Extracting, computing, coordination: what does a triphasic ERP pattern say about language processing?

ABSTRACT

The current study aims at contributing to the interpretation of the most prominent language-related ERP effects, N400 and P600, by investigating how neural responses to congruent and incongruent sentence endings vary, when the language processor processes the full array of the lexico-syntactic content in verbs with three affixes in canonical Turkish sentences. The ERP signals in response to three different violation conditions reveal a similar triphasic (P200/N400/P600) pattern resembling in topography and peak amplitude The P200 wave is interpreted as the extraction of meaning from written.form by generating a code which triggers the computation of neuronal ensembles in the distributed LTM (N400). The P600 potential reflects the widely distributed coordination process of activated neuronal patterns of semantic and morphosyntactic cues by connecting the generated subsets of these patterns and adapting them into the current context. It further can be deduced that these ERP components reflect cognitive rather than linguistic processes.

KEYWORDS:

• P200/N400/P600
• triphasic pattern
• Turkish
• sentence processing
• morphologically complex language

Acknowledgements

In appreciation of his valuable help in carrying out this study and with sorrow we remember Prof. Dr. Suha Yagcioglu. May he rest in peace!

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Middle East Technical University Scientific Research Grant BAP- 05-03-2010-04.