An alternative perspective on 'semantic P600' effects in language comprehension

dc.contributor.authorBornkessel Schlesewsky, I.D.
dc.contributor.authorSchlesewsky, M.
dc.date.issued2008
dc.description.abstractThe literature on the electrophysiology of language comprehension has recently seen a very prominent discussion of “semantic P600” effects, which have been observed, for example, in sentences involving an implausible thematic role assignment to an argument that would be a highly plausible filler for a different thematic role of the same verb. These findings have sparked a discussion about underlying properties of the language comprehension architecture, as they have generally been viewed as a challenge to established models of language processing and specifically to the notion that syntax precedes semantics in the comprehension process. In this paper, we review the literature on semantic P600 effects and discuss a number of challenges – both conceptual and empirical – to existing approaches in this domain. We then provide a new perspective on these effects by showing how they can be derived within an independently motivated, hierarchically organised neurocognitive model of language comprehension in which syntactic structuring precedes argument interpretation (the extended Argument Dependency Model, eADM; Bornkessel and Schlesewsky, 2006). In addition to straightforwardly deriving the phenomenon of a “semantic P600,” the basic architectural properties of the eADM account for existing empirical puzzles within the semantic P600 literature.
dc.identifier.citationBrain Research Reviews, 2008; 59(1):55-73
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.brainresrev.2008.05.003
dc.identifier.issn0165-0173
dc.identifier.issn1872-6321
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1959.8/158442
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherElsevier
dc.rightsCopyright 2008 Elsevier B.V.
dc.source.urihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresrev.2008.05.003
dc.subjectlanguage comprehension
dc.subjectN400
dc.subjectP600
dc.subjectsyntax
dc.subjectsemantics
dc.subjectsemantic reversal anomalies
dc.subjectsemantic P600
dc.subjectanimacy
dc.subjectplausibility
dc.subjectextended Argument Dependency Model
dc.titleAn alternative perspective on 'semantic P600' effects in language comprehension
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.publication-statusPublished
ror.mmsid9915911052801831

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