Brain responses elicited by implausible fillers and filled object gaps in German
We report the results from two experiments on the processing of filler-gap dependencies in German using event-related potentials (ERPs). Our aim was to identify and isolate brain responses linked to semantic vs. syntactic integration processes. Using maximally parallel stimulus materials, we examined ERPs at the subcategorising verb in sentences containing either a semantically implausible direct object filler or a filled direct object gap. Whilst the processing difficulty associated with trying to integrate an implausible filler with its subcategoriser was reflected in an enhanced N400 response, encountering a filled preverbal object gap elicited a P600 response at the verb but no negativity. These results confirm that the semantic and syntactic integration of displaced constituents are dissociable and qualitatively distinct processes.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Theoretical background
- 3.The current study
- Materials
- Plausibility manipulation
- Filled-gap manipulation
- Participants
- Procedure
- EEG recording and analysis
- Results
- Behavioural results
- ERP results for implausible fillers
- ERP results for filled gaps
- 4.Discussion
-
Acknowledgements
-
Notes
-
References
References (32)
Baayen, H., Piepenbrock, R., & van Rijn, H.
(
1993)
The CELEX Lexical Database (CD ROM). Philadelphia, PA: Linguistic Data Consortium, University of Pennsylvania.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bach, E.
(
1962)
The order of elements in a transformational grammar of German.
Language, 38, 263–269.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, I., & Schlesewsky, M.
(
2008)
An alternative perspective on “semantic P600” effects in language comprehension.
Brain Research Reviews, 59, 55–73.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Clahsen H., & Featherston S.
(
1999)
Antecedent priming at trace positions: Evidence from German scrambling.
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 28, 415–437.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Clifton, C. Jr., & Frazier, L.
(
1989)
Comprehending sentences with long-distance dependencies. In
M. Tanenhaus &
G. Carlson (Eds.),
Linguistic structure in language processing (pp. 273–317). Dordrecht: Springer.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dallas, A., DeDe, G., & Nicol, J.
(
2013)
An event‐related potential (ERP) investigation of filler‐gap processing in native and second language speakers.
Language Learning, 63, 766–799.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Felser, C., Clahsen, H., & Münte, T. F.
(
2003)
Storage and integration in the processing of filler-gap dependencies: An ERP study of topicalization and wh-movement in German.
Brain and Language, 87, 345–354.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fiebach, C. J., Schlesewsky, M., & Friederici, A. D.
(
2002)
Separating syntactic memory costs and syntactic integration costs during parsing: The processing of German WH-questions.
Journal of Memory and Language, 47, 250–272.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Friederici, A. D.
(
2002)
Towards a neural basis of auditory sentence processing.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 6, 78–84.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Friederici, A. D., & Frisch, S.
(
2000)
Verb argument structure processing: The role of verb-specific and argument-specific information.
Journal of Memory and Language, 43, 476–507.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Garnsey, S. M., Tanenhaus, M. K., & Chapman, R. M.
(
1989)
Evoked potentials and the study of sentence comprehension.
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 18, 51–60.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gibson E., & Hickok, G.
(
1993)
Sentence processing with empty categories.
Language and Cognitive Processes, 8, 147–161.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gibson, E., & Warren, T.
(
2004)
Reading-time evidence for intermediate linguistic structure in long-distance dependencies.
Syntax, 7, 55–78.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hagoort, P., Brown, C., & Groothusen, J.
(
1993)
The syntactic positive shift (SPS) as an ERP measure of syntactic processing.
Language and Cognitive Processes, 8, 439–483.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hestvik, A., Bradley, E., & Bradley, C.
(
2012)
Working memory effects of gap-predictions in normal adults: An event-related potentials study.
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 41, 425–438.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hestvik, A., Maxfield, N., Schwartz, R. G., & Shafer, V.
(
2007)
Brain responses to filled gaps.
Brain and Language, 100, 301–316.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jessen, A., & Felser, C.
(
2019)
Reanalysing object gaps during non-native sentence processing: Evidence from ERPs.
Second Language Research, 35, 285–300.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jessen, A., Festman, J., Boxell, O., & Felser, C.
(
2017)
Native and non-native speakers’ brain responses to filled indirect object gaps.
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 46, 1319–1338.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kaan, E., Harris, A., Gibson, E., & Holcomb, P.
(
2000)
The P600 as an index of syntactic integration difficulty.
Language and Cognitive Processes, 15, 159–201.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mak, W. M., Vonk, W., & Schriefers, H.
(
2002)
The influence of animacy on relative clause processing.
Journal of Memory and Language, 47, 50–68.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Müller, G.
(
2001)
Order preservation, parallel movement, and the emergence of the unmarked. In
G. Legendre,
J. Grimshaw, &
S. Vikner (Eds.),
Optimality-theoretic syntax (pp. 279–313). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nakano, Y., Felser, C., & Clahsen, H.
(
2002)
Antecedent priming at trace positions in Japanese long-distance scrambling.
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 31, 531–571.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nicol, J.
(
1993)
Reconsidering reactivation. In
G. Altmann &
R. Shillcock (Eds.),
Cognitive models of speech processing: The second Sperlonga meeting (pp. 321–350). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Osterhout, L., & Holcomb, P. J.
(
1992)
Event-related brain potentials elicited by syntactic anomaly.
Journal of Memory and Language, 31, 785–806.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pickering, M., & Barry, G.
(
1991)
Sentence processing without empty categories.
Language and Cognitive Processes, 6, 229–259.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Phillips, C., Kazanina, N., & Abada, S. H.
(
2005)
ERP effects of the processing of syntactic long-distance dependencies.
Cognitive Brain Research, 22, 407–428.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rommers, J., & Federmeier, K. D.
(
2017)
Electrophysiological methods. In
A. M. B. de Groot &
P. Hagoort (Eds.),
Research methods in psycholinguistics and the neurobiology of language: A practical guide (pp. 247–265). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Steinhauer, K., & Drury, J. E.
(
2012)
On the early left-anterior negativity (ELAN) in syntax studies.
Brain and Language, 120, 135–162.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Stowe, L. A.
(
1986)
Parsing wh-constructions: Evidence for on-line gap location.
Language and Cognitive Processes, 1, 227–245.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tanner, D., Norton, J. J., Morgan-Short, K., & Luck, S. J.
(
2016)
On high-pass filter artifacts (they’re real) and baseline correction (it’s a good idea) in ERP/ERMF analysis.
Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 265, 166–170.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Van de Koot, H., Silva, R., Felser, C., & Sato, M.
(
2015)
Does Dutch A-scrambling involve movement? Evidence from antecedent priming.
The Linguistic Review, 32, 739–776.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Van Herten, M., Kolk, H., & Chwilla, D.
(
2005)
An ERP study of P600 effects elicited by semantic anomalies.
Cognitive Brain Research, 22, 241–255.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (1)
Cited by 1 other publications
Hestvik, Arild, Baila Epstein, Richard G. Schwartz & Valerie L. Shafer
2022.
Developmental Language Disorder as Syntactic Prediction Impairment.
Frontiers in Communication 6
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 29 june 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.