Organization and Independence or Interdependence? Study of the Neurophysiological Dynamics of Syntactic and Semantic Processing
This research addresses the problem of how linguistic processes are organized in the brain for cognitive scientists and linguists, but it is incremental as it builds on existing theories with new EEG data.
The study tackled the problem of understanding the neurophysiological dynamics of syntactic and semantic processing in language comprehension by applying a multivariate model to EEG signals during a reading task, finding a hierarchical precedence of form, syntactic, and semantic processes with verbs central to syntax and interactions between syntactic movement and semantic processes.
In this article we present a multivariate model for determining the different syntactic, semantic, and form (surface-structure) processes underlying the comprehension of simple phrases. This model is applied to EEG signals recorded during a reading task. The results show a hierarchical precedence of the neurolinguistic processes : form, then syntactic and lastly semantic processes. We also found (a) that verbs are at the heart of phrase syntax processing, (b) an interaction between syntactic movement within the phrase, and semantic processes derived from a person-centered reference frame. Eigenvectors of the multivariate model provide electrode-times profiles that separate the distinctive linguistic processes and/or highlight their interaction. The accordance of these findings with different linguistic theories are discussed.