Event-related Brain Potential Responses Research Articles

Effects of anxiety state on N400 event-related brain potential response to unexpected semantic stimuli

Emotional states can influence how people use meaningful context to make predictions about what comes next. To measure whether state anxiety influences such prediction, we used the N400 event-related brain potential (ERP) response to semantic stimuli, whose amplitude is smaller (less negative) when the stimulus is more predicted based on preceding context. Participants (n = 28) were randomized to one of two groups, who underwent either an “anxious-uncertainty” procedure previously shown to increase anxiety, or a control procedure. Both before and after this procedure, participants’ ERPs were recorded while they viewed category definitions (e.g., “a type of fruit”), each followed by a target word that was either a high-typicality category exemplar (“apple”), low-typicality exemplar (“cherry”), or non-exemplar (“clamp”) of the category. Participants’ task was to respond by pressing one of two buttons to indicate whether the target represented a member of the category. As expected, based on previous work, overall, N400 amplitudes were largest (most negative) in response to non-exemplars, intermediate to low-typicality exemplars, and smallest to high-typicality exemplars. N400 amplitudes were larger to non-exemplars after the anxious-uncertainty procedure than after the control procedure. N400 amplitudes to both types of exemplars did not differ after the anxious-uncertainty procedure versus the control procedure. The results are consistent with participants devoting more neural resources to processing contextually unexpected items under anxious states, rather than anxiety facilitating processing of expected items.

Mechanisms of associative word learning: Benefits from the visual modality and synchrony of labeled objects

Despite humans' ability to communicate about concepts relating to different senses, word learning research tends to largely focus on labeling visual objects. Although sensory modality is known to influence memory and learning, its specific role for word learning remains largely unclear. We investigated associative word learning in adults, that is the association of an object with its label, by means of event-related brain potentials (ERPs). We evaluated how learning is affected by object modality (auditory vs visual) and temporal synchrony of object-label presentations (sequential vs simultaneous). Across 4 experiments, adults were, in training phases, presented either visual objects (real-world images) or auditory objects (environmental sounds) in temporal synchrony with or followed by novel pseudowords (2 × 2 design). Objects and pseudowords were paired either in a consistent or an inconsistent manner. In subsequent testing phases, the consistent pairs were presented in matching or violated pairings. Here, behavioral and ERP responses should reveal whether consistent object–pseudoword pairs had been successfully associated with one another during training. The visual-object experiments yielded behavioral learning effects and an increased N400 amplitude for violated versus matched pairings indicating short-term retention of object–word associations, in both the simultaneous and sequential presentation conditions. For the auditory-object experiments, only the simultaneous, but not the sequential presentation, revealed similar results. Across all experiments, we found behavioral and ERP correlates of associative word learning to be affected by both sensory modality and partly, by temporal synchrony of object-label combinations. Based on our findings, we argue for independent advantages of temporal synchrony and visual modality in associative word learning.

Salience-weighted agreement feature hierarchy modulates language comprehension

The brain establishes relations between elements of an unfolding sentence in order to incrementally build a representation of who is doing what based on various linguistic cues. Many languages systematically mark the verb and/or its arguments to imply the manner in which they are related. A common mechanism to this end is subject-verb agreement, whereby the marking on the verb covaries with one or more of the features such as person, number and gender of the subject argument in a sentence. The cross-linguistic variability of these features would suggest that they may modulate language comprehension differentially based on their relative weightings in a given language. To test this, we investigated the processing of subject-verb agreement in simple intransitive Arabic sentences in a visual event-related brain potential (ERP) study. Specifically, we examined the differences, if any, that ensue in the processing of person, number and gender features during online comprehension, employing sentences in which the verb either showed full agreement with the subject noun (singular or plural) or did not agree in one of the features. ERP responses were measured at the post-nominal verb. Results showed a biphasic negativity−late-positivity effect when the verb did not agree with its subject noun in either of the features, in line with similar findings from other languages. Crucially however, the biphasic effect for agreement violations was systematically graded based on the feature that was violated, which is a novel finding in view of results from other languages. Furthermore, this graded effect was qualitatively different for singular and plural subjects based on the differing salience of the features for each subject-type. These results suggest that agreement features, varying in their salience due to their language-specific weightings, differentially modulate language comprehension. We postulate a Salience-weighted Feature Hierarchy based on our findings and argue that this parsimoniously accounts for the diversity of existing cross-linguistic neurophysiological results on verb agreement processing.

Meaning to multiply: Electrophysiological evidence that children and adults treat multiplication facts differently

Multiplication tables are typically memorized verbally, with fluent retrieval leading to better performance in advanced math. Arithmetic development is characterized by strategy shifts from procedural operations to direct fact retrieval, which would not necessitate access to the facts’ conceptual meaning. This study tested this hypothesis using a combination of event related brain potentials (ERP) and behavioral measures with 3rd-5th grade children and young adults. Participants verified the solutions to simple multiplication problems (2 × 3 = 6 or = 7) and the semantic fit of word-picture pairs, separately. Children showed an N400 effect to multiplication solutions with larger (more negative) amplitude for incorrect than correct solutions, reflecting meaning-level processing. A similar ERP response was observed in the word-picture verification task, with larger negative amplitude for word-picture pairs that were semantically mismatched compared to matched. In contrast, adults showed a P300 response for correct solutions, suggesting that they treated these solutions as potential targets in over-rehearsed mathematical expressions. This P300 response was specific to math fact processing, as the word-picture verification task elicited a classic N400 in adults. These ERP findings reveal an overlooked developmental transition that occurs after fifth grade, and speak to theories of arithmetic that have been based primarily on adult data.

Case Syncretism, Animacy, and Word Order in Continental West Germanic: Neurolinguistic Evidence from a Comparative Study on Standard German, Zurich German, and Fering (North Frisian)

To understand a sentence, it is crucial to understand who is doing what. The interplay of morphological case marking, argument serialization, and animacy provides linguistic cues for the processing system to rapidly identify the thematic roles of the arguments. The present event-related brain potential (ERP) study investigates on-line brain responses during argument identification in Zurich German, a High Alemannic dialect, and in Fering, a North Frisian variety, which both exhibit reduced case systems as compared to Standard German. Like Standard German, Zurich German and Fering are Continental West Germanic varieties, and indeed argument processing in sentences with an object-before-subject order engenders a qualitatively similar ERP pattern of a scrambling negativity followed by a P600 in all tested varieties. However, the P600 component—a late positive ERP response, which has been linked to the categorization of task-relevant stimuli—is selectively affected by the most prominent cue for argument identification in each variety, which is case marking in Standard German, but animacy in Zurich German and Fering. Thus, even closely related varieties may employ different processing strategies based on the language-specific availability of syntactic and semantic cues for argument identification.*

Loss of control as a violation of expectations: Testing the predictions of a common inconsistency compensation approach in an inclusionary cyberball game.

Personal control relies on the expectation that events are contingent upon one’s own behavior. A common ‘inconsistency compensation approach’ posits that a violation of expectancies in social interaction triggers aversive arousal and compensatory effort. Following this approach, we tested the hypothesis that interventions affecting participants' decisions violate the expected personal control. In a modified version of the established cyberball paradigm, participants were not excluded, but consistently included. However, their decisions regarding the recipient of a ball throw in the virtual game were occasionally overruled (expectancy violation). We hypothesized that this intervention will trigger a P3 response in event-related brain potentials (ERP). Since this component is related to subjective expectancies, its amplitude was assumed to depend on the frequency of interventions (independent factor: loss of control). Further, we manipulated the vertical position of the participants’ avatar on the computer screen (independent factor: verticality). Building on research showing that verticality is related to the self-assigned power and influences the expected level of control, we hypothesized that the ERP effects of intervention should be more pronounced for participants with avatars in superior position. As predicted, both experimental factors interactively affected the expression of the ERP response: In case of low intervention frequency, P3 amplitudes were significantly pronounced if the participants’ avatar was positioned above as compared to below co-players (high > low self-assigned power). The effect of verticality could be traced back to a lack of adaptation of P3 amplitudes to recurring aversive events. By demonstrating that loss of control triggers ERP effects corresponding to those triggered by social exclusion, this study provides further evidence for a common cognitive mechanism in reactions to aversive events based on an inconsistency in expectancy states.

Eliciting ERP Components for Morphosyntactic Agreement Mismatches in Perfectly Grammatical Sentences.

The present event-related brain potential (ERP) study investigates mechanisms underlying the processing of morphosyntactic information during real-time auditory sentence comprehension in French. Employing an auditory-visual sentence-picture matching paradigm, we investigated two types of anomalies using entirely grammatical auditory stimuli: (i) semantic mismatches between visually presented actions and spoken verbs, and (ii) number mismatches between visually presented agents and corresponding morphosyntactic number markers in the spoken sentences (determiners, pronouns in liaison contexts, and verb-final “inflection”). We varied the type and amount of number cues available in each sentence using two manipulations. First, we manipulated the verb type, by using verbs whose number cue was audible through subject (clitic) pronoun liaison (liaison verbs) as well as verbs whose number cue was audible on the verb ending (consonant-final verbs). Second, we manipulated the pre-verbal context: each sentence was preceded either by a neutral context providing no number cue, or by a subject noun phrase containing a subject number cue on the determiner. Twenty-two French-speaking adults participated in the experiment. While sentence judgment accuracy was high, participants' ERP responses were modulated by the type of mismatch encountered. Lexico-semantic mismatches on the verb elicited the expected N400 and additional negativities. Determiner number mismatches elicited early anterior negativities, N400s and P600s. Verb number mismatches elicited biphasic N400-P600 patterns. However, pronoun + verb liaison mismatches yielded this pattern only in the plural, while consonant-final changes did so in the singular and the plural. Furthermore, an additional sustained frontal negativity was observed in two of the four verb mismatch conditions: plural liaison and singular consonant-final forms. This study highlights the different contributions of number cues in oral language processing and is the first to investigate whether auditory-visual mismatches can elicit errors reminiscent of outright grammatical errors. Our results emphasize that neurocognitive mechanisms underlying number agreement in French are modulated by the type of cue that is used to identify auditory-visual mismatches.

Violated Expectations in the Cyberball Paradigm: Testing the Expectancy Account of Social Participation With ERP.

Previous social exclusion experiments identified two factors affecting the participants’ evaluation of participation in a virtual ball tossing game (cyberball): ball reception probability and vertical position of the participant’s avatar on the screen. The P3 component in the event-related brain potentials (ERPs) indicated that both factors moderate subjective expectancies on social participation. The present research builds on an expectancy model explaining these effects and tests whether its predictions – established in a within-participant design – also hold in a between-participant design more common in behavioral cyberball studies. Participants were randomly assigned to four conditions which differed in ball reception probability (16% vs. 26%) and the avatar’s vertical position (inferior vs. superior). To track the state of expectancy of involvement online, we recorded the ERP response evoked by ball receptions of the participant. Retrospectively, social involvement and social need threat were rated in a questionnaire. As hypothesized, low ball reception probability elicited enlarged P3 amplitudes in the ERPs, increased negative mood, and threatened social needs. For participants at inferior position, ERP and questionnaire effects were less expressed. This effect of verticality can be traced back to an adjustment in the expected involvement as signaled by a differential adaptation of the P3 amplitude within an experimental run. These results confirm that the predictions of an expectancy model also apply to cyberball studies using a between-participant design. However, the comparison with the results of previous within-participant design studies suggests that the sensitivity of the adjustment processes critically depends on the choice of the experimental design.

The sentence wrap-up dogma

Current sentence processing research has focused on early effects of the on-line incremental processes that are performed at each word or constituent during processing. However, less attention has been devoted to what happens at the end of the clause or sentence. More specifically, over the last decade and a half, a lot of effort has been put into avoiding measuring event-related brain potentials (ERPs) at the final word of a sentence, because of the possible effects of sentence wrap-up. This article reviews the evidence on how and when sentence wrap-up impacts behavioral and ERP results. Even though the end of the sentence is associated with a positive-going ERP wave, thus far this effect has not been associated with any factors hypothesized to affect wrap-up. In addition, ERP responses to violations have not been affected by this positivity. “Sentence-final” negativities reported in the literature are not unique to sentence final positions, nor do they obscure or distort ERP effects associated with linguistic manipulations. Finally, the empirical evidence used to argue that sentence-final ERPs are different from those recorded at sentence-medial positions is weak at most. Measuring ERPs at sentence-final positions is therefore certainly not to be avoided at all costs, especially not in cases where the structure of the language under investigation requires it. More importantly, researchers should follow rigorous method in their experimental design, avoid decision tasks which may induce ERP confounds, and ensure all other possible explanations for results are considered. Although this article is directed at a particular dogma from a particular literature, this review shows that it is important to reassess what is regarded as “general knowledge” from time to time.

Event-Related Potentials in the Clinical High-Risk (CHR) State for Psychosis: A Systematic Review

There is emerging evidence that identification and treatment of individuals in the prodromal or clinical high-risk (CHR) state for psychosis can reduce the probability that they will develop a psychotic disorder. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) are a noninvasive neurophysiological technique that holds promise for improving our understanding of neurocognitive processes underlying the CHR state. We aimed to systematically review the current literature on cognitive ERP studies of the CHR population, in order to summarize and synthesize the results, and their implications for our understanding of the CHR state. Across studies, amplitudes of the auditory P300 and duration mismatch negativity (MMN) ERPs appear reliably reduced in CHR individuals, suggesting that underlying impairments in detecting changes in auditory stimuli are a sensitive early marker of the psychotic disease process. There are more limited data indicating that an earlier-latency auditory ERP response, the N100, is also reduced in amplitude, and in the degree to which it is modulated by stimulus characteristics, in the CHR population. There is also evidence that a number of auditory ERP measures (including P300, MMN and N100 amplitudes, and N100 gating in response to repeated stimuli) can further refine our ability to detect which CHR individuals are most at risk for developing psychosis. Thus, further research is warranted to optimize the predictive power of algorithms incorporating these measures, which could help efforts to target psychosis prevention interventions toward those most in need.

Time Course and Neurophysiological Underpinnings of Metaphor in Literary Context

ABSTRACTSeveral theoretical proposals tried to account for the meaning open-endedness of metaphors in literature and for the effortful process they trigger in readers. However, very few experiments have tackled the neurophysiological underpinnings of literary metaphor. Here we used Event-Related brain Potentials (ERPs) to explore the temporal dynamics of comprehending metaphors from Italian poems and novels (e.g., grass of velvet), presented in their original context, as compared with literal expressions (e.g., throne of velvet). Results evidence a more negative ERP response for metaphors, unfolding in an N400 followed by a sustained negativity over frontal sites, suggesting a long-lasting effort in elaborating figurative meanings. Whereas the N400 might be indicative of lexical/semantic processes typical of metaphors and amplified by the literary context, the sustained negativity might reflect the manipulation of multiple meanings in working memory, possibly responsible for the poetic effect. Interestingly, the late negativity effect is driven by familiarity, with a more negative response for those metaphors that are less familiar. These findings offer material to discuss ideas put forward in pragmatics, literary studies, and cognitive neuroscience of literature, like the condensation of weak implicatures, the foregrounding, and the relation between a metaphor and its context.

Language and music phrase boundary processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder: An ERP study

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is frequently associated with communicative impairment, regardless of intelligence level or mental age. Impairment of prosodic processing in particular is a common feature of ASD. Despite extensive overlap in neural resources involved in prosody and music processing, music perception seems to be spared in this population. The present study is the first to investigate prosodic phrasing in ASD in both language and music, combining event-related brain potential (ERP) and behavioral methods. We tested phrase boundary processing in language and music in neuro-typical adults and high-functioning individuals with ASD. We targeted an ERP response associated with phrase boundary processing in both language and music – i.e., the Closure Positive Shift (CPS). While a language-CPS was observed in the neuro-typical group, for ASD participants a smaller response failed to reach statistical significance. In music, we found a boundary-onset music-CPS for both groups during pauses between musical phrases. Our results support the view of preserved processing of musical cues in ASD individuals, with a corresponding prosodic impairment. This suggests that, despite the existence of a domain-general processing mechanism (the CPS), key differences in the integration of features of language and music may lead to the prosodic impairment in ASD.

Neural evidence for the subliminal processing of facial trustworthiness in infancy

Face evaluation is thought to play a vital role in human social interactions. One prominent aspect is the evaluation of facial signs of trustworthiness, which has been shown to occur reliably, rapidly, and without conscious awareness in adults. Recent developmental work indicates that the sensitivity to facial trustworthiness has early ontogenetic origins as it can already be observed in infancy. However, it is unclear whether infants’ sensitivity to facial signs of trustworthiness relies upon conscious processing of a face or, similar to adults, occurs also in response to subliminal faces. To investigate this question, we conducted an event-related brain potential (ERP) study, in which we presented 7-month-old infants with faces varying in trustworthiness. Facial stimuli were presented subliminally (below infants’ face visibility threshold) for only 50ms and then masked by presenting a scrambled face image. Our data revealed that infants’ ERP responses to subliminally presented faces differed as a function of trustworthiness. Specifically, untrustworthy faces elicited an enhanced negative slow wave (800–1000ms) at frontal and central electrodes. The current findings critically extend prior work by showing that, similar to adults, infants’ neural detection of facial signs of trustworthiness occurs also in response to subliminal face. This supports the view that detecting facial trustworthiness is an early developing and automatic process in humans.

The iterative nature of person construal: Evidence from event-related potentials.

Recently, a dynamic-interactive model of person construal (DI model) has been proposed, whereby the social categories a person represents are determined on the basis of an iterative integration of bottom-up and top-down influences. The current study sought to test this model by leveraging the high temporal resolution of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) as 65 participants viewed male faces that varied by race (White vs Black), fixating either between the eyes or on the forehead. Within face presentations, the effect of fixation, meant to vary bottom-up visual input, initially was large but decreased across early latency neural responses identified by a principal components analysis (PCA). In contrast, the effect of race, reflecting a combination of top-down and bottom-up factors, initially was small but increased across early latency principal components. These patterns support the DI model prediction that bottom-up and top-down processes are iteratively integrated to arrive at a stable construal within 230 ms. Additionally, exploratory multilevel modeling of single trial ERP responses representing a component linked to outgroup categorization (the P2) suggests change in effects of the manipulations over the course of the experiment. Implications of the findings for the DI model are considered.

When appearance does not match accent: neural correlates of ethnicity-related expectancy violations.

Most research on ethnicity in neuroscience and social psychology has focused on visual cues. However, accents are central social markers of ethnicity and strongly influence evaluations of others. Here, we examine how varying auditory (vocal accent) and visual (facial appearance) information about others affects neural correlates of ethnicity-related expectancy violations. Participants listened to standard German and Turkish-accented speakers and were subsequently presented with faces whose ethnic appearance was either congruent or incongruent to these voices. We expected that incongruent targets (e.g. German accent/Turkish face) would be paralleled by a more negative N2 event-related brain potential (ERP) component. Results confirmed this, suggesting that incongruence was related to more effortful processing of both Turkish and German target faces. These targets were also subjectively judged as surprising. Additionally, varying lateralization of ERP responses for Turkish and German faces suggests that the underlying neural generators differ, potentially reflecting different emotional reactions to these targets. Behavioral responses showed an effect of violated expectations: German-accented Turkish-looking targets were evaluated as most competent of all targets. We suggest that bringing together neural and behavioral measures of expectancy violations, and using both visual and auditory information, yields a more complete picture of the processes underlying impression formation.

Disentangling Metaphor from Context: An ERP Study.

A large body of electrophysiological literature showed that metaphor comprehension elicits two different event-related brain potential responses, namely the so-called N400 and P600 components. Yet most of these studies test metaphor in isolation while in natural conversation metaphors do not come out of the blue but embedded in linguistic and extra-linguistic context. This study aimed at assessing the role of context in the metaphor comprehension process. We recorded EEG activity while participants were presented with metaphors and equivalent literal expressions in a minimal context (Experiment 1) and in a supportive context where the word expressing the ground between the metaphor's topic and vehicle was made explicit (Experiment 2). The N400 effect was visible only in minimal context, whereas the P600 was visible both in the absence and in the presence of contextual cues. These findings suggest that the N400 observed for metaphor is related to contextual aspects, possibly indexing contextual expectations on upcoming words that guide lexical access and retrieval, while the P600 seems to reflect truly pragmatic interpretative processes needed to make sense of a metaphor and derive the speaker's meaning, also in the presence of contextual cues. In sum, previous information in the linguistic context biases toward a metaphorical interpretation but does not suppress interpretative pragmatic mechanisms to establish the intended meaning.

Object individuation and compensation in healthy aging

Theories on neural compensation suggest that aged participants overactivate the brain areas involved in a task to compensate for the age-related decline. In this electrophysiological study, we investigated the temporal locus of neural overactivation in aging during multiple target processing. We measured performance and three event-related brain potential responses (N1, N2pc, and contralateral delay activity) in young and old adults, while they enumerated a variable number (1–4) of targets presented in an easy (distractor absent) or difficult (distractor present) condition. The main results indicated that although N2pc (∼200 ms) increased in amplitude in the distractor-present condition in the young group, no modulation occurred for the old group. Old participants were associated with larger N2pc amplitudes than young participants in the distractor-absent condition, where both groups had comparable levels of accuracy. These effects were not present for N1 and contralateral delay activity. Overall, the data suggest that in enumeration, aging is associated with compensatory effects that rely on the selection mechanism responsible for target individuation.

Aesthetic appreciation of poetry correlates with ease of processing in event-related potentials.

Rhetorical theory suggests that rhythmic and metrical features of language substantially contribute to persuading, moving, and pleasing an audience. A potential explanation of these effects is offered by "cognitive fluency theory," which stipulates that recurring patterns (e.g., meter) enhance perceptual fluency and can lead to greater aesthetic appreciation. In this article, we explore these two assertions by investigating the effects of meter and rhyme in the reception of poetry by means of event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Participants listened to four versions of lyrical stanzas that varied in terms of meter and rhyme, and rated the stanzas for rhythmicity and aesthetic liking. The behavioral and ERP results were in accord with enhanced liking and rhythmicity ratings for metered and rhyming stanzas. The metered and rhyming stanzas elicited smaller N400/P600 ERP responses than their nonmetered, nonrhyming, or nonmetered and nonrhyming counterparts. In addition, the N400 and P600 effects for the lyrical stanzas correlated with aesthetic liking effects (metered-nonmetered), implying that modulation of the N400 and P600 has a direct bearing on the aesthetic appreciation of lyrical stanzas. We suggest that these effects are indicative of perceptual-fluency-enhanced aesthetic liking, as postulated by cognitive fluency theory.

Behavioral and electrophysiological indicators of auditory distractibility in children with ADHD and comorbid ODD

Involuntary switching of attention to distracting sounds was studied by measuring effects of these events on auditory discrimination performance and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) in 6–11-year-old boys with Attention Deficit – Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and comorbid Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and in age-matched controls. The children were instructed to differentiate between two animal calls by pressing one response button, for example, to a dog bark and another button to a cat mew. These task-relevant sounds were presented from one of two loudspeakers in front of the child, and there were occasional task-irrelevant changes in the sound location, that is, the loudspeaker. In addition, novel sounds (e.g., a sound of hammer, rain, or car horn) unrelated to the task were presented from a loudspeaker behind the child. The percentage of correct responses was lower for target sounds preceded by a novel sound than for targets not preceded by such sound in the ADHD group, but not in the control group. In both groups, a biphasic positive P3a response was observed in ERPs to the novel sounds. The later part of the P3a appeared to continue longer over the frontal scalp areas in the ADHD group than in the controls presumably because a reorienting negativity (RON) ERP response following the P3a was smaller in the ADHD group than in the control group. This suggests that the children with ADHD had problems in reorienting their attention to the current task after a distracting novel sound leading to deterioration of performance in this task. The present study also indicates that children with ADHD and comorbid ODD show same kind of distractibility as found in previous studies for children with ADHD without systematic comorbid ODD.

Age-Related Changes in Predictive Capacity Versus Internal Model Adaptability: Electrophysiological Evidence that Individual Differences Outweigh Effects of Age.

Hierarchical predictive coding has been identified as a possible unifying principle of brain function, and recent work in cognitive neuroscience has examined how it may be affected by age–related changes. Using language comprehension as a test case, the present study aimed to dissociate age-related changes in prediction generation versus internal model adaptation following a prediction error. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were measured in a group of older adults (60–81 years; n = 40) as they read sentences of the form “The opposite of black is white/yellow/nice.” Replicating previous work in young adults, results showed a target-related P300 for the expected antonym (“white”; an effect assumed to reflect a prediction match), and a graded N400 effect for the two incongruous conditions (i.e. a larger N400 amplitude for the incongruous continuation not related to the expected antonym, “nice,” versus the incongruous associated condition, “yellow”). These effects were followed by a late positivity, again with a larger amplitude in the incongruous non-associated versus incongruous associated condition. Analyses using linear mixed-effects models showed that the target-related P300 effect and the N400 effect for the incongruous non-associated condition were both modulated by age, thus suggesting that age-related changes affect both prediction generation and model adaptation. However, effects of age were outweighed by the interindividual variability of ERP responses, as reflected in the high proportion of variance captured by the inclusion of by-condition random slopes for participants and items. We thus argue that – at both a neurophysiological and a functional level – the notion of general differences between language processing in young and older adults may only be of limited use, and that future research should seek to better understand the causes of interindividual variability in the ERP responses of older adults and its relation to cognitive performance.