Skip Navigation


Cerebral Cortex Advance Access originally published online on January 30, 2007
Cerebral Cortex 2007 17(11):2659-2668; doi:10.1093/cercor/bhl174
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
17/11/2659    most recent
bhl174v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (1)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Magne, C.
Right arrow Articles by Besson, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Magne, C.
Right arrow Articles by Besson, M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Influence of Syllabic Lengthening on Semantic Processing in Spoken French: Behavioral and Electrophysiological Evidence

Cyrille Magne1,2, Corine Astésano1,2, Mitsuko Aramaki3, Sølvi Ystad3, Richard Kronland-Martinet3 and Mireille Besson1,2

1 Institut de Neurosciences Cognitives de la Méditerranée, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Marseille Universités, Marseille, France, 2 Université de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France, 3 Laboratoire de Mécanique et d'Acoustique, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Marseille, France

Address correspondence to Cyrille Magne, Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL 33431, USA. Email: magne{at}ccs.fau.edu.

The present work investigates the relationship between semantic and prosodic (metric) processing in spoken language under 2 attentional conditions (semantic and metric tasks) by analyzing both behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) data. Participants listened to short sentences ending in semantically and/or metrically congruous or incongruous trisyllabic words. In the metric task, ERP data showed that metrically incongruous words elicited both larger early negative and late positive components than metrically congruous words, thereby demonstrating the online processing of the metric structure of words. Moreover, in the semantic task, metrically incongruous words also elicited an early negative component with similar latency and scalp distribution as the classical N400 component. This finding highlights the automaticity of metrical structure processing. Moreover, it demonstrates that violations of a word's metric structure may hinder lexical access and word comprehension. This interpretation is supported by the behavioral data showing that participants made more errors for semantically congruous but metrically incongruous words when they were attending to the semantic aspects of the sentence. Finally, the finding of larger N400 components to semantically incongruous than congruous words, in both the semantic and metric tasks, suggests that the N400 component reflects automatic aspects of semantic processing.

Key Words: late positivity • meter • N400 • prosody • semantics


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Cogn. Neurosci.Home page
E. Geiser, T. Zaehle, L. Jancke, and M. Meyer
The neural correlate of speech rhythm as evidenced by metrical speech processing.
J. Cogn. Neurosci., March 1, 2008; 20(3): 541 - 552.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.