Using magnetoencephalography to investigate processing of negative polarity items in Mandarin Chinese

Pei Shu Tsai; Ovid J.L. Tzeng; Daisy L. Hung; Denise H. Wu

doi:10.1016/j.jneuroling.2012.09.002

Using magnetoencephalography to investigate processing of negative polarity items in Mandarin Chinese

Pei Shu Tsai, Ovid J.L. Tzeng, Daisy L. Hung, Denise H. Wu

Graduate Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

The present study used magnetoencephalographic neuroimaging to examine the neural correlates supporting the processing of a negative polarity item (NPI) (renhe) in Mandarin Chinese. Participants monitored the appearance of a catch word in sentences while their brain activities during the processing of the NPI or a perfective aspect marker (- le) were recorded. The results revealed that the NPI in a non-downward entailing context elicited a larger M350 component, possibly reflecting the cost of semantic integration. As a contrast, sentences violating grammatical aspects elicited greater brain responses in a later time window between 500 and 600 ms. The present findings not only demonstrate a clear distinction between semantic and syntactic processing in dissociable time courses, but further indicate that the processing of negative polarity items in Chinese is mainly constrained by the conditions imposed by semantic context.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	258-270
Number of pages	13
Journal	Journal of Neurolinguistics
Volume	26
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2012.09.002
State	Published - Mar 2013

Keywords

MEG
NPI licensing
Semantics
Sentence processing
Syntax

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10.1016/j.jneuroling.2012.09.002

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title = "Using magnetoencephalography to investigate processing of negative polarity items in Mandarin Chinese",

abstract = "The present study used magnetoencephalographic neuroimaging to examine the neural correlates supporting the processing of a negative polarity item (NPI) (renhe) in Mandarin Chinese. Participants monitored the appearance of a catch word in sentences while their brain activities during the processing of the NPI or a perfective aspect marker (- le) were recorded. The results revealed that the NPI in a non-downward entailing context elicited a larger M350 component, possibly reflecting the cost of semantic integration. As a contrast, sentences violating grammatical aspects elicited greater brain responses in a later time window between 500 and 600 ms. The present findings not only demonstrate a clear distinction between semantic and syntactic processing in dissociable time courses, but further indicate that the processing of negative polarity items in Chinese is mainly constrained by the conditions imposed by semantic context.",

keywords = "MEG, NPI licensing, Semantics, Sentence processing, Syntax",

author = "Tsai, {Pei Shu} and Tzeng, {Ovid J.L.} and Hung, {Daisy L.} and Wu, {Denise H.}",

note = "Funding Information: The authors wish to acknowledge Stephen Crain, Graciela Tesan, and Blake Johnson for inspiring discussion and insightful comments. This project was supported by National Science Council ( NSC 98-2517-S-004-001-MY3 , NSC 98-2911-I-010-007 , and NSC 99-2420-H-010-002-DR ) and Academia Sinica ( AS-99-TP-AC1 ) in Taiwan.",

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doi = "10.1016/j.jneuroling.2012.09.002",

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AU - Tsai, Pei Shu

AU - Tzeng, Ovid J.L.

AU - Hung, Daisy L.

AU - Wu, Denise H.

N1 - Funding Information: The authors wish to acknowledge Stephen Crain, Graciela Tesan, and Blake Johnson for inspiring discussion and insightful comments. This project was supported by National Science Council ( NSC 98-2517-S-004-001-MY3 , NSC 98-2911-I-010-007 , and NSC 99-2420-H-010-002-DR ) and Academia Sinica ( AS-99-TP-AC1 ) in Taiwan.

PY - 2013/3

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N2 - The present study used magnetoencephalographic neuroimaging to examine the neural correlates supporting the processing of a negative polarity item (NPI) (renhe) in Mandarin Chinese. Participants monitored the appearance of a catch word in sentences while their brain activities during the processing of the NPI or a perfective aspect marker (- le) were recorded. The results revealed that the NPI in a non-downward entailing context elicited a larger M350 component, possibly reflecting the cost of semantic integration. As a contrast, sentences violating grammatical aspects elicited greater brain responses in a later time window between 500 and 600 ms. The present findings not only demonstrate a clear distinction between semantic and syntactic processing in dissociable time courses, but further indicate that the processing of negative polarity items in Chinese is mainly constrained by the conditions imposed by semantic context.

AB - The present study used magnetoencephalographic neuroimaging to examine the neural correlates supporting the processing of a negative polarity item (NPI) (renhe) in Mandarin Chinese. Participants monitored the appearance of a catch word in sentences while their brain activities during the processing of the NPI or a perfective aspect marker (- le) were recorded. The results revealed that the NPI in a non-downward entailing context elicited a larger M350 component, possibly reflecting the cost of semantic integration. As a contrast, sentences violating grammatical aspects elicited greater brain responses in a later time window between 500 and 600 ms. The present findings not only demonstrate a clear distinction between semantic and syntactic processing in dissociable time courses, but further indicate that the processing of negative polarity items in Chinese is mainly constrained by the conditions imposed by semantic context.

KW - MEG

KW - NPI licensing

KW - Semantics

KW - Sentence processing

KW - Syntax

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EP - 270

JO - Journal of Neurolinguistics

JF - Journal of Neurolinguistics

IS - 2

ER -

Using magnetoencephalography to investigate processing of negative polarity items in Mandarin Chinese

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Keywords

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