Neurolinguistic Responses to Perception of Speech in Incongruent Picture Context

This study investigates N400, the event related potential (ERP) that reflects semantic processing in cortex. The stimuli were semantically congruent vs. incongruent audio-visual pairings of objects (i.e. words presented in familiar picture context). As predicted, the results showed in time extended significant peak-to-peak differences between congruent and incongruent picture-word pairings at the centroparietal and the parietal recording sites. The rationale for this study is our pioneer intent to verify use of ERPs in response to the current materials. After extension of this research, the data will be used in comparison to answer questions on appearance of the semantic component in young children. Based on earlier research, we expect that the N400 component in children will be greater in amplitude, delayed in latency and more widely distributed in scalp distribution.