| 1. |
- Andersson, Annika, 1966-, et al.
(författare)
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An ERP study of the relationship between verb semantics and events
- 2016
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Ingår i: The 8th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Neurobiology of Language.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Languages differ in how events are described, but little is known about how semantics interacts with online event processing. This study targets this question examining placement events in Swedish. Swedish has three obligatory placement verbs for events where objects have support from below: sätta ’set’, ställa ’stand’, and lägga ’lay’. Swedish lacks a superordinate general term like English put (Gullberg & Burenhult, 2011). For every placement event the verb choice depends on object properties, and the direction of the object’s extension from the ground. We use event-related potentials (ERPs) and appropriateness ratings of verb usage to investigate the interaction between verb semantics and event properties. Typically violations of semantic congruency positively affect the amplitude of the N400 (Kutas & Hillyard, 1980). Studies also report a centro-parietal positivity (P600) when real-world knowledge is violated and verbs are incongruous to preceding contexts (Kuperberg, 2007, for a review). Previous ERP studies of visually presented images or movies of actions and events have reported an N400 followed by a P600 when the function of an object is violated (e.g., using a screwdriver as a key, Bach, et al., 2009; Balconi & Caldiroli, 2011).Method: Native speakers (N = 24, 18-35 years) watched still images of placement events followed by sentences visually presented word by word. Sentences described the depicted events while ERPs were recorded and time-locked to the placement verbs. Participants also did an appropriateness rating offline. Object properties (Base/Without base), symmetry (Sym/Asym), and orientation from the ground (Vertical/Horizontal) were varied and sentences with the three different placement verbs were combined with each image in a cross-subject design.Results: Base was important for appropriateness ratings of verb usage with symmetric objects while orientation was important for asymmetric objects. In contrast, there were no ERP effects to base (Base/Without) for symmetric objects. Asymmetric-base objects showed increased N400s and P600s with verbs incongruent with the depicted events (orientation, e.g., ‘lay’ with vertical glass). Asymmetric-Without base elicited an increased P600 when verbs were incongruent to depicted events when horizontally oriented (e.g., ‘set’ with horizontal avocado), but an increased N400 when verbs were incongruent to the atypical vertical placement of the objects (e.g., ‘lay’ with a vertical avocado).Discussion: Results showed an increased amplitude of both ERP effects (N400/P600) when placement verbs were incongruent with typical placement scenarios of objects that in the real-world are placed vertically or horizontally (Asymmetric-Base, e.g., a candle; cf. Bach et al., 2009). However, for objects without a base the anterior negativity was increased with a mismatch between the verb and the presented images (the depicted events), while the P600 increased for mismatches between the verb and typical real-world events. These results suggest the anterior N400 and the P600 indeed index different relationships with event processing as previously suggested for images (Sitnikova, et al., 2008). Our results agree with previous studies suggesting that the processing of verb meaning in language cannot be separated from knowledge of object handling in the real world (cf., Van Berkum, et al., 2008).
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| 2. |
- Andersson, Annika, 1966-, et al.
(författare)
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Anterior and posterior ERP rhyming effects in 3- to 5-year-old children
- 2018
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Ingår i: Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. - : Elsevier. - 1878-9293 .- 1878-9307. ; 30, s. 178-190
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- During early literacy skills development, rhyming is an important indicator of the phonological precursors required for reading. To determine if neural signatures of rhyming are apparent in early childhood, we recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) from 3- to 5-year-old, preliterate children (N = 62) in an auditory prime-target nonword rhyming paradigm (e.g., bly-gry, blane-vox). Overall, nonrhyming targets elicited a larger negativity (N450) than rhyming targets over posterior regions. In contrast, rhyming targets elicited a larger negativity than nonrhyming targets over fronto-lateral sites. The amplitude of the two rhyming effects was correlated, such that a larger posterior effect occurred with a smaller anterior effect. To determine whether these neural signatures of rhyming related to phonological awareness, we divided the children into two groups based on phonological awareness scores while controlling for age and socioeconomic status. The posterior rhyming effect was stronger and more widely distributed in the group with better phonological awareness, whereas differences between groups for the anterior effect were small and not significant. This pattern of results suggests that the rhyme processes indexed by the anterior effect are developmental precursors to those indexed by the posterior effect. Overall, these findings demonstrate early establishment of distributed neurocognitive networks for rhyme processing.
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| 3. |
- Andersson, Annika, 1966-, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of age of acquisition (AoA) and proficiency on processing of syntax in 6- to 8-year old monolingual and bilingual children : an ERP study
- 2014
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Ingår i: Society for the Neurobiology of Language. - Amsterdam : Society for the Neurobiology of Language. ; , s. 216-216, s. 84-84
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Even though language proficiency in children is strongly related to success in almost all domains, neurocognitive studies of L2 processing are typically limited to adults with several years of exposure, who may use general cognitive mechanisms to compensate for any difficulties in L2 processing. For example, whereas previous studies of adult bilinguals have reported differences in the anterior negativity elicited by syntactic violations with delays in exposure to English of less than 3 years (Weber-Fox & Neville, 1996) a precursor to the anterior negativity has been reported in monolingual children as young as 2.5 years of age (Oberecker, et al., 2005). In the current ERP study, processing of English phrase structure was explored in 6- to 8-year old monolingual and bilingual children who acquired English as a second language around 4 years of age. Monolingual children of higher proficiency displayed relatively mature processing of phrase structure violations as indicated by a left anterior negativity over lateral sites and a posterior positivity. High-proficiency bilingual children tended to display a medial anterior negativity and a posterior positivity. The difference in distribution of the anterior effect across groups could only be explained by AoA. However, lower proficiency affected the posterior ERP effect and amplitude of the anterior effects in response to syntactic violations. These results suggest that the more automatic syntactic processing in children is affected by AoA while more controlled, metalinguistic processing may be related to language proficiency.
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| 4. |
- Andersson, Annika, 1966-, et al.
(författare)
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Language background affects online word order processing in a second language but not offline
- 2019
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Ingår i: Bilingualism. - : Cambridge University Press. - 1366-7289 .- 1469-1841. ; 22:4, s. 802-825
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study examines possible crosslinguistic influence on basic word order processing in a second language (L2). Targeting Swedish V2 word order we investigate adult German learners (+V2 in the L1) and English learners (-V2 in the L1) of Swedish who are matched for proficiency. We report results from two offline behavioural tasks (written production, metalinguistic judgments), and online processing as measured by event-related potentials (ERPs). All groups showed sensitivity to word order violations behaviourally and neurocognitively. Behaviourally, the learners differed from the native speakers only on judgements. Crucially, they did not differ from each other. Neurocognitively, all groups showed a similar increased centro-parietal P600 ERP-effect, but German learners (+V2) displayed more nativelike anterior ERP-effects than English learners (-V2). The results suggest crosslinguistic influence in that the presence of a similar word order in the L1 can facilitate online processing in an L2-- even if no offline behavioural effects are discerned.
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| 5. |
- Andrén, Mats, et al.
(författare)
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Att lära sig språk
- 2013
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Ingår i: Språket, människan och världen : människans språk 1-2 - människans språk 1-2. - Lund : Studentlitteratur AB. - 9789144083391 ; , s. 73-89
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Bokkapitel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)
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| 6. |
- Farshchi, Sara, et al.
(författare)
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Brain responses to negated and affirmative meanings in the auditory modality
- 2023
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 1662-5161. ; 17
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Negation is frequently used in natural language, yet relatively little is known about its processing. More importantly, what is known regarding the neurophysiological processing of negation is mostly based on results of studies using written stimuli (the word-by-word paradigm). While the results of these studies have suggested processing costs in connection to negation (increased negativities in brain responses), it is difficult to know how this translates into processing of spoken language. We therefore developed an auditory paradigm based on a previous visual study investigating processing of affirmatives, sentential negation (not), and prefixal negation (un-). The findings of processing costs were replicated but differed in the details. Importantly, the pattern of ERP effects suggested less effortful processing for auditorily presented negated forms (restricted to increased anterior and posterior positivities) in comparison to visually presented negated forms. We suggest that the natural flow of spoken language reduces variability in processing and therefore results in clearer ERP patterns.
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| 7. |
- Farshchi, Sara, et al.
(författare)
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ERP studies of visual and auditory processing of negated sentences
- 2019
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Ingår i: [Presented at] The XIV International Symposium of Pshycholinguistics. - Tarragona : Rovira i Virgili University. ; , s. 85-85
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In two event-related potential studies, we investigated the processing of sentences with prefixal negation (unauthorized), sentential negation (not authorized) and no negation (authorized). We asked whether prefixal and sentential negation resulted in delayed processing. In Experiment 1, sentences such as “The White House announced that the new Obama biography was authorized/unauthorized/not authorized therefore the details in the book were correct/wrong in actual fact” were presented visually word by word and were followed by a forced binary-choice task (“Did the sentence make sense?”). The underlined words indicate the manipulations and the bold words indicate the critical words. In Experiment 2, the same sentences were presented auditorily. In both experiments, ERPs to the critical words were analyzed. The results suggest that in both experiments, the False version of non-negated sentences (authorized combined with wrong) elicited a larger N400 and P600 than the True version (authorized combined with correct). Sentences with prefixal and sentential negation in the visual experiment were related to slower processing suggesting a delay in integrating negation. However, in the auditory study, False sentences elicited increases in the P600 suggesting that both negation forms were successfully processed. The difference in processing the negated forms between the two modalities could be explained by the fact that the auditory paradigm allowed for a faster presentation and participants could thus keep the negated forms in working memory, while the visual study was, due to a slower presentation, more demanding on the working memory requiring an activation of the negated meanings as the critical words appeared.
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| 8. |
- Farshchi, Sara, et al.
(författare)
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Processing sentences with sentential and prefixal negation : An event-related potential study
- 2020
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Ingår i: Language, Cognition and Neuroscience. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2327-3798 .- 2327-3801. ; 36:1, s. 84-98
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study is concerned with the integration of negation in relation to two models of the processing of negation: (i) the two-step model (Lüdtke et al., 2008), according to which negation involves two representations where negation is ignored in the first representation, and (ii) the pragmatic view (Nieuwland & Kuperberg, 2008), which posits that negation can be integrated without delay if it is used in a natural context. The processing of two negated forms (not authorised and unauthorised) and an affirmative form (authorised) was studied in complex congruent and incongruent contexts. Incongruities in affirmative sentences elicited a biphasic N400–P600. In both types of negated sentences, ERP patterns associated with higher processing difficulties (anterior and central negativities) were observed. The results did not support one or the other model, suggesting that the processing of negation cannot be fully captured by either of them.
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| 9. |
- Lindfors, Hanna, et al.
(författare)
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Semantic processing of verbal narratives compared to semantic processing of visual narratives : an ERP study of school-aged children
- 2024
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Psychology. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 1664-1078. ; 14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is a misconception that pictures are easy to comprehend, which is problematic in pedagogical practices that include pictures. For example, if a child has difficulties with verbal narration to picture sequences, it may be interpreted as specific to spoken language even though the child may have additional difficulties with comprehension of visual narratives in the form of picture sequences. The purpose of the present study was therefore to increase our understanding of semantic processing in the pictorial domain in relation to semantic processing in the verbal domain, focusing on 9–13 years-old children with typical language development. To this end, we measured electrical brain responses (event related potentials, ERPs) in 17 children to (i) pictures (panels) that were predicted versus unpredicted in sequences of panels that conveyed visual narratives and (ii) words that were predicted versus unpredicted in sentences that conveyed verbal narratives. Results demonstrated similarities as there were no significant difference in the magnitude of the N400 effect across domains. The only difference between domains was the predicted difference in distribution, that is, a more posterior N400 effect in the verbal domain than in the pictorial domain. The study contributes to an increased understanding of the complexity of processing of visual narratives and its shared features with processing of verbal narratives, which should be considered in pedagogical practices.
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| 10. |
- Sayehli, Susan, et al.
(författare)
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Native Word Order Processing Is Not Uniform : An ERP Study of Verb-Second Word Order
- 2022
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Psychology. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 1664-1078. ; 13, s. 1-22
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Studies of native syntactic processing often target phrase structure violations that do not occur in natural production. In contrast, this study examines how variation in basic word order is processed, looking specifically at structures traditionally labelled as violations but that do occur naturally. We examined Swedish verb-second (V2) and verb-third (V3) word order processing in adult native Swedish speakers, manipulating sentence-initial adverbials (temporal idag ‘today’, spatial hemma ‘at home’ and sentential kanske ‘maybe’) in acceptability judgements, in simultaneously recorded event-related potentials (ERP) to visually presented sentences and in a written sentence completion task. An initial corpus study showed that the adverbials differ in frequency in fronted position (idag > kanske > hemma), and although all occur mainly with V2 word order, kanske occurs more frequently with V3 in natural production than both idag and hemma. The experimental results reflected these patterns such that V2 sentences were overall more frequently produced and were deemed more acceptable than V3 sentences. The ERP results consisted of a biphasic N400/P600 response to V3 word order that indicated effects of word retrieval and sentence reanalysis. We also found consistent effects of adverbials. As predicted, V3 was produced more frequently and judged as more acceptable in Kanske sentences than in sentences with the other two adverbials. The ERP analyses showed stronger effects for idag and hemma with V3, especially regarding the P600. The results suggest that the naturally occurring word order ‘violation’, V3 with kanske, is processed differently than V3 with other adverbials where the V2 norm is stronger. Moreover, these patterns are related to individuals’ own production patterns. Overall, the results suggest a more varied native word order processing than previously reported.
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