The functional interpretation of two salient language-sensitive ERP components - the N400 and the P600 - remains a matter of debate. Prominent alternative accounts link the N400 to processes related to lexical retrieval, semantic integration, or both, while the P600 has been associated with syntactic reanalysis or, alternatively, to semantic integration. The often overlapping predictions of these competing accounts in extant experimental designs, however, has meant that previous findings have failed to clearly decide among them. Here, we present an experiment that directly tests the competing hypotheses using a design that clearly teases apart the retrieval versus integration view of the N400, while also dissociating a syntactic reanalysis/reprocessing account of the P600 from semantic integration. Our findings provide support for an integrated functional interpretation according to which the N400 reflects context-sensitive lexical retrieval - but not integration - processes. While the observed P600 effects were not predicted by any account, we argue that they can be reconciled with the integration view, if spatio-temporal overlap of ERP components is taken into consideration.

中文翻译：

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在语言理解过程中，与事件相关的电位索引词汇检索（N400）和集成（P600）。

N400和P600这两个对语言敏感的重要ERP组件的功能解释仍是一个争论的问题。突出的备选帐户将N400链接到与词汇检索，语义集成或两者相关的过程，而P600已与语法重新分析或语义集成相关联。但是，在现有的实验设计中，这些竞争性账户的预测常常是重叠的，这意味着先前的发现未能在其中做出明确的决定。在这里，我们提出了一个实验，该实验使用一种设计来直接测试竞争假设，该设计可以清晰地区分N400的检索与集成视图，同时还可以将P600的句法重新分析/重新处理帐户与语义集成相分离。我们的发现为集成功能解释提供了支持，根据该功能解释，N400反映了上下文相关的词法检索（而不是集成）过程。尽管观察到的P600效果无法通过任何方式预测，但我们认为，如果考虑到ERP组件的时空重叠，则可以将其与集成视图相协调。