Age-related changes in ERP components of semantic and syntactic processing in a verb final language
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1
Ewha Womans University, Department of Communication Disorders , Republic of Korea
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2
Korea University, Department of Psychology, Republic of Korea
Introduction
Several researchers suggested that older adults performed less accurately and more slowly than younger adults on sentence comprehension tasks (DeDe et al., 2004; Kemtes & Kemper, 1997; Waters & Caplan, 2001). However, it has been controversial whether there might be age-related changes during online processing. Previous research employed a word-by-word reading or listening paradigm to measure older adults’ online sentence processing abilities. In contrast, there are few studies to qualitatively examine age-related differences in how semantic and syntactic information are processed using event-related potential (ERP). The current study investigated age-related differences in offline and online sentence processing using ERP in a verb-final language.
Methods
Sixteen younger adults (mean age=25.8, SD=3.1) and fifteen older adults (mean age=73.0, SD=6.0) participated in the study. Ninety target stimuli consisted of three conditions: (1) plausible, (2) syntactic violation on the second noun phrase with an irrelevant case marker (Word2), (3) semantic violation on the third word containing an irrelevant verb (Word3). Each phrase (Eojeol) was presented for 700ms using a Rapid Serial Visual Presentation paradigm with a 200ms inter-stimulus interval during the 32-ch EEG recording.
Results
1. Behavioral data
Accuracy and response time (RT) to the plausibility judgment served as dependent measures. Two-way mixed ANOVA revealed that the main effect for the group was significant in the accuracy, (F(1,29) = 4.53, p < .05) and the RT (F(1,29) = 58.92, p < .01). No other effects were significant.
2. ERP data
Two-way ANOVAs (group x condition) were performed for each midline site (Fz, Cz, and Pz). For Word2 at 300-500ms, significant main effects for condition emerged across the site (all ps<.05) with greater negativity found in the condition with an irrelevant case marker. For Word2 at 700-900ms, the younger group showed significantly stronger positivity effects at Pz in the syntactic violation condition, whereas the positivity effects were attenuated in elderly adults (F(1, 29)=5.266, p<.05). For Word3, negativity effects were significant in the violated conditions across the groups at 300-500ms (all ps<.05)>. However, these effects were diminished in the elderly group only at Fz (F(2, 58)=3.801, p<.05). For Word3 at 700-900ms, main effects for the condition were significant across the sites (all ps<.05). The significant two-way interaction at Fz revealed relatively greater negativity for the younger group in a semantically violated condition (F(2, 58)=6.635, p<.005).
Discussion
Both syntactic and semantic violations elicited negativity effects at 300-500ms time window, and the negativity effects were slightly attenuated in the elderly group. The results suggested that Korean speakers may process a syntactic component of a case marker under the semantic frame integration, eliciting the negativity effects associated with semantic violations. Elderly adults showed attenuated effects compared to the young group, indicating age-related changes emerged during real-time sentence processing.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by 2012 Ewha Global Top 5 grant from Ewha Womans University.
References
DeDe, G., Caplan, D., Kemtes, K., & Waters, G. S. (2004). The Relationship between Age, Verbal Working Memory, and Language Comprehension. Psychology and Aging, 19, 601-616.
Kemtes, K. A., & Kemper, S. (1997). Younger and older adults’ on-line processing of syntactically ambiguous sentences. Psychology and Aging, 12(2), 362–371. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.12.2.362
Waters, G. S. & Caplan, D. (2001). Age, working memory, and on-line syntactic processing in sentence comprehension. Psychology and Aging, 16, 128-144.
Keywords:
ERP,
Aging,
semantic,
syntatic,
sentence processing
Conference:
Academy of Aphasia -- 52nd Annual Meeting, Miami, FL, United States, 5 Oct - 7 Oct, 2014.
Presentation Type:
Platform or poster presentation
Topic:
Not student
Citation:
Sung
J,
Chung
T,
Cheon
J,
Jeong
K and
Sim
H
(2014). Age-related changes in ERP components of semantic and syntactic processing in a verb final language.
Front. Psychol.
Conference Abstract:
Academy of Aphasia -- 52nd Annual Meeting.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fpsyg.2014.64.00090
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Received:
30 Apr 2014;
Published Online:
04 Aug 2014.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Jee Eun Sung, Ewha Womans University, Department of Communication Disorders, Seoul, Republic of Korea, jeesung@ewha.ac.kr