Multiple routes for compound word processing in the brain: Evidence from EEG

•MMN response dissociates lexical access and combinatorial processing of compounds.•Compound lexical frequency and meaning transparency affect the MMN.•Larger MMN for high vs. low-frequency opaque compounds.•No MMN frequency effects for transparent compounds or differences to pseudo-compounds.•Resul...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain and language 2013-08, Vol.126 (2), p.217-229
Main Authors: MacGregor, Lucy J., Shtyrov, Yury
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain - physiology
Compounds
Dual-route
Electroencephalography
Electrophysiology
ERPs
Evoked Potentials - physiology
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Language
Male
MMN
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Semantics
Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted
Speech
Speech Perception - physiology
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:•MMN response dissociates lexical access and combinatorial processing of compounds.•Compound lexical frequency and meaning transparency affect the MMN.•Larger MMN for high vs. low-frequency opaque compounds.•No MMN frequency effects for transparent compounds or differences to pseudo-compounds.•Results support a parallel dual-route account of compound word processing. Are compound words represented as unitary lexical units, or as individual constituents that are processed combinatorially? We investigated the neuro-cognitive processing of compounds using EEG and a passive-listening oddball design in which lexical access and combinatorial processing elicit dissociating Mismatch Negativity (MMN) brain-response patterns. MMN amplitude varied with compound frequency and semantic transparency (the clarity of the relationship between compound and constituent meanings). Opaque compounds elicited an enhanced ‘lexical’ MMN, reflecting stronger lexical representations, to high- vs. low-frequency compounds. Transparent compounds showed no frequency effect, nor differed to pseudo-compounds, reflecting the combination of a reduced ‘syntactic’ MMN indexing combinatorial links, and an enhanced ‘lexical’ MMN for real-word compounds compared to pseudo-compounds. We argue that transparent compounds are processed combinatorially alongside parallel lexical access of the whole-form representation, but whole-form access is the dominant mechanism for opaque compounds, particularly those of high-frequency. Results support a flexible dual-route account of compound processing.
ISSN:0093-934X
1090-2155
DOI:10.1016/j.bandl.2013.04.002