ABSTRACT

Sentences with filler-gap dependency are more difficult to process than those without, as reflected by event-related brain potentials (ERPs) such as sustained left anterior negativity (SLAN). The cognitive processes underlying SLAN may support associating a filler with a temporally distant gap in syntactic representation. Alternatively, processing filler-gap dependencies in the absence of a supportive context involves additional discourse processing. The present study conducted an ERP experiment that manipulated syntactic complexity (subject–object–verb [SOV] and object–subject–verb [OSV]) and discourse (the supportive and non-supportive context) in Japanese. The result showed a SLAN in OSV relative to SOV in the non-supportive but not the supportive context, which suggests that the difficulty involved in processing OSV in Japanese is largely due to a pragmatic factor. The present study contributes to a better understanding of how the language-processing system builds long-distance dependency by interacting with the memory system.

摘要

具有填充间隙依赖性的句子比不具有填充间隙依赖性的句子更难处理，正如事件相关脑电位 (ERP) 所反映的那样，例如持续左前负性 (SLAN)。SLAN 基础的认知过程可能支持将填充词与句法表示中的时间间隔差距相关联。或者，在没有支持性上下文的情况下处理填充间隙依赖性涉及额外的话语处理。本研究进行了一项 ERP 实验，该实验操纵日语中的句法复杂性（主语-宾语-动词 [SOV] 和宾语-主语-动词 [OSV]）和话语（支持性和非支持性语境）。结果显示，在非支持而非支持环境中，OSV 中的 SLAN 相对于 SOV，这表明在日语中处理 OSV 所涉及的困难主要是由于务实因素。本研究有助于更好地理解语言处理系统如何通过与记忆系统交互来建立长距离依赖。