Morphological processing without semantics: An ERP study with spoken words. (July 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Beyersmann, Elisabeth; Bolger, Deirdre; Pattamadilok, Chotiga; New, Boris; Grainger, Jonathan; Ziegler, Johannes C.
• Is Part Of: Cortex. Volume 116(2019)
• Page Start: 55
• Page End: 73
• Publication Date: 2019-07
• Subjects: Morphological processing -- Spoken word recognition -- Auditory lexical decision -- Event-related potentials (ERPs); Neuropsychology -- Periodicals; Nervous system -- Periodicals; Neurology -- Periodicals; Psychophysiology -- Periodicals; Behavior -- Periodicals; Neurology -- Periodicals; 612.825
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2019.02.008
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0010-9452

Abstract

Abstract: The time-course of morphological processing during spoken word recognition was investigated using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) in an auditory lexical decision task. We compared three different types of French words: truly suffixed (e.g., pochette 'little pocket' = poche 'pocket' + diminutive suffix - ette ), pseudo-suffixed (e.g., mouette 'seagull' = mou 'soft' + pseudo-suffix - ette ) and non-suffixed target words (e.g., fortune 'fortune' = fort 'strong' + non-suffix - une ). Suffixed (e.g., mouesse = mou + suffix -esse ) and non-suffixed nonwords (e.g., mouipe = mou + non-suffix - ipe ) were also tested. The behavioural results showed that participants responded more slowly to non-suffixed words than to truly suffixed and pseudo-suffixed words, but there was no difference between the two suffixed conditions. Moreover, participants made more errors rejecting pseudo-suffixed nonwords than non-suffixed nonwords. In the ERP analyses, T0 was shifted to the end of the embedded stem or pseudo-stem. The ERP results revealed enhanced N400 amplitudes for non-suffixed words compared to truly suffixed and pseudo-suffixed words. Again, there was no difference between the truly and pseudo-suffixed conditions. In addition, we found an increased N400 amplitude for both pseudo-suffixed and non-suffixed nonwords than for words. The latency of the onset of this N400 effect varied between the three experimental conditions: the word-nonword difference occurred earliest in the truly suffixed condition, slightly later in the pseudo-suffixed condition and latest in the non-suffixed condition. Both behavioural and EEG data jointly suggest that spoken words with a genuine morphological structure and words with a pseudo-morphological structure are decomposed into morphemic sub-units. Moreover, the earlier appearance of the N400 effects in the truly suffixed condition indicates that morphological information is more readily available in words with a semantically transparent morphological structure.