Neurophysiological correlates of automatic integration of voice and gender information during grammatical processing
Abstract During verbal communication, interlocutors rely on both linguistic (e.g., words, syntax) and extralinguistic (e.g., voice quality) information. The neural mechanisms of extralinguistic information processing are particularly poorly understood. To address this, we used EEG and recorded event...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2022-07-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-14478-2 |
| _version_ | 1811222100206157824 |
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| author | Maria Alekseeva Andriy Myachykov Beatriz Bermudez-Margaretto Yury Shtyrov |
| author_facet | Maria Alekseeva Andriy Myachykov Beatriz Bermudez-Margaretto Yury Shtyrov |
| author_sort | Maria Alekseeva |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract During verbal communication, interlocutors rely on both linguistic (e.g., words, syntax) and extralinguistic (e.g., voice quality) information. The neural mechanisms of extralinguistic information processing are particularly poorly understood. To address this, we used EEG and recorded event-related brain potentials while participants listened to Russian pronoun–verb phrases presented in either male or female voice. Crucially, we manipulated congruency between the grammatical gender signaled by the verbs’ ending and the speakers’ apparent gender. To focus on putative automatic integration of extralinguistic information into syntactic processing and avoid confounds arising from secondary top-down processes, we used passive non-attend auditory presentation with visual distraction and no stimulus-related task. Most expressed neural responses were found at both early (150 ms, ELAN-like) and late (400 ms, N400-like) phrase processing stages. Crucially, both of these brain responses exhibited sensitivity to extralinguistic information and were significantly enhanced for phrases whose voice and grammatical gender were incongruent, similar to what is known for ERPs effects related to overt grammatical violations. Our data suggest a high degree of automaticity in processing extralinguistic information during spoken language comprehension which indicates existence of a rapid automatic syntactic integration mechanism sensitive to both linguistic and extralinguistic information. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T08:10:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2a52547d46134fdd8402fa83b0812e09 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T08:10:54Z |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-2a52547d46134fdd8402fa83b0812e092022-12-22T03:40:58ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222022-07-0112111010.1038/s41598-022-14478-2Neurophysiological correlates of automatic integration of voice and gender information during grammatical processingMaria Alekseeva0Andriy Myachykov1Beatriz Bermudez-Margaretto2Yury Shtyrov3Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, Higher School of EconomicsCentre for Cognition and Decision Making, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, Higher School of EconomicsDepartamento de Psicología Básica, Psicobiología y Metodología de las Ciencias del Comportamiento, Instituto de Integración en la Comunidad - INICO, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de SalamancaCenter of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN), Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus UniversityAbstract During verbal communication, interlocutors rely on both linguistic (e.g., words, syntax) and extralinguistic (e.g., voice quality) information. The neural mechanisms of extralinguistic information processing are particularly poorly understood. To address this, we used EEG and recorded event-related brain potentials while participants listened to Russian pronoun–verb phrases presented in either male or female voice. Crucially, we manipulated congruency between the grammatical gender signaled by the verbs’ ending and the speakers’ apparent gender. To focus on putative automatic integration of extralinguistic information into syntactic processing and avoid confounds arising from secondary top-down processes, we used passive non-attend auditory presentation with visual distraction and no stimulus-related task. Most expressed neural responses were found at both early (150 ms, ELAN-like) and late (400 ms, N400-like) phrase processing stages. Crucially, both of these brain responses exhibited sensitivity to extralinguistic information and were significantly enhanced for phrases whose voice and grammatical gender were incongruent, similar to what is known for ERPs effects related to overt grammatical violations. Our data suggest a high degree of automaticity in processing extralinguistic information during spoken language comprehension which indicates existence of a rapid automatic syntactic integration mechanism sensitive to both linguistic and extralinguistic information.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-14478-2 |
| spellingShingle | Maria Alekseeva Andriy Myachykov Beatriz Bermudez-Margaretto Yury Shtyrov Neurophysiological correlates of automatic integration of voice and gender information during grammatical processing Scientific Reports |
| title | Neurophysiological correlates of automatic integration of voice and gender information during grammatical processing |
| title_full | Neurophysiological correlates of automatic integration of voice and gender information during grammatical processing |
| title_fullStr | Neurophysiological correlates of automatic integration of voice and gender information during grammatical processing |
| title_full_unstemmed | Neurophysiological correlates of automatic integration of voice and gender information during grammatical processing |
| title_short | Neurophysiological correlates of automatic integration of voice and gender information during grammatical processing |
| title_sort | neurophysiological correlates of automatic integration of voice and gender information during grammatical processing |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-14478-2 |
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