Syntactic working memory and the establishment of filler-gap dependencies: insights from ERPs and fMRI

In this contribution, we review an ERP experiment and an fMRI experiment which investigated the processing of German wh-questions. On the basis of the ERP results, we will discuss current models of sentence processing and resource distribution during sentence comprehension. We argue that there exist...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of psycholinguistic research 2001-05, Vol.30 (3), p.321-338
Main Authors: Fiebach, C J, Schlesewsky, M, Friederici, A D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brain - anatomy & histology
Evoked Potentials - physiology
Experiments
Humans
Language Processing
Linguistics
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Medical imaging
Memory
Memory - physiology
Neuroimaging
Psycholinguistics
Sentence Structure
Word Order
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In this contribution, we review an ERP experiment and an fMRI experiment which investigated the processing of German wh-questions. On the basis of the ERP results, we will discuss current models of sentence processing and resource distribution during sentence comprehension. We argue that there exists a separate cognitive or neural resource that supports syntactic working memory processes necessary for the temporary maintenance of syntactic information for the parser. In the context of wh-movement, such a memory component is necessary for establishing filler-gap dependencies. The data obtained from the fMRI experiment will be used to discuss the results of previous neuroimaging studies of sentence processing. It is claimed that syntactic working memory, rather than syntactic processing per se, is supported by Broca's Area.
ISSN:0090-6905
1573-6555
DOI:10.1023/a:1010447102554