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A topographical study of ERP correlates of semantic and syntactic violations in the Japanese language using the multichannel EEG system

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2001

KAZUYUKI NAKAGOME
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Showa University, 1-5-8, Hatanodai, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, 142-8566, Japan
SATORU TAKAZAWA
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Teikyo University Mizonokuchi Hospital, 3-8-3 Mizonokuchi, Takatsu-ku, Kawasaki, 213-8507, Japan
OSAMU KANNO
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Teikyo University Mizonokuchi Hospital, 3-8-3 Mizonokuchi, Takatsu-ku, Kawasaki, 213-8507, Japan
HIROKO HAGIWARA
Affiliation:
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 1-1, Minamiohsawa, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0397, Japan
HEIZO NAKAJIMA
Affiliation:
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 1-1, Minamiohsawa, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0397, Japan
KENJI ITOH
Affiliation:
Department of Speech and Cognitive Science, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan
ICHIRO KOSHIDA
Affiliation:
Information Technology Department, Faculty of Engineering, Tokyo Engineering University, 1404-1, Katakura, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-8580, Japan
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Abstract

Language processing was investigated using event-related potentials obtained using a multichannel (58-channel) EEG system, with regard to semantic dependency (i.e., selectional restriction between a verb and the arguments it takes; the SR type) and syntactic dependency between sentence-final particles and interrogative phrases (the WH-Q type) in Japanese. It was found that semantic violations elicited the conventional N400, which was distributed in the bilateral occipital and the right temporal regions, and that the syntactic violations elicited the P600 in a broad area, predominantly in the centroparietal regions. Scalp current density mappings suggested that the right temporal cortex plays a significant role in integrating pieces of contextual information, especially when it is difficult to integrate a word in the context of a sentence, and that the P600 was connected to the syntactic processes conceivably indexed by the left temporal current sink with a relatively early onset.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2001 Society for Psychophysiological Research

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