Presentation
Search Abstracts | Symposia | Slide Sessions | Poster Sessions | Lightning Talks
English proficiency modulates the agreement attraction effects on N400 and P600 in processing the subject-verb number agreement
Poster C33 in Poster Session C, Wednesday, October 25, 10:15 am - 12:00 pm CEST, Espace Vieux-Port
Hsin-Yi Shih1,2,3, Chia-Ying Lee1,2,4,5; 1Academia Sinica, Taiwan, 2Interdisciplinary Neuroscience, Taiwan International Graduate Program, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, 3National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan, 4National Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan, 5Research Center for Mind, Brain, and Learning, National ChengChi University, Taipei, Taiwan
Subject-verb number agreement has posed a persistent difficulty for Chinese learners of English, even for advanced learners. Agreement attraction occurs when reading comprehension is interfered with by a local noun embedded in a prepositional phrase (e.g., *The key to the cabinets are rusty.) while determining the subject noun. This interference leads to more errors and longer reaction times. The representation account suggests that the effect results from a false semantic representation of subject noun phrases. However, the cue-based memory retrieval account indicates that the reanalysis of a proper subject noun from candidates stored in memory is triggered upon encountering the verb. Event-related potentials (ERPs) have been used to capture dynamic stages of online reading comprehension. The N400 functions as a marker for the processing of semantic or morphosyntactic information, whereas the P600 serves as a measure for detecting syntactic anomalies or reflecting difficulties in syntactic integration. Tanner, Nicol, and Brehm (2014) investigated agreement attraction in native English speakers using ERP. Grammaticality and attraction were manipulated. Grammaticality refers to the agreement in number between subjects and verbs. Attraction refers to the number agreement between attractors and verbs. They reported the agreement attraction on P600 in reading ungrammatical sentences, which supports the cue-based memory retrieval account. Mandarin Chinese lacks number agreement at the morphosyntactic level. Chen and his colleagues (2007) used the same procedure to examine the agreement attraction in Chinese learners of English. They found the agreement attraction effects on both N400 and P600 in grammatical sentences. However, it is unknown if this effect is exhibited in ungrammatical sentences. This ERP study aims to investigate how proficiency affects agreement attraction in Chinese learners of English using the same experimental design of Chen et al. (2007). Fifty-nine Chinese learners of English aged 20-35 were recruited and divided into three groups based on their performance on English vocabulary and grammar assessments. Sentences were displayed with a 1-3 word phrase structure. Cluster-based permutation was conducted to evaluate the temporal and topographic distribution. Low-proficient English learners showed the grammaticality effect on prolonged N400. It suggests that low-proficient learners tend to process the grammaticality at the semantic level. Medium-level learners showed an interaction between grammaticality and attraction on N400 and the main effect of attraction on P600. These suggest that medium-level learners process the local dependency at the syntactic level and the agreement attraction at the semantic level. Interestingly, high-level learners exhibited the interaction between grammaticality and attraction on P600, suggesting that agreement attraction was managed at the syntactic level. To summarize, English proficiency modulated agreement attraction on N400 and P600, indicating that L2 learners with varying proficiency levels use distinct mechanisms for agreement computation. Lower-proficient learners rely on semantic features to continuously evaluate complex noun representations, which supports the representation account. In contrast, high-level learners with well-developed syntactic metalinguistic knowledge tend to process the agreement attraction at the syntactic level, which supports the cue-based memory retrieval account.
Topic Areas: Morphology, Speech Motor Control