Dissociable effects of prediction and integration during language comprehension: Evidence from a large-scale study using brain potentials

Mante S. Nieuwland; Dale J. Barr; Federica Bartolozzi; Simon Busch‐Moreno; Emily Darley; David Ian Donaldson; Heather Jane Ferguson; Xiao Fu; Evelien Heyselaar; Falk Huettig; E. Matthew Husband; Aine Ito; Nina Kazanina; Vita V. Kogan; Zdenko Kohút; Eugenia Kulakova; Diane Caroline Mézière; Stephen Politzer‐Ahles; Guillaume A. Rousselet; Shirley‐Ann Rueschemeyer; Katrien Segaert; Jyrki Tuomainen; Sarah Von Grebmer Zu Wolfsthurn

doi:10.1098/rstb.2018.0522

NeurosciencePhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological SciencesDec 16, 2019

Peer-reviewed journal article

Dissociable effects of prediction and integration during language comprehension: Evidence from a large-scale study using brain potentials

Mante S. Nieuwland iD, Dale J. Barr iD, Federica Bartolozzi iD, Simon Busch‐Moreno iD, Emily Darley, David Ian Donaldson iD, Heather Jane Ferguson iD, Xiao Fu iD, Evelien Heyselaar iD, Falk Huettig iD, E. Matthew Husband iD, Aine Ito iD, Nina Kazanina iD, Vita V. Kogan iD, Zdenko Kohút, Eugenia Kulakova iD, Diane Caroline Mézière iD, Stephen Politzer‐Ahles iD, Guillaume A. Rousselet iD, Shirley‐Ann Rueschemeyer, Katrien Segaert iD, Jyrki Tuomainen iD, Sarah Von Grebmer Zu Wolfsthurn iD

Abstract

Composing sentence meaning is easier for predictable words than for unpredictable words. Are predictable words genuinely predicted, or simply more plausible and therefore easier to integrate with sentence context? We addressed this persistent and fundamental question using data from a recent, large-scale (N = 334) replication study, by investigating the effects of word predictability and sentence plausibility on the N400, the brains electrophysiological index of semantic processing. A spatiotemporally fine-grained mixed effects multiple regression analysis revealed overlapping effects of predictability and plausibility on the N400, albeit with distinct spatiotemporal profiles. Our results challenge the view that the predictability-dependent N400 reflects the effects of either prediction or integration, and suggest that semantic facilitation of predictable words arises from a cascade of processes that activate and integrate word meaning with context into a sentence-level meaning.

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