Abstract
ABSTRACT The role of working memory (WM) has been evidenced in language processing; however, the contribution of WM to the detection of linguistic deviance has remained unclear. This study aimed to examine how WM performance influences the detection of prosodic deviance in a fixed-stress language, which is supposed to be determined by a long-term word stress template. Therefore, Mismatch Negativity (MMN) event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during a passive oddball paradigm containing pseudowords with two different stress patterns, legal and illegal. Besides, complex WM tasks (Counting span task, Verbal fluency tasks) were administered. Results revealed that greater WM performance measured by the Counting span task was associated with smaller MMN response for the legally-stressed stimuli but with larger MMN response for the illegally-stressed stimuli. Altogether, our ERP results suggest that WM has a general role in the processing of the native fixed word stress.
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