Abstract
Abstract In context-driven word production, picture naming is faster following constrained than neutral sentential contexts (e.g., “The farmer milked the… [picture]” vs. “The child drew a… [picture]”, followed by the picture of a cow), suggesting conceptual-lexical pre-activation of the target response. Power decreases in the alpha-beta oscillatory band (8–25 Hz) are consistently found for constrained relative to neutral contexts prior to picture onset, when conceptual and lexical retrieval is ongoing. However, it remains a matter of debate whether the alpha-beta power decreases reflect (low-level) expectations of the visual input, conceptual and lexical retrieval, or motor preparation. The present study aimed at investigating the lexical-semantic nature of alpha-beta oscillations. Participants performed context-driven picture naming with constrained and neutral contexts. In addition, an auditory distractor word was presented before picture onset. Distractors were either semantically related (e.g., “goat”) or unrelated (e.g., “bean”) to the picture to be named. Picture naming was faster with constrained than neutral contexts. Distractor type did not affect naming latencies nor the behavioural context effect. In the oscillatory brain responses, the context-related alpha-beta power decreases were observed throughout the pre-picture interval when distractors were semantically unrelated to the picture, in line with previous findings. However, with semantically related distractors, the context effect was delayed until a period after distractor processing. Thus, alpha-beta power seems to be sensitive to the semantic relationship between the distractor word and the picture to be named. We interpret these results as suggesting that alpha-beta power decreases in context-driven word production reflect lexical-semantic retrieval mechanisms.
Highlights
In recent years, studies employing scalp electrophysiology have started to shed light on the neurophysiological processes involved in word production (Aristei, Melinger, & Abdel Rahman, 2011; Costa, Strijkers, Martin, & Thierry, 2009; Piai, Roelofs, Jensen, Schoffelen, & Bonnefond, 2014; Riès, Janssen, Burle, & Alario, 2013; see for reviews; Ganushchak, Christoffels, & Schiller, 2011; Indefrey, 2011; Munding, Dubarry, & Alario, 2016; Strijkers & Costa, 2011)
We investigated whether neuronal oscillations in the alpha-beta frequency range are sensitive to lexicalsemantic information during context-driven word production
We examined whether the lexical-semantic properties of the distractor word modulate the alpha-beta power oscillations associated with the sentence context effect
Summary
Studies employing scalp electrophysiology have started to shed light on the neurophysiological processes involved in word production (Aristei, Melinger, & Abdel Rahman, 2011; Costa, Strijkers, Martin, & Thierry, 2009; Piai, Roelofs, Jensen, Schoffelen, & Bonnefond, 2014; Riès, Janssen, Burle, & Alario, 2013; see for reviews; Ganushchak, Christoffels, & Schiller, 2011; Indefrey, 2011; Munding, Dubarry, & Alario, 2016; Strijkers & Costa, 2011). Most relevant for the present study, we expected to observe differential modulation of the alpha-beta power decreases induced by the sentence context as a function of the semantic relatedness of the distractor to the picture. This prediction is derived from previous demonstrations that the pre-picture alpha-beta power decreases seem more related to conceptual and lexical processes rather than to motor or attentional processes (Piai et al, 2015, 2018). Given the lack of relevant theoretical and empirical literature, we could not derive a clear prediction about the specific direction of the power modulations, i.e., whether the presence of semantically related distractors would further decrease or rather increase the alpha-beta power decreases relative to the unrelated distractors
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