Context-dependent semantic processing in the human brain: Evidence from idiom comprehension
Publication year
2013Number of pages
15 p.
Source
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 25, 5, (2013), pp. 762-776ISSN
Publication type
Article / Letter to editor

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Organization
SW OZ DCC BO
Taalwetenschap
SW OZ DCC PL
Journal title
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Volume
vol. 25
Issue
iss. 5
Languages used
English (eng)
Page start
p. 762
Page end
p. 776
Subject
110 000 Neurocognition of Language; Cognitive and developmental aspects of Multilingualism; DI-BCB_DCC_Theme 1: Language and Communication; Language in Mind; PsycholinguisticsAbstract
Language comprehension involves activating word meanings and integrating them with the sentence context. This study examined whether these routines are carried out even when they are theoretically unnecessary, namely, in the case of opaque idiomatic expressions, for which the literal word meanings are unrelated to the overall meaning of the expression. Predictable words in sentences were replaced by a semantically related or unrelated word. In literal sentences, this yielded previously established behavioral and electrophysiological signatures of semantic processing: semantic facilitation in lexical decision, a reduced N400 for semantically related relative to unrelated words, and a power increase in the gamma frequency band that was disrupted by semantic violations. However, the same manipulations in idioms yielded none of these effects. Instead, semantic violations elicited a late positivity in idioms. Moreover, gamma band power was lower in correct idioms than in correct literal sentences. It is argued that the brain's semantic expectancy and literal word meaning integration operations can, to some extent, be “switched off” when the context renders them unnecessary. Furthermore, the results lend support to models of idiom comprehension that involve unitary idiom representations.
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