The generalizability of inhibition-related processes in the comprehension of linguistic negation. ERP evidence from the Mandarin language

ABSTRACT

The recently proposed Reusing Inhibition for Negation (RIN) hypothesis posits that the inhibitory control mechanism is reused to understand sentential negation. The RIN hypothesis has only been tested in alphabetic languages, and its novelty requires additional support from non-alphabetic languages, like logographic non-Indo-European languages. This study examined the RIN hypothesis in the context of Mandarin, which has unique linguistic features and neural underpinnings. Participants read either affirmative or negative action-related sentences while performing an embedded Go/NoGo task. Reduced inhibition-related N2 was detected in NoGo-negative compared to NoGo-affirmative condition. Brain source estimation of the N2 interaction effect revealed strongest activation in the right inferior parietal lobule, a typical inhibition-related brain region. These results confirm the generalizability of the RIN hypothesis, suggesting that comprehension of negation in logographic Mandarin also recruits the inhibitory control mechanism.

KEYWORDS:

• Sentential negation
• inhibitory control
• RIN hypothesis
• Mandarin
• ERPs

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China [Grant No. 14ZDB155], the Spanish MINECO [Grant PSI2015-66277-R] and the European Regional Development Fund.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China [grant number 14ZDB155], the Spanish MINECO and the European Regional Development Funds [Grant PSI2015-66277-R to Manuel de Vega], the Cabildo Insular de Tenerife and the COP of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.