Who are You Talking About? Tracking Discourse-level Referential Processing with Event-related Brain Potentials
Who are You Talking About? Tracking Discourse-level Referential Processing with Event-related Brain Potentials
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DOI：
10.1162/jocn.2007.19.2.228
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发表时间：
2007-02
影响因子：
3.2
通讯作者：
M. Nieuwland;M. Otten;J. V. Berkum
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
M. Nieuwland;M. Otten;J. V. Berkum
在这项事件相关脑电位（ERPs）研究中，我们探讨了在口语话语理解过程中选择性跟踪指称歧义的可能性。早期的ERP研究表明，指代性模糊的名词（例如，两个女孩情境中的女孩）相对于明确的对照词会引起正面的、持续的负向转移。在本研究中，我们考察了这种ERP效应是反映了深层情境模型歧义还是表层文本库歧义。我们通过研究防止指称歧义的语篇层面语义操作是否也避免了指称诱发的ERP效应的引发，对比了这些不同的解释。我们比较了由指代性非模棱两可但与两个话语实体相关的名词（例如，在上下文中介绍的女孩和两个女孩，但其中一个已经死亡或离开了现场）、指代性模糊和非模棱两可的控制词引发的erp。虽然与对照词相比，时间上指代性模糊的名词引起了正面负移，但指代性非模糊的双界名词没有引起正面负移。这些结果表明，在与话语理解最相关的层面（情境模型）上，有选择地使用erp跟踪指称歧义是可能的。
In this event-related brain potentials (ERPs) study, we explored the possibility to selectively track referential ambiguity during spoken discourse comprehension. Earlier ERP research has shown that referentially ambiguous nouns (e.g., the girl in a two-girl context) elicit a frontal, sustained negative shift relative to unambiguous control words. In the current study, we examined whether this ERP effect reflects deep situation model ambiguity or superficial textbase ambiguity. We contrasted these different interpretations by investigating whether a discourse-level semantic manipulation that prevents referential ambiguity also averts the elicitation of a referentially induced ERP effect. We compared ERPs elicited by nouns that were referentially nonambiguous but were associated with two discourse entities (e.g., the girl with two girls introduced in the context, but one of which has died or left the scene), with referentially ambiguous and nonambiguous control words. Although temporally referentially ambiguous nouns elicited a frontal negative shift compared to control words, the double bound but referentially nonambiguous nouns did not. These results suggest that it is possible to selectively track referential ambiguity with ERPs at the level that is most relevant to discourse comprehension, the situation model.