The syntactic and semantic processing of mass and count nouns: an ERP study.

Valentina Chiarelli,Radouane El Yagoubi,Sara Mondini,Carlo Semenza,Patrizia Bisiacchi

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0025885

Abstract

The present study addressed the question of whether count and mass nouns are differentially processed in the brain. In two different ERP (Event-Related Potentials) tasks we explored the semantic and syntactic levels of such distinction. Mass and count nouns typically differ in concreteness, hence the effect of this important variable was factorially examined in each task. Thus the stimuli presented were: count concrete, count abstract, mass concrete or mass abstract. The first experiment (concrete/abstract semantic judgment task) involved the interaction between the N400 concreteness effect and the Mass/Count condition, revealing a substantial effect between mass and count nouns at the semantic level. The second experiment (sentence syntactic violation task) showed a Mass/Count distinction on left anterior negativity (LAN) and on P600 components, confirming the difference at the syntactic level. This study suggests that the brain differentiates between count and mass nouns not only at the syntactic level but also at the semantic level. Implications for our understanding of the brain mechanisms underlying the Mass/Count distinction are discussed.

Highlights

Count and mass nouns reflect a basic distinction in our knowledge at the lexical level
Behavioural data Reaction times (RTs) for correct responses and error rates were determined with a repeated-measures ANOVA, using a design with factors in the semantic task: 2 (Mass/Count) 62 (Concrete/Abstract); and for the morphosyntactic task: 2 (Well-/Ill-formed sentences) 62 (Mass/Count) 62 (Concrete/Abstract)
Post hoc analysis showed that the difference between concrete count and concrete mass nouns was only significant in the semantic task [F(1,13) = 10.24; p,.01]. These findings showed that, in the semantic task, the condition eliciting the largest negativity within this temporal window was that of concrete count nouns

Summary

Introduction

Count and mass nouns reflect a basic distinction in our knowledge at the lexical level. This distinction, found already in pre-linguistic infants [1], sits apart within the concrete realm, compact, enduring things (objects) and the stuff (substance) of which they are constituted. The structure of substances, designated by mass nouns, is arbitrary, whereas the structure of objects, designated by count nouns, is not arbitrary [3]. These distinctions are not without problems, [4]. In addition to the mass count distinction, this is the first study to explore the effects of concreteness in the processing of mass and count nouns in the brain

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion