Semantic illusion depends on information structure: ERP evidence

Wang, Lin; Hagoort, Peter; Yang, Yufang

doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2009.05.069

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Semantic illusion depends on information structure: ERP evidence

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Wang, Lin
Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing,China ;
Unification, MPI for Psycholinguistics, Max Planck Society;
Radboud University Nijmegen, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, The Netherlands;

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Hagoort, Peter
Unification, MPI for Psycholinguistics, Max Planck Society;
Radboud University Nijmegen, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, The Netherlands;
Neurobiology of Language Group, MPI for Psycholinguistics, Max Planck Society;

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Citation

Wang, L., Hagoort, P., & Yang, Y. (2009). Semantic illusion depends on information structure: ERP evidence. Brain Research, 1282, 50-56. doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2009.05.069.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-0013-38FD-9

Abstract

Next to propositional content, speakers distribute information in their utterances in such a way that listeners can make a distinction between new (focused) and given (non-focused) information. This is referred to as information structure. We measured event-related potentials (ERPs) to explore the role of information structure in semantic processing. Following different questions in wh-question-answer pairs (e.g. What kind of vegetable did Ming buy for cooking today? /Who bought the vegetables for cooking today?), the answer sentences (e.g., Ming bought eggplant/beef to cook today.) contained a critical word, which was either semantically appropriate (eggplant) or inappropriate (beef), and either focus or non-focus. The results showed a full N400 effect only when the critical words were in focus position. In non-focus position a strongly reduced N400 effect was observed, in line with the well-known semantic illusion effect. The results suggest that information structure facilitates semantic processing by devoting more resources to focused information.