The influence of temporal information on online processing of counterfactual conditional sentences: Evidence from ERPs on temporal indicators

Abstract

This study investigated how temporal information influences online processing of Chinese counterfactual sentences. Participants read four types of counterfactuals for answering comprehension questions. The temporal information of the event described in the conditional (antecedent) and the one in the result clause (consequent) varied. The temporal sequence was defined as chronological for a past event in the antecedent and a present event in the consequent and as reverse-chronological for a future event in the antecedent and present event in the consequent. The temporal distance was defined for the event in the antecedent as being long or short-distance from the consequent. ERP results showed a larger N400 and late positivity on the temporal indicator of the consequent in the reverse-chronological condition than the chronological condition. The effect of the temporal distance was observed on the late positivity only when the temporal sequence was reversed. The response time was delayed when the comprehension question followed a reverse-chronological vs. chronological condition and was delayed in the long-vs. short-distance condition when the temporal sequence was reversed. These findings suggest that the reverse-chronological sequence could demand a greater effort in integrating the given temporal information onto the constraint of the mental timeline during the online processing of counterfactuals. A conflict monitoring is triggered to execute the remapping process and such demand is larger when a larger time shift is demanded in the long distance condition. The temporal sequence and temporal distance could differ in their status during online comprehension of counterfactuals, with the temporal sequence serving as a more relevant cue than the temporal distance. These findings highlight the role of temporal information in counterfactual sentence comprehension.