and five-year-old’s, reflecting the possible transition to the “adult-like” syntax-based thematic role assignment.

Context-based facilitation of semantic access follows both logarithmic and linear functions of stimulus probability

Stimuli are easier to process when context makes them predictable, but does context-based facilitation arise from preactivation of a limited set of relatively probable upcoming stimuli (with facilitation then linearly related to probability) or, instead, because the system maintains and updates a probability distribution across all items (with facilitation logarithmically related to probability)? We measured the N400, an index of semantic access, to words of varying probability, including unpredictable words. Word predictability was measured using both cloze probabilities and a state-of-the-art machine learning language model (GPT-2). We reanalyzed five datasets (n = 138) to demonstrate and then replicate that context-based facilitation on the N400 is graded, even among unpredictable words. Furthermore, we established that the relationship between word predictability and context-based facilitation combines linear and logarithmic functions. We argue that this composite function reveals properties of the mapping between words and semantic features and how feature- and word-related information is activated on-line.

Investigating Heritage Language Processing: Meaning Composition in Chinese Classifier-Noun Phrasal Contexts

The aim of the present study was to investigate how Chinese-Malay bilingual speakers with Chinese as heritage language process semantic congruency effects in Chinese and how their brain activities compare to those of monolingual Chinese speakers using electroencephalography (EEG) recordings. To this end, semantic congruencies were manipulated in Chinese classifier-noun phrases, resulting in four conditions: (i) a strongly constraining/high-cloze, plausible (SP) condition, (ii) a weakly constraining/low-cloze, plausible (WP) condition, (iii) a strongly constraining/implausible (SI) condition, and (iv) a weakly constraining/implausible (WI) condition. The analysis of EEG data focused on two event-related potential components, i.e., the N400, which is known for its sensitivity to semantic fit of a target word to its context, and a post-N400 late positive complex (LPC), which is linked to semantic integration after prediction violations and retrospective, evaluative processes. We found similar N400/LPC effects in response to the manipulations of semantic congruency in the mono- and bilingual groups, with a gradient N400 pattern (WI/SI > WP > SP), a larger frontal LPC in response to WP compared to SP, SI, and WI, as well as larger centro-parietal LPCs in response to WP compared to SI and WI, and a larger centro-parietal LPC for SP compared to SI. These results suggest that, in terms of event-related potential (ERP) data, Chinese-Malay early bilingual speakers predict and integrate upcoming semantic information in Chinese classifier-noun phrase to the same extent as monolingual Chinese speakers. However, the global field power (GFP) data showed significant differences between SP and WP in the N400 and LPC time windows in bilinguals, whereas no such effects were observed in monolinguals. This finding was interpreted as showing that bilinguals differ from their monolingual peers in terms of global field power intensity of the brain by processing plausible classifier-noun pairs with different congruency effects.

A Rational Model of Incremental Argument Interpretation: The Comprehension of Swedish Transitive Clauses

A central component of sentence understanding is verb-argument interpretation, determining how the referents in the sentence are related to the events or states expressed by the verb. Previous work has found that comprehenders change their argument interpretations incrementally as the sentence unfolds, based on morphosyntactic (e.g., case, agreement), lexico-semantic (e.g., animacy, verb-argument fit), and discourse cues (e.g., givenness). However, it is still unknown whether these cues have a privileged role in language processing, or whether their effects on argument interpretation originate in implicit expectations based on the joint distribution of these cues with argument assignments experienced in previous language input. We compare the former, linguistic account against the latter, expectation-based account, using data from production and comprehension of transitive clauses in Swedish. Based on a large corpus of Swedish, we develop a rational (Bayesian) model of incremental argument interpretation. This model predicts the processing difficulty experienced at different points in the sentence as a function of the Bayesian surprise associated with changes in expectations over possible argument interpretations. We then test the model against reading times from a self-paced reading experiment on Swedish. We find Bayesian surprise to be a significant predictor of reading times, complementing effects of word surprisal. Bayesian surprise also captures the qualitative effects of morpho-syntactic and lexico-semantic cues. Additional model comparisons find that it—with a single degree of freedom—captures much, if not all, of the effects associated with these cues. This suggests that the effects of form- and meaning-based cues to argument interpretation are mediated through expectation-based processing.

Retrieval (N400) and integration (P600) in expectation-based comprehension

Expectation-based theories of language processing, such as Surprisal theory, are supported by evidence of anticipation effects in both behavioural and neurophysiological measures. Online measures of language processing, however, are known to be influenced by factors such as lexical association that are distinct from—but often confounded with—expectancy. An open question therefore is whether a specific locus of expectancy related effects can be established in neural and behavioral processing correlates. We address this question in an event-related potential experiment and a self-paced reading experiment that independently cross expectancy and lexical association in a context manipulation design. We find that event-related potentials reveal that the N400 is sensitive to both expectancy and lexical association, while the P600 is modulated only by expectancy. Reading times, in turn, reveal effects of both association and expectancy in the first spillover region, followed by effects of expectancy alone in the second spillover region. These findings are consistent with the Retrieval-Integration account of language comprehension, according to which lexical retrieval (N400) is facilitated for words that are both expected and associated, whereas integration difficulty (P600) will be greater for unexpected words alone. Further, an exploratory analysis suggests that the P600 is not merely sensitive to expectancy violations, but rather, that there is a continuous relation. Taken together, these results suggest that the P600, like reading times, may reflect a meaning-centric notion of Surprisal in language comprehension.

A Theoretical Framework for a Hybrid View of the N400

In this study, we present a novel theoretical account of the N400 event-related potential (ERP) component. Hybrid views interpret this ERP component in terms of two cognitive operations: (i) access of information, which is related to predictions (predictability component), and (ii) integration of information, which is related to plausibility (plausibility component). Though there is an empirical evidence for this view, what has been left open so far is how these two operations can be defined. In our approach, both components are related to categorization. The critical word and the argument position it is related to are associated with categories that have a graded structure. This graded structure is defined in terms of weights both on attributes and values of features belonging to a category. The weights, in turn, are defined using probability distributions. The predictability component is defined in terms of the information gain with respect to non mismatched features between the two categories. The plausibility component is defined as the difference in the degree of typicality between the two categories. Finally, the N400 amplitude is defined as a function of both components.

Of Beavers and Tables: The Role of Animacy in the Processing of Grammatical Gender Within a Picture-Word Interference Task

Grammatical gender processing during language production has classically been studied using the so-called picture-word interference (PWI) task. In this procedure, participants are presented with pictures they must name using target nouns while ignoring superimposed written distractor nouns. Variations in response times are expected depending on the congruency between the gender values of targets and distractors. However, there have been disparate results in terms of the mandatory character of an agreement context to observe competitive gender effects and the interpretation of the direction of these effects in Romance languages, this probably due to uncontrolled variables such as animacy. In the present study, we conducted two PWI experiments with European Portuguese speakers who were asked to produce bare nouns. The percentage of animate targets within the list was manipulated: 0, 25, 50, and 100%. A gender congruency effect was found restricted to the 0% list (all targets were inanimate). Results support the selection of gender in transparent languages in the absence of an agreement context, as predicted by the Gender Acquisition and Processing (GAP) hypothesis (Sá-Leite et al., 2019), and are interpreted through the attentional mechanisms involved in the PWI paradigm, in which the processing of animate targets would be favored to the detriment of distractors due to biological relevance and semantic prioritization.

ERP evidence of age-related differences in emotional processing

The present study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine differences in the temporal dynamics of emotion processing in young and older adults, with a specific focus on the positivity effect, that is, the preferential processing of positive over negative information. To this aim, we used a language paradigm that allowed us to investigate early ERP components as well as later components, namely the N400 and the late positive complex (LPC). Young and older adults were presented with neutral sentence stems with positive, negative or neutral/semantically-incongruent critical word endings while their electrical brain activity was recorded. There were no effects of emotional valence on early ERP components. Instead, a positivity effect was evident in young adults indexed by reduced N400s for positive sentence endings. Perhaps due to reduced semantic processing abilities, older adults did not show any N400 effect. ERP effects in this group were evident at a later processing stage and took the form of larger LPCs for neutral/incongruent information. Overall, there was no effect of emotional valence on either the N400 or the LPC in older adults. Our data suggest that with age, more effortful semantic processing may deplete resources for emotional processing.

Concurrent use of animacy and event-knowledge during comprehension: Evidence from event-related potentials

In two ERP experiments, we investigated whether readers prioritize animacy over real-world event-knowledge during sentence comprehension. We used the paradigm of Paczynski and Kuperberg (2012), who argued that animacy is prioritized based on the observations that the 'related anomaly effect' (reduced N400s for context-related anomalous words compared to unrelated words) does not occur for animacy violations, and that animacy violations but not relatedness violations elicit P600 effects. Participants read passive sentences with plausible agents (e.g., The prescription for the mental disorder was written by the psychiatrist) or implausible agents that varied in animacy and semantic relatedness (schizophrenic/guard/pill/fence). In Experiment 1 (with a plausibility judgment task), plausible sentences elicited smaller N400s relative to all types of implausible sentences. Crucially, animate words elicited smaller N400s than inanimate words, and related words elicited smaller N400s than unrelated words, but Bayesian analysis revealed substantial evidence against an interaction between animacy and relatedness. Moreover, at the P600 time-window, we observed more positive ERPs for animate than inanimate words and for related than unrelated words at anterior regions. In Experiment 2 (without judgment task), we observed an N400 effect with animacy violations, but no other effects. Taken together, the results of our experiments fail to support a prioritized role of animacy information over real-world event-knowledge, but they support an interactive, constraint-based view on incremental semantic processing.

Neural Evidence for the Prediction of Animacy Features during Language Comprehension: Evidence from MEG and EEG Representational Similarity Analysis

It has been proposed that people can generate probabilistic predictions at multiple levels of representation during language comprehension. We used magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG), in combination with representational similarity analysis, to seek neural evidence for the prediction of animacy features. In two studies, MEG and EEG activity was measured as human participants (both sexes) read three-sentence scenarios. Verbs in the final sentences constrained for either animate or inanimate semantic features of upcoming nouns, and the broader discourse context constrained for either a specific noun or for multiple nouns belonging to the same animacy category. We quantified the similarity between spatial patterns of brain activity following the verbs until just before the presentation of the nouns. The MEG and EEG datasets revealed converging evidence that the similarity between spatial patterns of neural activity following animate-constraining verbs was greater than following inanimate-constraining verbs. This effect could not be explained by lexical-semantic processing of the verbs themselves. We therefore suggest that it reflected the inherent difference in the semantic similarity structure of the predicted animate and inanimate nouns. Moreover, the effect was present regardless of whether a specific word could be predicted, providing strong evidence for the prediction of coarse-grained semantic features that goes beyond the prediction of individual words.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Language inputs unfold very quickly during real-time communication. By predicting ahead, we can give our brains a "head start," so that language comprehension is faster and more efficient. Although most contexts do not constrain strongly for a specific word, they do allow us to predict some upcoming information. For example, following the context of "they cautioned the…," we can predict that the next word will be animate rather than inanimate (we can caution a person, but not an object). Here, we used EEG and MEG techniques to show that the brain is able to use these contextual constraints to predict the animacy of upcoming words during sentence comprehension, and that these predictions are associated with specific spatial patterns of neural activity.

Going the Extra Mile: Effects of Discourse Context on Two Late Positivities During Language Comprehension

During language comprehension, online neural processing is strongly influenced by the constraints of the prior context. While the N400 ERP response (300-500ms) is known to be sensitive to a word's semantic predictability, less is known about a set of late positive-going ERP responses (600-1000ms) that can be elicited when an incoming word violates strong predictions about upcoming content (late frontal positivity) or about what is possible given the prior context (late posterior positivity/P600). Across three experiments, we systematically manipulated the length of the prior context and the source of lexical constraint to determine their influence on comprehenders' online neural responses to these two types of prediction violations. In Experiment 1, within minimal contexts, both lexical prediction violations and semantically anomalous words produced a larger N400 than expected continuations (James unlocked the door/laptop/gardener), but no late positive effects were observed. Critically, the late posterior positivity/P600 to semantic anomalies appeared when these same sentences were embedded within longer discourse contexts (Experiment 2a), and the late frontal positivity appeared to lexical prediction violations when the preceding context was rich and globally constraining (Experiment 2b). We interpret these findings within a hierarchical generative framework of language comprehension. This framework highlights the role of comprehension goals and broader linguistic context, and how these factors influence both top-down prediction and the decision to update or reanalyze the prior context when these predictions are violated.

Time-generalized multivariate analysis of EEG responses reveals a cascading architecture of semantic mismatch processing

Event-related brain potentials have a strong impact on neurocognitive models, as they inform about the temporal sequence of cognitive processes. Nevertheless, their value for deciding among alternative cognitive architectures is partly limited by component overlap and the possibility of ambiguity regarding component identity. Here, we apply temporally-generalized multivariate pattern analysis - a recently-proposed machine learning method capable of tracking the evolution of neurocognitive processes over time - to constrain possible alternative architectures underlying the processing of semantic incongruency in sentences. In a spoken sentence paradigm, we replicate established N400/P600 correlates of semantic mismatch. Time-generalized decoding indicates that early vs. late mismatch-sensitive processes are (i) distinct in their neural substrate, arguing against recurrent or latency-shifted single process architectures, and (ii) partially overlapping in time, inconsistent with predictions of strictly serial models. These results are in accordance with an incremental-cascading neurocognitive organization of semantic mismatch processing. We propose time-generalized multivariate decoding as a valuable tool for neurocognitive language studies.

The processing of animacy in noun-classifier combinations in reading Korean: An ERP study

A key issue in the area of language processing is the mechanism underlying the processing of animacy information during sentence comprehension. In this ERP study, we investigated the temporal dynamics of animacy processing in Korean noun-classifier combinations that do not involve verb-noun thematic processing. We manipulated semantic and animacy relationships between nouns and their following classifiers, and there were three conditions in our experiment: (a) correct, (b) semantic mismatch, or (c) animacy mismatch. The results showed that both noun-classifier mismatch conditions evoked a biphasic N400-P600 effect, but there was no P600 difference between the two mismatch conditions. However, further analyses indicated that the animacy mismatch condition evoked a less negative-going waveform than the semantic mismatch condition in the 400-500 ms time window. Our findings suggest that the brain processes animacy information differently from other semantic features in noun-classifier combinations in Korean, and additional animacy mismatch blocked further fine-grained semantic processing. The ERP evidence also suggests that the role of animacy in sentence comprehension varies according to language type and sentence structure. Whether animacy participates in the construction of verb-noun thematic relationships in sentences may be an important factor that influences the neural patterns of animacy processing in language comprehension.

Sentence-Level Effects of Literary Genre: Behavioral and Electrophysiological Evidence

The current study used event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and behavioral measures to examine effects of genre awareness on sentence processing and evaluation. We hypothesized that genre awareness modulates effects of genre-typical manipulations. We manipulated instructions between participants, either specifying a genre (poetry) or not (neutral). Sentences contained genre-typical variations of semantic congruency (congruent/incongruent) and morpho-phonological features (archaic/contemporary inflections). Offline ratings of meaningfulness (n = 64/group) showed higher average ratings for semantically incongruent sentences in the poetry vs. neutral condition. ERPs during sentence reading (n = 24/group; RSVP presentation at a fixed per-constituent rate; probe task) showed a left-lateralized N400-like effect for contemporary vs. archaic inflections. Semantic congruency elicited a bilateral posterior N400 effect for incongruent vs. congruent continuations followed by a centro-parietal positivity (P600). While N400 amplitudes were insensitive to the genre, the latency of the P600 was delayed by the poetry instruction. From these results, we conclude that during real-time sentence comprehension, readers are sensitive to subtle morphological manipulations and the implicit prosodic differences that accompany them. By contrast, genre awareness affects later stages of comprehension.

The effect of animacy on metamemory

Previous research has shown that the animacy quality of materials affects basic cognitive processes such as memory (i.e., animate stimuli are remembered better than are inanimate stimuli). This is referred to as the animacy effect. Little research has examined, however, whether this effect can be extended to higher cognitive processes such as metamemory. In the present studies, we investigated the influence of animacy on judgments of learning (JOLs) and the underlying basis of the animacy effect, namely, processing fluency and beliefs about the animacy effect. In Experiment 1, participants studied animate and inanimate words and made immediate JOLs. Results revealed that participants gave higher estimates for animate than they did for inanimate words. In Experiments 2a and 2b, we evaluated the contribution of processing fluency to the animacy effect either by measuring self-paced study time or by disrupting fluency by presenting half of the words in an easy or difficult font style. Results from both experiments indicated that processing fluency contributes minimally to the animacy effect. In questionnaire-based Experiment 3, participants estimated hypothetical participants would better remember the animate words than the inanimate words, suggesting the potential role of beliefs on the animacy effect on JOLs. To conclude, these findings suggest that animacy is a reliable cue when people monitor their learning in higher cognitive processes. The beliefs, not processing fluency, contribute substantially to the animacy effect on JOLs.

Animacy-Based Accessibility and Competition in Relative Clause Production in Hindi and Malayalam

Two studies investigated interaction of animacy-based accessibility and competition processes with language specific constraints in shaping production preferences. Relative clause elicitation tasks (Gennari et al. in Cogn Psychol 65:141-176, 2012) were performed by two groups with 40 participants in each. Significantly more passives were produced with animate question/focus and assigned subject function to them in Malayalam, while the difference was insignificant in Hindi with animacy not equating with grammatical function assignment. Both languages produced active objects with OSV order significantly more with animate question/focus. This indicates animacy effect on word order. Animacy also influenced the expression of the agent phase in both languages as a tendency was found to omit the agent by-phase or to delay its appearance, when the two animate nouns entering into the structure are highly similar. The results point to language specific constraints in relative clause production and variability in the role of animacy-based retrieval order across languages.

The P600-as-P3 hypothesis revisited: single-trial analyses reveal that the late EEG positivity following linguistically deviant material is reaction time aligned

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.

Individual variation in the late positive complex to semantic anomalies

It is well-known that, within ERP paradigms of sentence processing, semantically anomalous words elicit N400 effects. Less clear, however, is what happens after the N400. In some cases N400 effects are followed by Late Positive Complexes (LPC), whereas in other cases such effects are lacking. We investigated several factors which could affect the LPC, such as contextual constraint, inter-individual variation, and working memory. Seventy-two participants read sentences containing a semantic manipulation (Whipped cream tastes sweet/anxious and creamy). Neither contextual constraint nor working memory correlated with the LPC. Inter-individual variation played a substantial role in the elicitation of the LPC with about half of the participants showing a negative response and the other half showing an LPC. This individual variation correlated with a syntactic ERP as well as an alternative semantic manipulation. In conclusion, our results show that inter-individual variation plays a large role in the elicitation of the LPC and this may account for the diversity in LPC findings in language research.

Neural dynamics of animacy processing in language comprehension: ERP evidence from the interpretation of classifier-noun combinations

An event-related potential experiment was conducted to investigate the temporal neural dynamics of animacy processing in the interpretation of classifier-noun combinations. Participants read sentences that had a non-canonical structure, object noun +subject noun+verb+numeral-classifier+adjective. The object noun and its classifier were either (a) congruent, (b) incongruent, but matching in animacy, or (c) incongruent, mismatching in animacy. An N400 effect was observed for both incongruent conditions, but not for additional mismatch in animacy. When only data from participants who accepted the non-canonical structure were analyzed, the animacy mismatch elicited a P600 but still no N400. These findings suggest that animacy information is not used immediately for semantic integration of nouns and their classifiers, but is used in a later analysis reflected by P600. Thus, the temporal neural dynamics of animacy processing in sentence comprehension may be modulated by the relevance of animacy to thematic interpretation.

Electrophysiological Evidence for Use of the Animacy Hierarchy, but not Thematic Role Assignment, During Verb Argument Processing

Animacy is known to play an important role in language processing and production, but debate remains as to how it exerts its effects: 1) through links to syntactic ordering, 2) through inherent differences between animate and inanimate entities in their salience/lexico-semantic accessibility, 3) through links to specific thematic roles. We contrasted these three accounts in two event related potential (ERP) experiments examining the processing of direct object arguments in simple English sentences. In Experiment 1, we found a larger N400 to animate than inanimate direct object arguments assigned the Patient role, ruling out the second account. In Experiment 2 we found no difference in the N400 evoked by animate direct object arguments assigned the Patient role (prototypically inanimate) and those assigned the Experiencer role (prototypically animate), ruling out the third account. We therefore suggest that animacy may impact processing through a direct link to syntactic linear ordering, at least on post-verbal arguments in English. We also examined processing on direct object arguments that violated the animacy-based selection restriction constraints of their preceding verbs. These violations evoked a robust P600, which was not modulated by thematic role assignment or reversibility, suggesting that the so-called semantic P600 is driven by overall propositional impossibility, rather than thematic role reanalysis.