Brain responses elicited by implausible fillers and filled object gaps in German
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Claudia Felser
Abstract
We report the results from two experiments on the processing of filler-gap dependencies in German using event-related potentials (ERPs). Our aim was to identify and isolate brain responses linked to semantic vs. syntactic integration processes. Using maximally parallel stimulus materials, we examined ERPs at the subcategorising verb in sentences containing either a semantically implausible direct object filler or a filled direct object gap. Whilst the processing difficulty associated with trying to integrate an implausible filler with its subcategoriser was reflected in an enhanced N400 response, encountering a filled preverbal object gap elicited a P600 response at the verb but no negativity. These results confirm that the semantic and syntactic integration of displaced constituents are dissociable and qualitatively distinct processes.
Abstract
We report the results from two experiments on the processing of filler-gap dependencies in German using event-related potentials (ERPs). Our aim was to identify and isolate brain responses linked to semantic vs. syntactic integration processes. Using maximally parallel stimulus materials, we examined ERPs at the subcategorising verb in sentences containing either a semantically implausible direct object filler or a filled direct object gap. Whilst the processing difficulty associated with trying to integrate an implausible filler with its subcategoriser was reflected in an enhanced N400 response, encountering a filled preverbal object gap elicited a P600 response at the verb but no negativity. These results confirm that the semantic and syntactic integration of displaced constituents are dissociable and qualitatively distinct processes.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Relative clauses
- Case(mis)matching in German free relative clauses in the self-paced reading paradigm 11
- Integrating the filler 35
- When initial thematic role attribution lingers 57
-
Empty categories
- Brain responses elicited by implausible fillers and filled object gaps in German 75
- Gone with a trace? 91
- Priming paradigmatic gaps 117
-
Determiner Phrases
- A good-enough representation is not good enough 137
- Processing of pronoun gender by Dutch-Russian simultaneous bilinguals 153
-
Language impairment
- A syntactically based treatment of relative clauses 177
- Language impairment in an Italian child with Trisomy X 209
- Sentence reading in older adults with and without Mild Cognitive Impairment 239
- The comprehension of wh -questions and passives in German children and adolescents with Down syndrome 279
- Index 303
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Relative clauses
- Case(mis)matching in German free relative clauses in the self-paced reading paradigm 11
- Integrating the filler 35
- When initial thematic role attribution lingers 57
-
Empty categories
- Brain responses elicited by implausible fillers and filled object gaps in German 75
- Gone with a trace? 91
- Priming paradigmatic gaps 117
-
Determiner Phrases
- A good-enough representation is not good enough 137
- Processing of pronoun gender by Dutch-Russian simultaneous bilinguals 153
-
Language impairment
- A syntactically based treatment of relative clauses 177
- Language impairment in an Italian child with Trisomy X 209
- Sentence reading in older adults with and without Mild Cognitive Impairment 239
- The comprehension of wh -questions and passives in German children and adolescents with Down syndrome 279
- Index 303
