Complex Time-Dependent ERP Hemispheric Asymmetries during Word Matching in Phonological, Semantic and Orthographical Matching Judgment Tasks

Chiara Spironelli,Alessandro Angrilli

doi:10.3390/sym13010074

Abstract

Language-induced asymmetry to single word reading has been well investigated in past research. Less known are the complex processes and related asymmetries occurring when a word is compared with the previous one, according to specific tasks. To this end, we used a paradigm based on 80 sequential word pair comparisons and three blocked tasks: phonological, semantic and orthographical matching judgment. Participants had to decide whether the target word (W2) did or did not match the prime word (W1), presented 2 sec before, according to the task. The event-related potentials (ERPs) evoked by W2 in 20 participants have been analyzed. The first negative wave, the Recognition Potential (RP), peaking at about 120 ms over parietal sites, showed greater amplitude at left sites in all tasks, thus revealing the typical left-lateralization. At frontal sites, only the phonological task showed left lateralization. The following N400 (300–450 ms) showed an interesting interaction: Match trials elicited greater left asymmetry on frontal regions to phonological than to semantic than to visual-perceptual tasks, whereas mismatch trials induced an inverted asymmetry, marked by greater amplitude over right frontal sites, regardless of the task. Concerning the late N400 (450–600 ms), phonological and semantic tasks showed an overlapping pattern, with left lateralization in match and right lateralization in mismatch conditions. Results point to complex task- and time-dependent hemispheric asymmetries in word matching.

Highlights

Forty years have passed since Kutas and Hillyard [1] first proposed a new paradigm aimed at applying the oddball task to the study of language: In a small group of sentences, they changed the final correct word with an unexpected, semantically wrong word with the aim of inducing a P300 evoked response
We used a well-validated prime-target paradigm, in which word pairs were administered in two linguistic tasks, phonological and semantic categorization, compared with an orthographical matching judgment task serving as a control [21]
In addition to the classical paradigm based on sentences, several studies have been carried out on N400 elicited by single words or word pairs [9,10,11]

Summary

Introduction

Forty years have passed since Kutas and Hillyard [1] first proposed a new paradigm aimed at applying the oddball task to the study of language: In a small group of sentences, they changed the final correct word with an unexpected, semantically wrong word with the aim of inducing a P300 evoked response. They found a significantly greater negativity, peaking at about 400 ms after the unrelated final word, and termed this new component N400 [1]. When source estimations were carried out, the cortical region associated with the N400 component showed inconsistent results, e.g., [13,14,15]; studies on neurological and split-brain patients located the generator in the left-hemisphere [2,16]

Methods

Results

Conclusion