Investigating Adaptation to <i>And</i>-Coordination in English: An ERP Study
According to certain approaches to adaptation, readers and listeners quickly adjust their processing of sentences to match properties of recently encountered sentences. The present preregistered study used ERP (event-related brain potentials) to investigate how and when readers change their processi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-09-01
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| Series: | Languages |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/8/3/207 |
| _version_ | 1797579193697959936 |
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| author | Edith Kaan |
| author_facet | Edith Kaan |
| author_sort | Edith Kaan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | According to certain approaches to adaptation, readers and listeners quickly adjust their processing of sentences to match properties of recently encountered sentences. The present preregistered study used ERP (event-related brain potentials) to investigate how and when readers change their processing in response to recent exposure to sentences of a particular structure. We presented English speakers (<i>n</i> = 36) with three virtual blocks of English sentences with <i>and</i>-coordination ambiguities. In the first and third block, the ambiguity was always resolved towards a noun phrase (NP-) coordination; in the second block, the structure was always a clausal (S-) coordination. We manipulated the plausibility of the critical noun after the conjunct. N400 and P600 plausibility effects were probed to see to what extent the reader preferred an NP- coordination or expected the sentence to continue differently. Our results suggest that readers change their processing as a function of recent exposure but that they do not immediately adapt to the target structure. Furthermore, we observed substantial individual variation in the type and change in response over the course of the study. The idea that structural adaptation is immediate and a direct reflection of the properties of the recent context therefore needs to be fine-tuned. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:33:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d6d174fb76a2472380eb5be434680fc9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2226-471X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:33:27Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Languages |
| spelling | doaj.art-d6d174fb76a2472380eb5be434680fc92023-11-19T11:36:03ZengMDPI AGLanguages2226-471X2023-09-018320710.3390/languages8030207Investigating Adaptation to <i>And</i>-Coordination in English: An ERP StudyEdith Kaan0Department of Linguistics, University of Florida, P.O. Box 115454, Gainesville, FL 32611, USAAccording to certain approaches to adaptation, readers and listeners quickly adjust their processing of sentences to match properties of recently encountered sentences. The present preregistered study used ERP (event-related brain potentials) to investigate how and when readers change their processing in response to recent exposure to sentences of a particular structure. We presented English speakers (<i>n</i> = 36) with three virtual blocks of English sentences with <i>and</i>-coordination ambiguities. In the first and third block, the ambiguity was always resolved towards a noun phrase (NP-) coordination; in the second block, the structure was always a clausal (S-) coordination. We manipulated the plausibility of the critical noun after the conjunct. N400 and P600 plausibility effects were probed to see to what extent the reader preferred an NP- coordination or expected the sentence to continue differently. Our results suggest that readers change their processing as a function of recent exposure but that they do not immediately adapt to the target structure. Furthermore, we observed substantial individual variation in the type and change in response over the course of the study. The idea that structural adaptation is immediate and a direct reflection of the properties of the recent context therefore needs to be fine-tuned.https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/8/3/207adaptationcoordinationEEGERPsyntactic ambiguityN400 |
| spellingShingle | Edith Kaan Investigating Adaptation to <i>And</i>-Coordination in English: An ERP Study Languages adaptation coordination EEG ERP syntactic ambiguity N400 |
| title | Investigating Adaptation to <i>And</i>-Coordination in English: An ERP Study |
| title_full | Investigating Adaptation to <i>And</i>-Coordination in English: An ERP Study |
| title_fullStr | Investigating Adaptation to <i>And</i>-Coordination in English: An ERP Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Investigating Adaptation to <i>And</i>-Coordination in English: An ERP Study |
| title_short | Investigating Adaptation to <i>And</i>-Coordination in English: An ERP Study |
| title_sort | investigating adaptation to i and i coordination in english an erp study |
| topic | adaptation coordination EEG ERP syntactic ambiguity N400 |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/8/3/207 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT edithkaan investigatingadaptationtoiandicoordinationinenglishanerpstudy |