We use vector space models (VSMs) as explicit models of word relations that influence the N400, and use this connection to predict N400 amplitude in an ERP study by Federmeier and Kutas (1999). We find that the VSM-based model is able to capture key elements of the authors’ manipulations and results, accounting for aspects of the results that are unexplained by cloze probability. This demonstra...

OBJECTIVE We sought cognitive event-related potential (ERP) biomarkers of disease progression and subsequent conversion to dementia in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). BACKGROUND Two ERP components, the P600 and N400, are sensitive to abnormal episodic/declarative memory and semantic processing. When congruous category-exemplars are repeated, smaller P600s (relative to initial presentation) a...

The goal of this study was to determine whether variability in working memory (WM) capacity and cognitive control affects the processing of global discourse congruence and local associations among words when participants listened to short discourse passages. The final, critical word of each passage was either associated or unassociated with a preceding prime word (e.g., "He was not prepared for...

To comprehend a pun involving a homonym (e.g., The prince with a bad tooth got a crown), both meanings of the homonym must be accessed and selected. Previous ERP studies have shown that the N400 reflects lexicosemantic processing, but none have directly investigated the N400 elicited by homonyms in the unique context of puns. Here, N400 priming effects showed that the dual context of puns (e.g....

Electrophysiological methods have been used to study the temporal sequence of syntactic and semantic processing during sentence comprehension. Two responses associated with syntactic violations are the left anterior negativity (LAN) and the P600. A response to semantic violation is the N400. Although the sources of the N400 response have been identified in the left (and right) temporal lobe, th...

Within the field of computational linguistics, recent research has made successful advances in integrating word space models with n-gram models. This is of particular interest when a model that encapsulates both semantic and syntactic information is desirable. A potential application for this can be found in the field of psycholinguistics, where the neural response N400 has been found to occur ...

N400 in language), it has been suggested (Kutas and Federmeier, 2011) that the classical N400 and the FN400 could be indexing an analog process. In our view, both proposals are justified and can explain, in a more parsimonious fashion, current FN400-related data. However, based on the possible functional analogy between the FN400 and the N400 and also on current neuroanatomical evidence suggest...

BACKGROUND Theoretically semantic processing can be separated into early automatic semantic activation and late contextualization. Semantic processing deficits have been suggested in patients with schizophrenia, however it is not clear which stage of semantic processing is impaired. We attempted to clarify this issue by conducting a meta-analysis of the N400 component. METHODS Twenty-one stud...

The N400 event-related potential could index the activation/integration of representations corresponding to the stimulus or, on the contrary, the inhibition of representations that have been inappropriately activated. To test this alternative, series of 3 words were visually presented to subjects in a relatively rapid succession in order to prevent any disengagement of attention. In one block, ...

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to investigate the time-course of meaning activation of different types of ambiguous words. Unbalanced homonymous ("pen"), balanced homonymous ("panel"), metaphorically polysemous ("lip"), and metonymically polysemous words ("rabbit") were used in a visual single-word priming delayed lexical decision task. The theoretical distinction between homonymy an...