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Wei Y, Niu Y, Taft M, Carreiras M. Morphological decomposition in Chinese compound word recognition: Electrophysiological evidence. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2023; 241:105267. [PMID: 37121022 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2023.105267] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2022] [Revised: 04/06/2023] [Accepted: 04/15/2023] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
The present study examined the effect of both morphological complexity and semantic transparency in Chinese compound word recognition. Using a visual lexical decision task, our electrophysiological results showed that transparent and opaque compounds induced stronger Left Anterior Negativity (LAN) than monomorphemic words. This result suggests that Chinese compounds might be decomposed into their constituent morphemes at the lemma level, whereas monomorphemic words are accessed as a whole-word lemma directly from the form level. In addition, transparent and opaque compounds produced a similar N400 as each other, suggesting that transparency did not show an effect on the involvement of constituent morphemes during access to the whole-word lemma. Two behavioral experiments additionally showed similar patterns to the EEG results. These findings support morphological decomposition for compounds at the lemma level as proposed by the full-parsing model, and no evidence is found to support the role of transparency during Chinese compound word recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanjun Wei
- Key Laboratory of the Cognitive Science of Language (Beijing Language and Culture University), Ministry of Education, China; Center for the Cognitive Science of Language, Beijing Language and Culture University, 100083 Beijing, China; Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, 20009 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain.
| | - Ying Niu
- Center for the Cognitive Science of Language, Beijing Language and Culture University, 100083 Beijing, China
| | - Marcus Taft
- Center for the Cognitive Science of Language, Beijing Language and Culture University, 100083 Beijing, China; School of Psychology, UNSW Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
| | - Manuel Carreiras
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, 20009 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain; Departamento de Lengua Vasca y Comunicación, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), 48940 Leioa, Spain; Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, 48013 Bilbao, Spain
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Impairment of semantic composition in schizophrenia: An ERP study with lexical stimuli. Neuropsychologia 2022; 171:108241. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2021] [Revised: 04/12/2022] [Accepted: 04/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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3
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Lo JCM, McBride C, Ho CSH, Maurer U. Event-related potentials during Chinese single-character and two-character word reading in children. Brain Cogn 2019; 136:103589. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2019.103589] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2019] [Revised: 07/25/2019] [Accepted: 07/26/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Flick G, Oseki Y, Kaczmarek AR, Al Kaabi M, Marantz A, Pylkkänen L. Building words and phrases in the left temporal lobe. Cortex 2018; 106:213-236. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2018.06.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2017] [Revised: 04/03/2018] [Accepted: 06/06/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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Neufeld C, Kramer SE, Lapinskaya N, Heffner CC, Malko A, Lau EF. The Electrophysiology of Basic Phrase Building. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0158446. [PMID: 27711111 PMCID: PMC5053407 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0158446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2015] [Accepted: 06/16/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
A defining trait of linguistic competence is the ability to combine elements into increasingly complex structures to denote, and to comprehend, a potentially infinite number of meanings. Recent magnetoencephalography (MEG) work has investigated these processes by comparing the response to nouns in combinatorial (blue car) and non-combinatorial (rnsh car) contexts. In the current study we extended this paradigm using electroencephalography (EEG) to dissociate the role of semantic content from phonological well-formedness (yerl car). We used event-related potential (ERP) recordings in order to better relate the observed neurophysiological correlates of basic combinatorial operations to prior ERP work on comprehension. We found that nouns in combinatorial contexts (blue car) elicited a greater centro-parietal negativity between 180-400ms, independent of the phonological well-formedness of the context word. We discuss the potential relationship between this ‘combinatorial’ effect and classic N400 effects. We also report preliminary evidence for an early anterior negative deflection immediately preceding the critical noun in combinatorial contexts, which we tentatively interpret as an electrophysiological reflex of syntactic structure initialization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chris Neufeld
- Department of Linguistics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Stephanie E. Kramer
- Department of Linguistics, Georgetown University, Washington, District of Colombia, United States of America
| | - Natalia Lapinskaya
- Department of Linguistics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Christopher C. Heffner
- Department of Linguistics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America
- Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Anton Malko
- Department of Linguistics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Ellen F. Lau
- Department of Linguistics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America
- Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America
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Tong X, Chung KKH, McBride C. Two-Character Chinese Compound Word Processing in Chinese Children With and Without Dyslexia: ERP Evidence. Dev Neuropsychol 2014; 39:285-301. [PMID: 24854773 DOI: 10.1080/87565641.2014.907720] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Fiorentino R, Naito-Billen Y, Bost J, Fund-Reznicek E. Electrophysiological evidence for the morpheme-based combinatoric processing of English compounds. Cogn Neuropsychol 2013; 31:123-46. [PMID: 24279696 DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2013.855633] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
The extent to which the processing of compounds (e.g., "catfish") makes recourse to morphological-level representations remains a matter of debate. Moreover, positing a morpheme-level route to complex word recognition entails not only access to morphological constituents, but also combinatoric processes operating on the constituent representations; however, the neurophysiological mechanisms subserving decomposition, and in particular morpheme combination, have yet to be fully elucidated. The current study presents electrophysiological evidence for the morpheme-based processing of both lexicalized (e.g., "teacup") and novel (e.g., "tombnote") visually presented English compounds; these brain responses appear prior to and are dissociable from the eventual overt lexical decision response. The electrophysiological results reveal increased negativities for conditions with compound structure, including effects shared by lexicalized and novel compounds, as well as effects unique to each compound type, which may be related to aspects of morpheme combination. These findings support models positing across-the-board morphological decomposition, counter to models proposing that putatively complex words are primarily or solely processed as undecomposed representations, and motivate further electrophysiological research toward a more precise characterization of the nature and neurophysiological instantiation of complex word recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert Fiorentino
- a Neurolinguistics & Language Processing Laboratory, Department of Linguistics , University of Kansas , Lawrence , KS , USA
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Koester D. Prosody in parsing morphologically complex words: Neurophysiological evidence. Cogn Neuropsychol 2013; 31:147-63. [DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2013.857649] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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ERPs and morphological processing: the N400 and semantic composition. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2013; 13:355-70. [PMID: 23271630 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-012-0145-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Both behavioral and electrophysiological evidence suggests that fluent readers decompose morphologically complex words into their constituent parts. Previous event-related potential (ERP) research has been equivocal with regard to whether the N400 component indexes morphological decomposition or the integration of the products of decomposition, a process called semantic composition. In a visual lexical decision task with college students, we recorded ERPs to a well-controlled set of words and nonwords made up of bound morphemes (discern, predict; disject, percern) or free morphemes (cobweb, earring; cobline, bobweb) and monomorphemic control words and nonwords (garlic, minnow; gartus, buzlic). For each of the three morphological types, participants were faster to respond to words than to nonwords. Furthermore, for each of the three morphological types, the amplitude of the N400 was more negative to nonwords than to matched words, an effect indicating that the N400 is more sensitive to the lexicality of the whole stimulus than to the meaningfulness of the constituent parts of the stimulus. The N400 lexicality effect was not significantly different across the three morphological types. To our knowledge, this is the first ERP study to directly compare the processing of printed sets of words composed of bound and free morphemes and monomorphemic control stimuli in order to explore the relative sensitivity of the N400 to morphological decomposition (i.e., the status of the parts) and semantic composition (i.e., the status of the whole). Our findings are consistent with an interpretation of the N400 as an index of a process of semantic composition.
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MacGregor LJ, Shtyrov Y. Multiple routes for compound word processing in the brain: evidence from EEG. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2013; 126:217-29. [PMID: 23800711 PMCID: PMC3730057 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2013.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2012] [Revised: 03/13/2013] [Accepted: 04/05/2013] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
Are compound words represented as unitary lexical units, or as individual constituents that are processed combinatorially? We investigated the neuro-cognitive processing of compounds using EEG and a passive-listening oddball design in which lexical access and combinatorial processing elicit dissociating Mismatch Negativity (MMN) brain-response patterns. MMN amplitude varied with compound frequency and semantic transparency (the clarity of the relationship between compound and constituent meanings). Opaque compounds elicited an enhanced 'lexical' MMN, reflecting stronger lexical representations, to high- vs. low-frequency compounds. Transparent compounds showed no frequency effect, nor differed to pseudo-compounds, reflecting the combination of a reduced 'syntactic' MMN indexing combinatorial links, and an enhanced 'lexical' MMN for real-word compounds compared to pseudo-compounds. We argue that transparent compounds are processed combinatorially alongside parallel lexical access of the whole-form representation, but whole-form access is the dominant mechanism for opaque compounds, particularly those of high-frequency. Results support a flexible dual-route account of compound processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucy J MacGregor
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Rd., Cambridge CB2 7EF, UK.
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Wang W, Li X, Ning N, Zhang JX. The nature of the homophone density effect: An ERP study with Chinese spoken monosyllable homophones. Neurosci Lett 2012; 516:67-71. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2012.03.059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2012] [Revised: 03/13/2012] [Accepted: 03/20/2012] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
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12
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Bai C, Cai S, Schumacher PB. Reversibility in Chinese word formation influences target identification. Neurosci Lett 2011; 499:14-8. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2011.05.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2011] [Revised: 05/05/2011] [Accepted: 05/08/2011] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Abstract
Compounding, the concatenation of words (e.g. dishwasher), is an important mechanism across many languages. This study investigated whether access of initial compound constituents occurs immediately or, alternatively, whether it is delayed until the last constituent (i.e. the head). Electroencephalogram was measured as participants listened to German two-constituent compounds. Both the initial as well as the following head constituent could consist of either a word or nonword, resulting in four experimental conditions. Results showed a larger N400 for initial nonword constituents, suggesting that lexical access was attempted before the head. Thus, this study provides direct evidence that lexical access of transparent compound constituents in German occurs immediately, and is not delayed until the compound head is encountered.
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15
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Electrophysiological evidence for incremental lexical-semantic integration in auditory compound comprehension. Neuropsychologia 2009; 47:1854-64. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.02.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2008] [Revised: 01/20/2009] [Accepted: 02/20/2009] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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