Mismatching Meanings in Brain and Behavior

Natural language interpretation is generally thought to be compositional, that is, the meanings of expressions are a function of the meanings of their parts and of the way the parts are syntactically combined. Theories of the syntax–semantics interface aim to articulate the details of this function. This article discusses a new research program in which psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic experiments on so-called syntax–semantics mismatches are used to elucidate the mechanisms that mediate between structure and meaning.