TY - JOUR
T1 - The costs of freedom: An ERP - Study of non-canonical sentences
AU - Matzke, Mike
AU - Mai, Heinke
AU - Nager, W.
AU - Rüsseler, Jascha
AU - Münte, Thomas
N1 - Funding Information:
Supported by DFG grants MU1311/7-2 and MU1311/9-1 to T.F.M. We thank A. Niesel and J. Kilian for technical support.
Copyright:
Copyright 2008 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2002
Y1 - 2002
N2 - Objectives: The present investigation explored the electrophysiological correlates of working memory during sentence comprehension. Methods: Event-related brain potentials (ERP) were recorded from 29 channels in 22 subjects, while they read German sentences having subject-first (canonical) or object-first (non-canonical) word orders. Results: Three different ERP effects were observed: a negativity (maximum at Fc5) differentiating unambiguous object-first and subject-first sentences, interpreted as reflecting the demands of the object-first sentences on working memory; a second negativity (maximum at F7) to the subject noun-phrase in object-first sentences, interpreted as indicating retrieval of verbal material. Finally, a parietal positivity was found for ambiguous sentences that turned out to have a non-canonical word order, which was interpreted as indicating revision and reevaluation processes. Conclusions: The present data underscore the different roles of working memory in comprehension.
AB - Objectives: The present investigation explored the electrophysiological correlates of working memory during sentence comprehension. Methods: Event-related brain potentials (ERP) were recorded from 29 channels in 22 subjects, while they read German sentences having subject-first (canonical) or object-first (non-canonical) word orders. Results: Three different ERP effects were observed: a negativity (maximum at Fc5) differentiating unambiguous object-first and subject-first sentences, interpreted as reflecting the demands of the object-first sentences on working memory; a second negativity (maximum at F7) to the subject noun-phrase in object-first sentences, interpreted as indicating retrieval of verbal material. Finally, a parietal positivity was found for ambiguous sentences that turned out to have a non-canonical word order, which was interpreted as indicating revision and reevaluation processes. Conclusions: The present data underscore the different roles of working memory in comprehension.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0036277142&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S1388-2457(02)00059-7
DO - 10.1016/S1388-2457(02)00059-7
M3 - Journal articles
C2 - 12048043
AN - SCOPUS:0036277142
SN - 1388-2457
VL - 113
SP - 844
EP - 852
JO - Clinical Neurophysiology
JF - Clinical Neurophysiology
IS - 6
ER -
