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The ability to mentally simulate an action by recalling the body sensations relative to the real execution is referred to as kinesthetic motor imagery (MI). Frontal and parietal motor-related brain regions are generally engaged during MI. The present study aimed to investigate the time course and neural correlates of complex action imagery and possible effects of expertise on the underlying action representation processes. Professional ballet dancers and controls were presented with effortful and effortless ballet steps and instructed to mentally reproduce each movement during EEG recording. Time-locked MI was associated with an Anterior Negativity (AN) component (400–550 ms) that was larger in dancers relative to controls. The AN was differentially modulated by the motor content (effort) as a function of ballet expertise. It was more negative in response to effortful (than effortless) movements in control participants only. This effect also had a frontal distribution in controls and a centro-parietal distribution in dancers, as shown by the topographic maps of the scalp voltage. The source reconstruction (swLORETA) of the recorded potentials in the AN time-window showed enhanced engagement of prefrontal regions in controls (BA 10/47) relative to dancers, and occipitotemporal (BA 20) and bilateral sensorimotor areas in dancers (BA6/40) compared with controls. This evidence seems to suggest that kinesthetic MI of complex action relied on visuomotor simulation processes in participants with acquired dance expertise. Simultaneously, increased cognitive demands occurred in participants lacking in motor knowledge with the specific action. Hence, professional dance training may lead to refined action representation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted an event-related potential experiment using aspectual coercion to examine whether aspectual information is predictively processed prior to verb input in Japanese. In the experiment, experimental sentences were presented with two presentation durations (500 ms vs. 800 ms) to manipulate the temporal predictability of a verb. Aspectually coerced sentences elicited an early anterior negativity (AN) only when participants had a sufficient time to generate an aspectual prediction for a verb. A late AN was observed in aspectual coercion irrespective of the manipulation of the duration. This result indicates that early AN is elicited by a prediction error pertaining to aspectual information, suggesting that aspectual information is computed predictively based on adverbials without waiting for verb information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, we showed that when participants passively read about moral transgressions (e.g., adultery), they implicitly engage in the evaluative (good-bad) categorization of incoming information, as indicated by a larger event-related brain potential (ERP) positivity to immoral than to moral scenarios (Leuthold, Kunkel, Mackenzie, & Filik in Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience, 10, 1021-1029, 2015). Behavioral and neuroimaging studies indicated that explicit moral tasks prioritize the semantic-cognitive analysis of incoming information but that implicit tasks, as used in Leuthold et al. (Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience, 10, 1021-1029, 2015), favor their affective processing. Therefore, it is unclear whether an affective categorization process is also involved when participants perform explicit moral judgments. Thus, in two experiments, we used similarly constructed morality and emotion materials for which their moral and emotional content had to be inferred from the context. Target sentences from negative vs. neutral emotional scenarios and from moral vs. immoral scenarios were presented using rapid serial visual presentation. In Experiment 1, participants made moral judgments for moral materials and emotional judgments for emotion materials. Negative compared to neutral emotional scenarios elicited a larger posterior ERP positivity (LPP) about 200 ms after critical word onset, whereas immoral compared to moral scenarios elicited a larger anterior negativity (500-700 ms). In Experiment 2, where the same emotional judgment to both types of materials was required, a larger LPP was triggered for both types of materials. These results accord with the view that morality scenarios trigger a semantic-cognitive analysis when participants explicitly judge the moral content of incoming linguistic information but an affective evaluation when judging their emotional content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Conventionality affects the time course of indirect reply processing. • Conventional indirect reply elicited early effects. • Nonconventional indirect reply only elicited a late negativity effect. • Conversational indirectness score was linked to conventional indirect reply effects. Indirect language comprehension requires decoding both the literal meaning and the intended meaning of an utterance, in which pragmatic inference is involved. This study tests the role of conventionality in the time course of indirect reply processing by comparing conventional and non-conventional indirect replies with direct reply, respectively. We constructed discourses which consist of a context and a dialogue with one question (e.g. , May I buy a necklace for you) and one reply (e.g. , I really have too many). The reply utterance was segmented into three phrases and presented orderly for EEG recording, e.g. , with the subject as the first phrase (e.g. , I), the adverbial as the second phrase (e.g. , really), and the predicate as the third phrase (e.g. , have too many). Our results showed that for conventional indirect replies, the second phrase elicited a larger anterior negativity, and the third phrase elicited a larger anterior N400 compared with those in direct replies. By contrast, for the non-conventional indirect reply, only the third phrase elicited a larger late negativity than the direct replies. These findings suggest that conventionality determines the time course of the pragmatic inferences for the most relevant interpretation during indirect replies comprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cataphoric dependencies where a pronoun precedes its antecedent appear to call on different mechanisms in language comprehension from forward dependencies where the antecedent precedes the pronoun. Previous research has shown that the resolution of cataphoric dependencies involves predictive processes such as the Active Search Mechanism, which hypothesizes the automatic search for an antecedent immediately after encountering a cataphoric pronoun. The current study employs gender mismatch to investigate whether the active search for an antecedent of a cataphoric pronoun is restricted only to grammatically licit positions. We present results from an event-related potential experiment on the reading comprehension of cataphoric dependencies in Dutch. Results show that gender mismatch gives rise to an anterior negativity at grammatically licit antecedent positions only. We hypothesize that this negativity reflects the prediction failure for an antecedent after encountering a pronoun, rather than a gender mismatch. We discuss the timing, topography and functionality of this negativity with respect to previous studies and how this relates to the ERPs elicited in the processing of structural constraints on pronoun resolution.

Cataphoric dependencies where a pronoun precedes its antecedent appear to call on different mechanisms in language comprehension from forward dependencies where the antecedent precedes the pronoun. Previous research has shown that the resolution of cataphoric dependencies involves predictive processes such as the active search mechanism, which hypothesizes the automatic search for an antecedent immediately after encountering a cataphoric pronoun. The current study employs gender mismatch to investigate whether the active search for an antecedent of a cataphoric pronoun is restricted only to grammatically licit positions. We present results from an eventrelated potential experiment on the reading comprehension of cataphoric dependencies in Dutch. Results show that gender mismatch gives rise to an anterior negativity at grammatically licit antecedent positions only. We hypothesize that this negativity reflects the prediction failure for an antecedent after encountering a pronoun, rather than a gender mismatch. We discuss the timing, topography and functionality of this negativity with respect to previous studies and how this relates to the ERPs elicited in the processing of structural constraints on pronoun resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The information about social hierarchical relationship has been intrinsically embedded into semantic restrictions of some Chinese verbs theoretically. For example, the Chinese verb ''(shanyang, support: provide for the needs and comfort of one's elders) only allows its Agent role to have a lower social status compared to the Patient role. However, whether this hierarchical restriction can be rapidly activated and how it impacts online thematic role assignment in reading remains to be seen. To answer this question, a 2 (Verb Type: hierarchical vs non-hierarchical verbs) × 2 (Social Hierarchy Sequence: match vs mismatch) design was constructed in the present study to investigate the interaction between the two factors. ERPs showed that hierarchical restriction violations evoked a stronger anterior negativity to the sentence-final noun (NP2). This effect was absent under two non-hierarchical conditions. To our knowledge, this study is the first to reveal that social hierarchical restrictions of Chinese hierarchical verbs can be rapidly available to guide online thematic role assignment and this process might be closely related to readers' thematic role knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful dependency resolution during language comprehension relies on accessing certain representations in memory, and not others. We recently reported event-related potential (ERP) evidence that syntactically unavailable, intervening attractor-nouns interfered during comprehension of Spanish noun-phrase ellipsis (the determiner otra/otro): grammatically correct determiners that mismatched the gender of attractor-nouns elicited a sustained negativity as also observed for incorrect determiners (Martin, Nieuwland, & Carreiras, 2012). The current study sought to extend this novel finding in sentences containing object-extracted relative clauses, where the antecedent may be less prominent. Whereas correct determiners that matched the gender of attractor-nouns now elicited an early anterior negativity as also observed for mismatching determiners, the previously reported interaction pattern was replicated in P600 responses to subsequent words. Our results suggest that structural and gender information is simultaneously taken into account, providing further evidence for retrieval interference during comprehension of grammatical sentences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: One possible source of tense and agreement limitations in children with specific language impairment (SLI) is a weakness in appreciating structural dependencies that occur in many sentences in the input. This possibility was tested in the present study. Method: Children with a history of SLI (H-SLI; n = 12; M = 9;7 [years;months]) and typically developing same-age peers (TD; n = 12; M = 9;7) listened to and made grammaticality judgments about grammatical and ungrammatical sentences involving either a local agreement error (e.g., “Every night they talks on the phone”) or a long-distance finiteness error (e.g., “He makes the quiet boy talks a little louder”). Electrophysiological (ERP) and behavioral (accuracy) measures were obtained. Results: Local agreement errors elicited the expected anterior negativity and P600 components in both groups of children. However, relative to the TD group, the P600 effect for the long-distance finiteness errors was delayed, reduced in amplitude, and shorter in duration for the H-SLI group. The children’s grammaticality judgments were consistent with the ERP findings. Conclusion: Children with H-SLI seem to be relatively insensitive to the finiteness constraints that matrix verbs place on subject–verb clauses that appear later in the sentence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Working-memory demands and lexical access in particle-verb processing were examined. [•] Sentences containing discontinuous verb–particle combinations were presented. [•] Verbs that license particles elicited a LAN relative to verbs that do not. [•] Implausible particles elicited a larger N400 relative to plausible ones. [•] Particle-verb processing involves working-memory storage and dual lexical access. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This electrophysiological study investigated how right- and left-edge prosodic boundary tones interact in the processing of syntactic structure. Swedish sentences of the type ‘Peter hit Larry(NP2) and Jason(NP3) fell/hard…’ were used. A verb (‘fell’) requires a clause boundary between NP2 and NP3, whereas an adverb (‘hard’) implies continuation of the first clause, which incorporates NP3 as a coordinated object. The effects of right-edge prosody associated with NP2 and left-edge prosody associated with NP3 were tested. Results suggest interaction between prosodic right- and left-edge boundary cues both at the earliest stages of processing the left-edge boundary tone on NP3 and at the immediately following word category distinction. Right-edge boundary tones on NP2 yielded an early positive deflection (P200) and a later positivity (CPS). Left-edge tones on NP3 showed a P200 effect only if preceded by a right-edge boundary on NP2. In the absence of a prosodic right-edge boundary, left-edge tones instead yielded an early negativity (N100), suggesting that they were unexpected. At the following word category distinction point, adverbs, showing continuation of the first clause, produced an anterior negativity when preceded by both right- and left-edge prosodic boundaries. The negativity is thought to reflect detection of a syntactically incorrect word category. Syntactically un-preferred constructions with an adverb following NP3 received generally lower acceptability ratings and gave rise to a P600 effect in all conditions. Syntactically preferred constructions with verbs following NP3 showed a similar P600 only when not preceded by either right- or left-edge boundary tones. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The event-related potential (ERP) technique was used to investigate the neural dynamics in processing different levels of the hierarchical syntactic structure during comprehension of Chinese sentences with the ba construction. In these sentences, the structural auxiliaries, which mark either the adjective (-de) or the adverb (-di) category, were embedded in a hierarchical structure at the lower level, i.e., BA –adjective (-de)–noun–verb, or at the higher level, i.e., BA –noun–adverb (-di)–verb. Violations of the lower- and the higher-level structural constraints were constructed by misapplication of these structural auxiliaries. Participants were required to read all the sentences for comprehension and to complete a sentence recognition test at the end of the experiment. Violation of the lower-level constraints elicited a left-lateralized, anteriorly maximized negativity, whereas violation of the higher-level constraints elicited a right anterior negativity (RAN) and a right centro-parietal negativity (N400) from 300 to 500ms post-onset of the auxiliary phrase. Neither type of violation led to a late positivity effect on the critical auxiliary phrases. These findings suggest that processing different levels of syntactic hierarchy during natural language comprehension may involve different neural mechanisms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Verbs contain multifaceted information about both the semantics of an action, and potential argument structures. Linguistic theory classifies verbs according to whether the denoted action has an inherent (telic) end-point (fall, awaken), or whether it is considered homogenous, or atelic (read, worship). The aim of our study was to examine how this distinction influences on-line sentence processing, investigating the effects of verbal telicity on the ease of syntactic re-analysis of Object reduced relative clauses. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 22 English speakers as they read sentences in which the main verb was either telic or atelic, e.g., “The actress awakened/worshipped by the writer left in a hurry”. ERPs elicited by telic and atelic verbs, the preposition “by” introducing the second argument (Agent), and the second argument itself, e.g., “writer”, were compared. Additionally, participants were grouped according to receptive syntactic proficiency: normal (NP) or high (HP). ERPs from the NP group first diverged at the second argument, with the atelic condition eliciting larger amplitude negativity at the N100, and continuing to the P200 interval. In contrast, ERPs from the HP group first diverged earlier in the sentence, on the word “by”. ERPs elicited by “by” in the atelic condition were also characterized by increased negativity, in this case significant at P200 and Anterior Negativity between 320 and 500ms post stimulus onset. Our results support the postulated conceptual/semantic distinction underlying the two verb categories, and demonstrate that world-knowledge about actions designated by verbs and syntactic proficiency are reflected in on-line processing of sentence structure. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study investigates the reanalysis processes as a consequence of conflict between incompatible sentential representations in sentence comprehension. Using the event-related potential (ERP) technique, we examined the situation in which the sentential representation built upon world knowledge (i.e., the plausibility heuristic) conflicts with the one built upon syntactic rules (i.e., the syntactic analysis). We found that sentence processing is constrained both by the complexity of syntactic structure and by the reader''s cognitive control ability. For readers with higher control abilities, as measured by the Stroop task, a sustained positivity was observed between 350 and 850 ms when conflicts occurred in complex (i.e., passive) sentences, whereas an anterior negativity was observed between 300 and 600 ms when conflicts occurred in simple (i.e., active) sentences. For readers with lower control abilities, however, brain potentials were not affected by the complexity of syntactic structure, with a sustained positivity obtained between 350 and 750 ms for conflicts occurring in both active and passive sentences. These results suggest that the mechanisms of cognitive control are involved in the reanalysis processes to resolve conflict between incompatible sentential representations. The sustained positivity is possibly associated with detection and resolution of representational conflict, while the anterior negativity is associated with suppression of inappropriate representation or response tendency. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Objective: Attention biases toward food-related stimuli were examined as mediators of normal, healthy motivated behavior. Methods: Reaction times (RTs) and event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to assess the impact of food-related words on normal food-deprived individuals when used as spatial cues that frequently predicted the location of targets in a simple detection task (75% validity). Results: In Experiment 1, fasting and nonfasting subjects showed a magnified cost/benefit of invalid/valid cueing by food words relative to a neutral category of words. In Experiment 2, the RT effect was replicated in a group of fasting subjects. The amplitude of a P3-like positivity (P420) was enhanced in response to food words, as was that of a prominent early anterior negativity (AN). Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that food-related stimuli can bias spatial attention in normal subjects and that electrophysiological markers can index the motivational salience of food words and/or their effect on attentional capture in food-deprived individuals. Significance: Even when the motivational salience of spatial cues is irrelevant to task demands, it can have an observable effect on attention. This design allows for the behavioral and electrophysiological study of motivation–attention interactions through loading of spatial cues with motivation-related semantic properties. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study examined the processing of Japanese wh-questions with preposed (scrambled) vs. in-situ (canonical SOV word order) wh-objects, and of yes/no-questions with scrambled vs. in-situ demonstrative objects. Questions with scrambled objects elicited bilateral slow anterior negative potentials between filler and gap. Scrambled demonstratives elicited P600 effects following the filler and (L)AN/P600 effects at the gap, while scrambled wh-words elicited primarily (L)AN effects at the gap. This replicated effects in response to filler-gap dependencies created by wh-movement in other languages, supporting the existence of universal parsing operations for all types of filler-gap dependencies. We suggest that these results are most generally compatible with notions of canonicity in sentence processing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We present evidence that the supposed processing advantage for an SVfinO word order over an SOVfin word order in German argued for by Weyerts, Penke, Münte, Heinze, and Clahsen (2002) is supported by neither experimental nor theoretical evidence. Specifically, we show (a) that the frontocentral negativity for an SOVfin in comparison to an SVfinO word order in Weyerts et al.'s Experiments 2 and 3 is reducible to more general differences in the electrophysiological responses elicited by nouns versus verbs in a sentence context, and (b) that the P600 difference between the two word orders in Experiment 2, as well as the reading time differences in Experiment 1, result from the fact that the two supposedly ungrammatical conditions actually differ in their degree of ill-formedness. We conclude that there is no evidence for a processing disadvantage for SOVfin, thus reconciling Weyerts et al.'s results on German sentence processing with the grammatical regularities of German. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the question of whether the human comprehension device exhibits word-order preferences during on-line sentence comprehension. The focus is on the positioning of finite verbs and auxiliaries relative to subjects and objects in German. Results from three experiments (using self-paced reading and event-related brain potentials) show that native speakers of German prefer to process finite verbs in second position (i.e., immediately after the subject and before the object). We will account for this order preference in terms of the relative processing costs associated with SVfO and SOVf. Our finding that word-order preferences play an important role in the on-line comprehension of German sentences is compatible with results from previous studies on English and other languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reference to the time of an event can be encoded through various devices in language. While the neural processing of time reference in tense languages has been explored through tense inflection, relatively little is known about such processing through aspect in a tenseless language. The current study investigated how Mandarin speakers process perfective aspect markers - le and - guo , which are usually related to past time. Through the manipulation of the (dis)agreement between time adverbs and perfective markers, the results revealed that when co-occurring with a future/incongruent time adverb, compared with a past/congruent one, - le induced an early anterior negativity, while - guo triggered a P600. These distinct ERP patterns suggest that there is no unitary mechanism underlying perfectives in Mandarin, and that aspect modulates the relation of an event to time reference in a tenseless language, just like what tense inflection does in a tense language. • Aspect modulates time reference processing, just like what tense inflection does. • Mandarin aspect markers in referencing to past time induce distinct ERP responses. • Perfective -le may refer to anaphoric anteriority, while -guo , non-anaphoric. • Anaphoric vs. non-anaphoric reference to past time may be linguistically universal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]