Wednesday, October 28, 2015
ERP correlates of letter-case in visual word recognition. B Leone-Fernandez, M Perea, M Vergara-Martínez
Visual word recognition is a key element of language comprehension. The vast majority of
current models assume that the recognition of a printed word is based on the activation of
abstract letter identity representations. The hierarchical neural accounts of letter/word
recognition of Dehaene, Cohen, Sigman, and Vinckier (2005) and Grainger, Rey, and Dufau
(2008) posit that, early in the process of lexical access, there are neuronal assemblies that
respond to the word's case-specific letters (eg, they respond to 'e'but not to 'E'). Later in ...
NetWordS 2015 Word Knowledge and Word Usage, 106
Saturday, January 8, 2011
DECEMBER, 29, 2010
A Recently Paper accepted in BRAIN AND LANGUAGE
Authors: Leone-Fernandez B., Molinaro, N., Carreiras, M., Barber, H.A.
Title: Objects, events and "to be" verbs in Spanish- an ERP study of the syntax-semantics interface
Abstract: In Spanish, objects and events at subject position constrain the selection of different forms of the auxiliary verb "to be": locative predicates about objects require "estar en", while those relating to events require "ser en", both translatable as "to be in". Subjective ratings showed that while the "object+ser+en" is considered as incorrect, the "event+estar+en" combination is also perceived as unacceptable but to a lesser degree. In an ERP study, we evaluated the impact of a purely semantic distinction (object versus events) on the subsequent processing of these auxiliary verbs followed by locatives in Spanish. For the "ser en" predicate, the P600 component was larger when the subject was an objec than when it was an event. This P600 effect is consistent with an online repair of the defining predicate when it does not fit with the adequate semantic properties of the subject. On the other hand, for the "estar en predicate, event subjects when compared to object subjects showed more positive ongoing amplitudes between 280 and 380 ms after the presentation of the "en" preposition, followed by a longer positive wave starting around 400 ms and lasting until 700 ms after the presentation of the following determiner, with central and frontal scalp distribution respectively. Thus, the different subject-predicate combinations, depending on the semantic feature of the subjects, triggered syntactic reparatory processes at a structural level. These findings are consistent with an incremental interpretation of the sentence meaning based on the interaction between syntactic and semantic information.
Authors: Leone-Fernandez B., Molinaro, N., Carreiras, M., Barber, H.A.
Title: Objects, events and "to be" verbs in Spanish- an ERP study of the syntax-semantics interface
Abstract: In Spanish, objects and events at subject position constrain the selection of different forms of the auxiliary verb "to be": locative predicates about objects require "estar en", while those relating to events require "ser en", both translatable as "to be in". Subjective ratings showed that while the "object+ser+en" is considered as incorrect, the "event+estar+en" combination is also perceived as unacceptable but to a lesser degree. In an ERP study, we evaluated the impact of a purely semantic distinction (object versus events) on the subsequent processing of these auxiliary verbs followed by locatives in Spanish. For the "ser en" predicate, the P600 component was larger when the subject was an objec than when it was an event. This P600 effect is consistent with an online repair of the defining predicate when it does not fit with the adequate semantic properties of the subject. On the other hand, for the "estar en predicate, event subjects when compared to object subjects showed more positive ongoing amplitudes between 280 and 380 ms after the presentation of the "en" preposition, followed by a longer positive wave starting around 400 ms and lasting until 700 ms after the presentation of the following determiner, with central and frontal scalp distribution respectively. Thus, the different subject-predicate combinations, depending on the semantic feature of the subjects, triggered syntactic reparatory processes at a structural level. These findings are consistent with an incremental interpretation of the sentence meaning based on the interaction between syntactic and semantic information.
Monday, May 17, 2010
MAY 10, 2010
Recently Paper accepted in EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
Authors: Candidi, M., Leone-Fernandez, B., Barber, H.A., Carreiras, M., Aglioti, S.M.
Title: Hands on the future: facilitation of cortico-spinal hand-representation when reading the future tense of hand-related action verbs
Abstract
Reading action-related verbs brings about sensorimotor neural activity suggesting that the linguistic representation of actions impinges upon neural structures largely overlapping with those involved in actual action execution. While studies of direct action observation indicate that motor mirroring is inherently anticipatory, no information is currently available on whether deriving action-related knowledge from language also takes into account the temporal deployment of actions. Using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), here we sought to determine whether reading action verbs conjugated in the future induce higher cortico-spinal activity with respect to when the same verbs were conjugated in the past tense. We recorded Motor Evoked Potentials (MEPs) from related hand and leg muscles of healthy subjects who were reading silently hand- or leg-related action, sensorial (non-somatic) and abstract verbs conjugated either in future or past tense. Amplitude of MEPs recorder from the hand was higher during reading hand-related action verbs conjugated in the future than in the past. No future-related modulation of leg muscles activity was found during reading leg-related action verbs. In a similar vein, no future-related change of hand or leg msucles reactivity was found for abstract or sensorial verbs. These results indicate that the anticipatory mirroring of hand actions may be triggered by lingustic representations and not only by direct action observation.
Authors: Candidi, M., Leone-Fernandez, B., Barber, H.A., Carreiras, M., Aglioti, S.M.
Title: Hands on the future: facilitation of cortico-spinal hand-representation when reading the future tense of hand-related action verbs
Abstract
Reading action-related verbs brings about sensorimotor neural activity suggesting that the linguistic representation of actions impinges upon neural structures largely overlapping with those involved in actual action execution. While studies of direct action observation indicate that motor mirroring is inherently anticipatory, no information is currently available on whether deriving action-related knowledge from language also takes into account the temporal deployment of actions. Using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), here we sought to determine whether reading action verbs conjugated in the future induce higher cortico-spinal activity with respect to when the same verbs were conjugated in the past tense. We recorded Motor Evoked Potentials (MEPs) from related hand and leg muscles of healthy subjects who were reading silently hand- or leg-related action, sensorial (non-somatic) and abstract verbs conjugated either in future or past tense. Amplitude of MEPs recorder from the hand was higher during reading hand-related action verbs conjugated in the future than in the past. No future-related modulation of leg muscles activity was found during reading leg-related action verbs. In a similar vein, no future-related change of hand or leg msucles reactivity was found for abstract or sensorial verbs. These results indicate that the anticipatory mirroring of hand actions may be triggered by lingustic representations and not only by direct action observation.
Full list of Publications
Leone-Fernandez, B., Carreiras, M., Hernández-Cabrera, J.A., Barber, H.A. Semantic distinctions made by Spanish speakers during sentence comprehension: an ERP study of syntax-semantics interaction. (in preparation)
Barber, H.A.,Molinaro, N., Leone-Fernandez, B., Carreiras, M. An ERP study on number interference during agreement processing. (in preparation)
Leone-Fernandez, B.,McLaughin, J., Carreiras, M., Barber, H.A., Osterhout, L. Being the source or the receiver: an ERPs study on thematic role assignment during discourse comprehension. (in preparation)
Leone-Fernandez, B., Molinaro, N., Carreiras, M., Barber, H.A. Objects, events and “to be” verbs in Spanish-an ERP study of the syntax-semantics interface. Brain Lang. 2011 Feb 5.
Candidi, M., Leone-Fernandez, B., Barber, H.A., Carreiras, M., Aglioti, S.M., Hands on the future: facilitation of cortico-spinal hand-representation when reading the future tense of hand-related action verbs. 2010 Aug;32(4):677-83 European Journal of Neuroscience
Barber, H.A.,Molinaro, N., Leone-Fernandez, B., Carreiras, M. An ERP study on number interference during agreement processing. (in preparation)
Leone-Fernandez, B.,McLaughin, J., Carreiras, M., Barber, H.A., Osterhout, L. Being the source or the receiver: an ERPs study on thematic role assignment during discourse comprehension. (in preparation)
Leone-Fernandez, B., Molinaro, N., Carreiras, M., Barber, H.A. Objects, events and “to be” verbs in Spanish-an ERP study of the syntax-semantics interface. Brain Lang. 2011 Feb 5.
Candidi, M., Leone-Fernandez, B., Barber, H.A., Carreiras, M., Aglioti, S.M., Hands on the future: facilitation of cortico-spinal hand-representation when reading the future tense of hand-related action verbs. 2010 Aug;32(4):677-83 European Journal of Neuroscience
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