Dissociable effects of prediction and integration during language comprehension: evidence from a largescale study using brain potentials

Mante S. Nieuwland; Dale J. Barr; Federica Bartolozzi; Simon Busch-Moreno; Emily Darley; David I. Donaldson; Heather J. Ferguson; Xiao Fu; Evelien Heyselaar; Falk Huettig; E. Matthew Husband; Aine Ito; Nina Kazanina; Vita Kogan; Zdenko Kohút; Eugenia Kulakova; Diane Mézière; Stephen Politzer-Ahles; Guillaume Rousselet; Shirley Ann Rueschemeyer; Katrien Segaert; Jyrki Tuomainen; Sarah Von Grebmer Zu Wolfsthurn

doi:10.1098/rstb.2018.0522

Dissociable effects of prediction and integration during language comprehension: evidence from a largescale study using brain potentials

Mante S. Nieuwland^*, Dale J. Barr, Federica Bartolozzi, Simon Busch-Moreno, Emily Darley, David I. Donaldson, Heather J. Ferguson, Xiao Fu, Evelien Heyselaar, Falk Huettig, E. Matthew Husband, Aine Ito, Nina Kazanina, Vita Kogan, Zdenko Kohút, Eugenia Kulakova, Diane Mézière, Stephen Politzer-Ahles, Guillaume Rousselet, Shirley Ann RueschemeyerKatrien Segaert, Jyrki Tuomainen, Sarah Von Grebmer Zu Wolfsthurn

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Psychology and Neuroscience

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Composing sentence meaning is easier for predictable words than for unpredictable words. Are predictable words genuinely predicted, or simply more plausible and therefore easier to integrate with sentence context? We addressed this persistent and fundamental question using data from a recent, large-scale (n = 334) replication study, by investigating the effects of word predictability and sentence plausibility on the N400, the brain's electrophysiological index of semantic processing. A spatio-temporally fine-grained mixed-effect multiple regression analysis revealed overlapping effects of predictability and plausibility on the N400, albeit with distinct spatio-temporal profiles. Our results challenge the view that the predictability-dependent N400 reflects the effects of either prediction or integration, and suggest that semantic facilitation of predictable words arises from a cascade of processes that activate and integrate word meaning with context into a sentence-level meaning.

Original language	English
Article number	20180522
Journal	Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Volume	375
Issue number	1791
Early online date	16 Dec 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2018.0522
Publication status	Published - 3 Feb 2020

Keywords

N400
Plausibility
Predictability
Semantic similarity

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10.1098/rstb.2018.0522

http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/198280/

Cite this

Nieuwland, M. S., Barr, D. J., Bartolozzi, F., Busch-Moreno, S., Darley, E., Donaldson, D. I., Ferguson, H. J., Fu, X., Heyselaar, E., Huettig, F., Husband, E. M., Ito, A., Kazanina, N., Kogan, V., Kohút, Z., Kulakova, E., Mézière, D., Politzer-Ahles, S., Rousselet, G., ... Von Grebmer Zu Wolfsthurn, S. (2020). Dissociable effects of prediction and integration during language comprehension: evidence from a largescale study using brain potentials. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 375(1791), Article 20180522. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2018.0522

@article{8ab7754579fe4d61b9e0a94675f93d3f,

title = "Dissociable effects of prediction and integration during language comprehension: evidence from a largescale study using brain potentials",

abstract = "Composing sentence meaning is easier for predictable words than for unpredictable words. Are predictable words genuinely predicted, or simply more plausible and therefore easier to integrate with sentence context? We addressed this persistent and fundamental question using data from a recent, large-scale (n = 334) replication study, by investigating the effects of word predictability and sentence plausibility on the N400, the brain's electrophysiological index of semantic processing. A spatio-temporally fine-grained mixed-effect multiple regression analysis revealed overlapping effects of predictability and plausibility on the N400, albeit with distinct spatio-temporal profiles. Our results challenge the view that the predictability-dependent N400 reflects the effects of either prediction or integration, and suggest that semantic facilitation of predictable words arises from a cascade of processes that activate and integrate word meaning with context into a sentence-level meaning.",

keywords = "N400, Plausibility, Predictability, Semantic similarity",

author = "Nieuwland, \{Mante S.\} and Barr, \{Dale J.\} and Federica Bartolozzi and Simon Busch-Moreno and Emily Darley and Donaldson, \{David I.\} and Ferguson, \{Heather J.\} and Xiao Fu and Evelien Heyselaar and Falk Huettig and Husband, \{E. Matthew\} and Aine Ito and Nina Kazanina and Vita Kogan and Zdenko Koh{\'u}t and Eugenia Kulakova and Diane M{\'e}zi{\`e}re and Stephen Politzer-Ahles and Guillaume Rousselet and Rueschemeyer, \{Shirley Ann\} and Katrien Segaert and Jyrki Tuomainen and \{Von Grebmer Zu Wolfsthurn\}, Sarah",

note = "This work was partly funded by ERC starting grant no. 636458 to H.J.F.",

year = "2020",

month = feb,

day = "3",

doi = "10.1098/rstb.2018.0522",

language = "English",

volume = "375",

journal = "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences",

issn = "0962-8436",

publisher = "Royal Society Publishing",

number = "1791",

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Nieuwland, MS, Barr, DJ, Bartolozzi, F, Busch-Moreno, S, Darley, E, Donaldson, DI, Ferguson, HJ, Fu, X, Heyselaar, E, Huettig, F, Husband, EM, Ito, A, Kazanina, N, Kogan, V, Kohút, Z, Kulakova, E, Mézière, D, Politzer-Ahles, S, Rousselet, G, Rueschemeyer, SA, Segaert, K, Tuomainen, J & Von Grebmer Zu Wolfsthurn, S 2020, 'Dissociable effects of prediction and integration during language comprehension: evidence from a largescale study using brain potentials', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 375, no. 1791, 20180522. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2018.0522

Dissociable effects of prediction and integration during language comprehension: evidence from a largescale study using brain potentials. / Nieuwland, Mante S.; Barr, Dale J.; Bartolozzi, Federica et al.
In: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Vol. 375, No. 1791, 20180522, 03.02.2020.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - Dissociable effects of prediction and integration during language comprehension

T2 - evidence from a largescale study using brain potentials

AU - Nieuwland, Mante S.

AU - Barr, Dale J.

AU - Bartolozzi, Federica

AU - Busch-Moreno, Simon

AU - Darley, Emily

AU - Donaldson, David I.

AU - Ferguson, Heather J.

AU - Fu, Xiao

AU - Heyselaar, Evelien

AU - Huettig, Falk

AU - Husband, E. Matthew

AU - Ito, Aine

AU - Kazanina, Nina

AU - Kogan, Vita

AU - Kohút, Zdenko

AU - Kulakova, Eugenia

AU - Mézière, Diane

AU - Politzer-Ahles, Stephen

AU - Rousselet, Guillaume

AU - Rueschemeyer, Shirley Ann

AU - Segaert, Katrien

AU - Tuomainen, Jyrki

AU - Von Grebmer Zu Wolfsthurn, Sarah

N1 - This work was partly funded by ERC starting grant no. 636458 to H.J.F.

PY - 2020/2/3

Y1 - 2020/2/3

N2 - Composing sentence meaning is easier for predictable words than for unpredictable words. Are predictable words genuinely predicted, or simply more plausible and therefore easier to integrate with sentence context? We addressed this persistent and fundamental question using data from a recent, large-scale (n = 334) replication study, by investigating the effects of word predictability and sentence plausibility on the N400, the brain's electrophysiological index of semantic processing. A spatio-temporally fine-grained mixed-effect multiple regression analysis revealed overlapping effects of predictability and plausibility on the N400, albeit with distinct spatio-temporal profiles. Our results challenge the view that the predictability-dependent N400 reflects the effects of either prediction or integration, and suggest that semantic facilitation of predictable words arises from a cascade of processes that activate and integrate word meaning with context into a sentence-level meaning.

AB - Composing sentence meaning is easier for predictable words than for unpredictable words. Are predictable words genuinely predicted, or simply more plausible and therefore easier to integrate with sentence context? We addressed this persistent and fundamental question using data from a recent, large-scale (n = 334) replication study, by investigating the effects of word predictability and sentence plausibility on the N400, the brain's electrophysiological index of semantic processing. A spatio-temporally fine-grained mixed-effect multiple regression analysis revealed overlapping effects of predictability and plausibility on the N400, albeit with distinct spatio-temporal profiles. Our results challenge the view that the predictability-dependent N400 reflects the effects of either prediction or integration, and suggest that semantic facilitation of predictable words arises from a cascade of processes that activate and integrate word meaning with context into a sentence-level meaning.

KW - N400

KW - Plausibility

KW - Predictability

KW - Semantic similarity

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85076520551

U2 - 10.1098/rstb.2018.0522

DO - 10.1098/rstb.2018.0522

M3 - Article

C2 - 31840593

AN - SCOPUS:85076520551

SN - 0962-8436

VL - 375

JO - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

JF - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

IS - 1791

M1 - 20180522

ER -

Dissociable effects of prediction and integration during language comprehension: evidence from a largescale study using brain potentials

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Keywords

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