The dynamic influence of emotional words on sentence processing

Abstract

In the present study, we aimed to examine how the emotionality of words influences online sentence processing-specifically, the influence of emotional words on the processing of following words in sentences. We manipulated the emotionality of verbs as well as the orthographic correctness of their following (neutral) object nouns, so that the orthographic violation of the (neutral) nouns occurred in either emotional or neutral sentences. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to both the nouns and the verbs. We found that the orthographic violation of the nouns elicited a P2 and an N400 effect in the emotionally neutral sentences, but an LPC effect in the emotionally charged sentences. We also found that the emotional verbs elicited a larger N1, a larger P2, and a larger N400 than did the neutral verbs. The ERP results suggest that emotional words capture more attention than neutral words, which further affects early orthographic analysis of the following words. Our findings demonstrate a dynamic influence of emotional words on sentence processing.