Robert Kluender

Bridging the gap: Evidence from erps on the processing of unbounded dependencies

Since the early days of generative grammar, the study of unbounded dependencies such as wh-questions and relative clauses has occupied a central place in both syntactic theory and language processing research. The problem that such constructions pose is as follows. In a normal wh-question, a wh-phrase is typically displaced to the left periphery of a clause (What did you say to John?); this displaced constituent is often referred to as a filler. The vacant position (indicated in the previous example by a blank line) where it would ordinarily occur in an echo question (You said what to John?) is correspondingly referred to as a gap. Filler and gap are mutually dependent on each other since they share syntactic and semantic information essential for successful sentence interpretation. However, since sentence processing is a sequential operation, a filler cannot be assigned to its gap until some time after it has occurred. In other words, the filler must be held in working memory until such time as filler-gap assignment can take place. The intent of the research reported here was to examine the processing of unbounded dependencies in English as revealed in event-related brain potentials (ERPs). To this end, subjects were shown both grammatical and ungrammatical yes/no-questions (Did you say something to John?) and wh-questions. A number of comparisons made at various points in these questions showed that both the storage of a filler in working memory and its subsequent retrieval for filler-gap assignment were associated with an enhanced negativity between 300 and 500 msec poststimulus over left anterior sites. This effect of left anterior negativity (LAN) was independent of and orthogonal to the grammaticality of the eliciting condition. We show how this interpretation coincides with recent studies that demonstrate a correlation between left anterior negativity, working memory capacity, and successful language processing.

Fractionating the word repetition effect with event-related potentials

Word repetition has been a staple paradigm for both psycholinguistic and memory research; several possible loci for changes in behavioral performance have been proposed. These proposals are discussed in light of the event-related brain potential (ERP) data reported here. ERPs were recorded as subjects read nonfiction articles drawn from a popular magazine. The effects of word repetition were examined in this relatively natural context wherein words were repeated as a consequence of normal discourse structure. Three distinct components of the ERP were found to be sensitive to repetition: a positive component peaking at 200 msec poststimulus, a negative one at 400 msec (N400), and a later positivity. The components were differentially sensitive to the temporal lag between repetitions, the number of repetitions, and the normative frequency of the eliciting word. The N400 responded similarly to repetition in text as it has in experimental lists of words, but the late positivity showed a different pattern of results than in list studies.

Chapter 17 – Psycholinguistics Electrified II (1994–2005)

Publisher Summary In 1994, there were only two dominant noninvasive techniques to offer insight about the functional organization of language from its brain bases: the behavior of brain-damaged patients (neuropsychology), and event-related brain potential (ERPs). Positron emission tomographic and magnetoencephalographic (MEG) measures begin to contribute in understanding neuropsychology. Over the ensuing decade plus, these have been joined by functional magnetic resonance imaging, transcranial magnetic stimulation, event related spectral changes in the electroencephalogram (EEG), and noninvasive optical imaging. These methods are closely related in their neural and physical bases: ERPs, event-related frequency changes in the EEG and MEG. The amplitude of the EEG is considerably smaller than invasively recorded field potentials because the skull is a strong electrical insulator. Like field potentials, the amplitude and polarity of the EEG depends on the number and amplitude of the contributing synaptic potentials, on whether current is flowing into or out of cells (i.e., movement of positive or negative ions, excitatory or inhibitory synaptic potentials), and on the geometric relationship between the synapses and electrode.

Subjacency as a processing phenomenon

Abstract In this study we investigated the hypothesis that standard subjacency effects in so-called “wh-islands” are not necessarily due to an innate syntactic constraint, i.e. a problem of language competence, but rather to limits on the human Sentence processor, i.e. a problem of performance. We did so by gathering global acceptability judgements and by measuring event-related brain potentials (ERPs) in response to both yes/no- and wh-questions containing embedded that-, if- and wh-clauses. The embedding of any one of these clause types within a yes/no-question typically results in a well-formed sentence. The well-formedness of wh-questions, on the other hand, depends in large part on the type of embedded clause into which a syntactic dependency is formed: dependencies into embedded that-clauses are usually considered grammatical, while dependencies into embedded if-clauses are considered marginal and dependencies into wh-clauses (“wh-islands”) ungrammatical. We predicted that these differences in gramm...

Event-related brain indices of Japanese scrambling

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.

What Is Who Violating? A Reconsideration of Linguistic Violations in Light of Event-Related Brain Potentials

It is often a worthwhile exercise to step back from one’s field of endeavor and to think in broad terms about what its proper goals are, or perhaps what they should be. It seems to us that the proper goals of event-related brain potential (ERP) research into language comprehension should at minimum include enquiries into the following questions: 1. How many independent factors contribute to our understanding of natural language? 2. What function relates all these factors to comprehension? 3. Are these factors specific to language, or do they cut across cognitive domains? 4. Which consequences of these factors can be consciously modified (e.g., stopped or gated), and which are not under conscious control?

Deriving Island Constraints from Principles of Predication

Ross’s (1968) thesis pointed out a number of poorly understood phenomena which have plagued the study of island constraints ever since. Specifically, certain non-structural factors are known to affect the grammaticality of island violations in subtle ways. These have traditionally been factored out of syntactic analyses with a view to providing an account of the core cases. Here I propose that these seemingly peripheral factors are in fact more central to an account of unbounded dependencies, and of island constraints in particular, than is commonly assumed.

Violations of information structure: An electrophysiological study of answers to wh-questions

This study investigates brain responses to violations of information structure in wh-question-answer pairs, with particular emphasis on violations of focus assignment in it-clefts (It was the queen that silenced the banker). Two types of ERP responses in answers to wh-questions were found. First, all words in the focus-marking (cleft) position elicited a large positivity (P3b) characteristic of sentence-final constituents, as did the final words of these sentences, which suggests that focused elements may trigger integration effects like those seen at sentence end. Second, the focusing of an inappropriate referent elicited a smaller, N400-like effect. The results show that comprehenders actively use structural focus cues and discourse-level restrictions during online sentence processing. These results, based on visual stimuli, were different from the brain response to auditory focus violations indicated by pitch-accent [Hruska, C., Steinhauer, K., Alter, K., & Steube, A. (2000). ERP effects of sentence accents and violations of the information structure. In Poster presented at the 13th annual CUNY conference on human sentence processing, San Diego, CA.], but similar to brain responses to newly introduced discourse referents [Bornkessel, I., Schlesewsky, M., & Friederici, A. (2003). Contextual information modulated initial processes of syntactic integration: the role of inter- versus intrasentential predictions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 29, 871-882.].

Aligning Linguistic and Brain Views on Language Comprehension

Publisher Summary Language affords human beings an incredible degree of representational flexibility within the limits of highly restrictive constraints. Despite the remarkable ability of the human vocal tract to produce all kinds of sounds, only a limited subset of these is actually used in the worlds languages. A striking fact is that almost all humans learn this complicated coding system early in life and use it throughout their life span with ease. This chapter discusses that the language system is structured at multiple levels, ranging from its physical form to its referential meaning in context. From a linguists perspective, then, language is a highly structured system, and this structure is important for understanding how language can be used so readily and efficiently. The understanding of language processing demands that people apprehend how the multiple sub-processes involved interact over time and space. The brains sensitivity to linguistic patterns of various types highlights another important aspect of language—namely, the need to process relations between items, at different levels of abstraction.

On the processing of Japanese wh-questions: An ERP study

The processing of Japanese wh-questions was investigated using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Unlike in English or German, a wh-element in Japanese need not be displaced from its canonical position, but instead needs a corresponding Q(uestion)-particle to indicate its interrogative scope. We tested to see if there were any processing correlates specific to these features of Japanese wh-questions. Both mono-clausal and bi-clausal Japanese wh-questions elicited right-lateralized anterior negativity (RAN) between wh-words and corresponding Q-particles, relative to structurally-equivalent yes/no-question control conditions. These results suggest a reliable neural processing correlate of the dependency between wh-elements and Q-particles in Japanese, similar to effects of (left) anterior negativity between wh-fillers and gaps in English and German, but with a right- rather than left-lateralized distribution. It is suggested that wh-in-situ questions in Japanese are processed by the incremental formation of a long-distance dependency between wh-elements and their Q-particles, resulting in a working memory load for keeping track of scopeless wh-elements.