Event-related brain potentials reveal how multiple aspects of semantic processing unfold across parafoveal and foveal vision during sentence reading
Abstract
Recent event–related brain potential (ERP) experiments have demonstrated parafoveal N400 expectancy and congruity effects, showing that semantic information can be accessed from words in parafoveal vision (a conclusion also supported by some eye–tracking work). At the same time, it is unclear how higher–order integrative aspects of language comprehension unfold across the visual field during reading. In the current study, we recorded ERPs in a parafoveal flanker paradigm, while readers were instructed to read passively for comprehension or to judge the plausibility of sentences in which target words varied in their semantic expectancy and congruity. We directly replicated prior work showing graded N400 effects for parafoveal viewing, which are then not duplicated when the target words are processed foveally. Critically, although N400 effects were not modulated by task goals, a posteriorly distributed late positive component thought to reflect semantic integration processes was observed to semantic incongruities only in the plausibility judgment task. Furthermore, this effect was observed at a considerable delay, appearing only after words had moved into foveal vision. Our findings thus suggest that semantic access can be initiated in parafoveal vision, whereas central foveal vision may be necessary to enact higher–order (and task–dependent) integrative processing.
- Authors:
-
[1];
- Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States). Dept. of Psychology, Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program and Center on Aging
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Univ. of Illinois, Champaign, IL (United States). Dept. of Psychology, Neuroscience Program and Beckman Inst. for Advanced Science and Technology
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1559487
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-2019-7118J
Journal ID: ISSN 0048-5772; 676725
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000; NA0003525
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Psychophysiology
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 56; Journal Issue: 10; Journal ID: ISSN 0048-5772
- Publisher:
- Wiley
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES; ERPs; N400; parafoveal processing; reading; semantic memory
Citation Formats
Payne, Brennan R., Stites, Mallory Catherine, and Federmeier, Kara D. Event-related brain potentials reveal how multiple aspects of semantic processing unfold across parafoveal and foveal vision during sentence reading. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1111/psyp.13432.
Payne, Brennan R., Stites, Mallory Catherine, & Federmeier, Kara D. Event-related brain potentials reveal how multiple aspects of semantic processing unfold across parafoveal and foveal vision during sentence reading. United States. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.13432
Payne, Brennan R., Stites, Mallory Catherine, and Federmeier, Kara D. Fri .
"Event-related brain potentials reveal how multiple aspects of semantic processing unfold across parafoveal and foveal vision during sentence reading". United States. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.13432. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1559487.
@article{osti_1559487,
title = {Event-related brain potentials reveal how multiple aspects of semantic processing unfold across parafoveal and foveal vision during sentence reading},
author = {Payne, Brennan R. and Stites, Mallory Catherine and Federmeier, Kara D.},
abstractNote = {Recent event–related brain potential (ERP) experiments have demonstrated parafoveal N400 expectancy and congruity effects, showing that semantic information can be accessed from words in parafoveal vision (a conclusion also supported by some eye–tracking work). At the same time, it is unclear how higher–order integrative aspects of language comprehension unfold across the visual field during reading. In the current study, we recorded ERPs in a parafoveal flanker paradigm, while readers were instructed to read passively for comprehension or to judge the plausibility of sentences in which target words varied in their semantic expectancy and congruity. We directly replicated prior work showing graded N400 effects for parafoveal viewing, which are then not duplicated when the target words are processed foveally. Critically, although N400 effects were not modulated by task goals, a posteriorly distributed late positive component thought to reflect semantic integration processes was observed to semantic incongruities only in the plausibility judgment task. Furthermore, this effect was observed at a considerable delay, appearing only after words had moved into foveal vision. Our findings thus suggest that semantic access can be initiated in parafoveal vision, whereas central foveal vision may be necessary to enact higher–order (and task–dependent) integrative processing.},
doi = {10.1111/psyp.13432},
journal = {Psychophysiology},
number = 10,
volume = 56,
place = {United States},
year = {2019},
month = {7}
}
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
Other availability
Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Cited by: 3 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science
Web of Science
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.
Works referenced in this record:
Contextual constraints on lexico-semantic processing in aging: Evidence from single-word event-related brain potentials
journal, May 2018
- Payne, Brennan R.; Federmeier, Kara D.
- Brain Research, Vol. 1687
Measurement of ERP latency differences: A comparison of single-participant and jackknife-based scoring methods
journal, March 2008
- Kiesel, Andrea; Miller, Jeff; Jolicœur, Pierre
- Psychophysiology, Vol. 45, Issue 2
Getting ahead of yourself: Parafoveal word expectancy modulates the N400 during sentence reading
journal, January 2017
- Stites, Mallory C.; Payne, Brennan R.; Federmeier, Kara D.
- Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, Vol. 17, Issue 3
Neural Correlates of Word Recognition: A Systematic Comparison of Natural Reading and Rapid Serial Visual Presentation
journal, September 2016
- Kornrumpf, Benthe; Niefind, Florian; Sommer, Werner
- Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Vol. 28, Issue 9
Eye-Fixation-Related Potentials: Insight into Parafoveal Processing
journal, January 2005
- Baccino, Thierry; Manunta, Yves
- Journal of Psychophysiology, Vol. 19, Issue 3
An electrophysiological analysis of contextual and temporal constraints on parafoveal word processing: Parafoveal word processing
journal, November 2012
- Barber, Horacio A.; van der Meij, Maartje; Kutas, Marta
- Psychophysiology, Vol. 50, Issue 1
Getting real about Semantic Illusions: Rethinking the functional role of the P600 in language comprehension
journal, March 2012
- Brouwer, Harm; Fitz, Hartmut; Hoeks, John
- Brain Research, Vol. 1446
Against parafoveal semantic preprocessing during eye fixations in reading.
journal, January 1986
- Rayner, Keith; Balota, David A.; Pollatsek, Alexander
- Canadian Journal of Psychology/Revue canadienne de psychologie, Vol. 40, Issue 4
ERPs reveal individual differences in morphosyntactic processing
journal, April 2014
- Tanner, Darren; Van Hell, Janet G.
- Neuropsychologia, Vol. 56
Parafoveal perception during sentence reading? An ERP paradigm using rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) with flankers: ERPs and parafoveal perception in reading
journal, August 2010
- Barber, Horacio A.; Ben-Zvi, Shir; Bentin, Shlomo
- Psychophysiology, Vol. 48, Issue 4
Goals and strategies influence lexical prediction during sentence comprehension
journal, April 2017
- Brothers, Trevor; Swaab, Tamara Y.; Traxler, Matthew J.
- Journal of Memory and Language, Vol. 93
On the Proper Treatment of the N400 and P600 in Language Comprehension
journal, August 2017
- Brouwer, Harm; Crocker, Matthew W.
- Frontiers in Psychology, Vol. 8
Parafoveal N400 effect during sentence reading
journal, July 2010
- Barber, Horacio A.; Doñamayor, Nuria; Kutas, Marta
- Neuroscience Letters, Vol. 479, Issue 2
Spoken Sentence Processing in Young and Older Adults Modulated by Task Demands: Evidence From Self-Paced Listening
journal, January 2006
- Fallon, M.; Peelle, J. E.; Wingfield, A.
- The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, Vol. 61, Issue 1
The 35th Sir Frederick Bartlett Lecture: Eye movements and attention in reading, scene perception, and visual search
journal, August 2009
- Rayner, Keith
- Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, Vol. 62, Issue 8
Lexical versus conceptual anticipation during sentence processing: Frontal positivity and N400 ERP components
journal, March 2012
- Thornhill, Dianne E.; Van Petten, Cyma
- International Journal of Psychophysiology, Vol. 83, Issue 3
The effect of contextual constraint on parafoveal processing in reading
journal, August 2015
- Schotter, Elizabeth R.; Lee, Michelle; Reiderman, Michael
- Journal of Memory and Language, Vol. 83
N400 predicts recovery from disorders of consciousness: Predicting Recovery with ERPs
journal, February 2013
- Steppacher, Inga; Eickhoff, Simon; Jordanov, Todor
- Annals of Neurology, Vol. 73, Issue 5
Examining the evidence for an independent semantic analyzer: An ERP study in Spanish
journal, February 2012
- Stroud, Clare; Phillips, Colin
- Brain and Language, Vol. 120, Issue 2
MRC psycholinguistic database: Machine-usable dictionary, version 2.00
journal, January 1988
- Wilson, Michael
- Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, Vol. 20, Issue 1
Balancing Type I error and power in linear mixed models
journal, June 2017
- Matuschek, Hannes; Kliegl, Reinhold; Vasishth, Shravan
- Journal of Memory and Language, Vol. 94
Word recognition and syntactic attachment in reading: Evidence for a staged architecture.
journal, January 2011
- Staub, Adrian
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Vol. 140, Issue 3
Integration of Sentence-Level Semantic Information in Parafovea: Evidence from the RSVP-Flanker Paradigm
journal, September 2015
- Zhang, Wenjia; Li, Nan; Wang, Xiaoyue
- PLOS ONE, Vol. 10, Issue 9
Expect the Unexpected: Event-related Brain Response to Morphosyntactic Violations
journal, January 1998
- Coulson, Seana; King, Jonathan W.; Kutas, Marta
- Language and Cognitive Processes, Vol. 13, Issue 1
Out of the corner of my eye: Foveal semantic load modulates parafoveal processing in reading.
journal, November 2016
- Payne, Brennan R.; Stites, Mallory C.; Federmeier, Kara D.
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, Vol. 42, Issue 11
Electrophysiological evidence for a postperceptual locus of suppression during the attentional blink.
journal, January 1998
- Vogel, Edward K.; Luck, Steven J.; Shapiro, Kimron L.
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, Vol. 24, Issue 6
Parallel semantic processing in reading revisited: effects of translation equivalents in bilingual readers
journal, October 2017
- Snell, Joshua; Declerck, Mathieu; Grainger, Jonathan
- Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, Vol. 33, Issue 5
Multiple effects of sentential constraint on word processing
journal, May 2007
- Federmeier, Kara D.; Wlotko, Edward W.; De Ochoa-Dewald, Esmeralda
- Brain Research, Vol. 1146
Event-Related Brain Potentials Elicited by Failure to Agree
journal, December 1995
- Osterhout, Lee; Mobley, Linda A.
- Journal of Memory and Language, Vol. 34, Issue 6
Parafoveal processing of transposed-letter words and nonwords: Evidence against parafoveal lexical activation.
journal, January 2012
- Johnson, Rebecca L.; Dunne, Maxine D.
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, Vol. 38, Issue 1
Coregistration of eye movements and EEG in natural reading: Analyses and review.
journal, January 2011
- Dimigen, Olaf; Sommer, Werner; Hohlfeld, Annette
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Vol. 140, Issue 4
Overlapping dual ERP responses to low cloze probability sentence continuations: Dual ERPs to low probability sentence continuations
journal, April 2011
- Delong, Katherine A.; Urbach, Thomas P.; Groppe, David M.
- Psychophysiology, Vol. 48, Issue 9
Parafoveal-on-foveal effects in normal reading
journal, January 2005
- Kennedy, Alan; Pynte, Joël
- Vision Research, Vol. 45, Issue 2
Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing: Keep it maximal
journal, April 2013
- Barr, Dale J.; Levy, Roger; Scheepers, Christoph
- Journal of Memory and Language, Vol. 68, Issue 3
Dissociating parafoveal preview benefit and parafovea-on-fovea effects during reading: A combined eye tracking and EEG study: Preview benefit and POF effects in ERPs/FRPs
journal, September 2016
- Niefind, Florian; Dimigen, Olaf
- Psychophysiology, Vol. 53, Issue 12
Using the jackknife-based scoring method for measuring LRP onset effects in factorial designs
journal, September 2001
- Ulrich, Rolf; Miller, Jeff
- Psychophysiology, Vol. 38, Issue 5
Evidence for simultaneous syntactic processing of multiple words during reading
journal, March 2017
- Snell, Joshua; Meeter, Martijn; Grainger, Jonathan
- PLOS ONE, Vol. 12, Issue 3
Is semantic preview benefit due to relatedness or plausibility?
journal, January 2016
- Veldre, Aaron; Andrews, Sally
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, Vol. 42, Issue 7
Readers of Chinese extract semantic information from parafoveal words
journal, June 2009
- Yan, Ming; Richter, Eike M.; Shu, Hua
- Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Vol. 16, Issue 3
Lack of semantic parafoveal preview benefit in reading revisited
journal, February 2014
- Rayner, Keith; Schotter, Elizabeth R.; Drieghe, Denis
- Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Vol. 21, Issue 4
Parafoveal letter-position coding in reading
journal, January 2018
- Snell, Joshua; Bertrand, Daisy; Grainger, Jonathan
- Memory & Cognition, Vol. 46, Issue 4
Serial deployment of attention during visual search.
journal, January 2003
- Woodman, Geoffrey F.; Luck, Steven J.
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, Vol. 29, Issue 1
Semantic and plausibility preview benefit effects in English: Evidence from eye movements.
journal, December 2016
- Schotter, Elizabeth R.; Jia, Annie
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, Vol. 42, Issue 12
Integration of Parafoveal Orthographic Information during Foveal Word Reading: beyond the sub-lexical level?
journal, October 2017
- Snell, Joshua; Vitu, Françoise; Grainger, Jonathan
- Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, Vol. 70, Issue 10
So that's what you meant! Event-related potentials reveal multiple aspects of context use during construction of message-level meaning
journal, August 2012
- Wlotko, Edward W.; Federmeier, Kara D.
- NeuroImage, Vol. 62, Issue 1
The Human Brain Processes Syntax in the Absence of Conscious Awareness
journal, May 2013
- Batterink, L.; Neville, H. J.
- Journal of Neuroscience, Vol. 33, Issue 19
Semantic parafoveal-on-foveal effects and preview benefits in reading: Evidence from Fixation Related Potentials
journal, November 2016
- López-Peréz, P. J.; Dampuré, J.; Hernández-Cabrera, J. A.
- Brain and Language, Vol. 162
Seeing words in context: the interaction of lexical and sentence level information during reading
journal, March 2004
- Hoeks, John C. J.; Stowe, Laurie A.; Doedens, Gina
- Cognitive Brain Research, Vol. 19, Issue 1
Individual Variation in the Late Positive Complex to Semantic Anomalies
journal, January 2012
- Kos, Miriam; van den Brink, Danielle; Hagoort, Peter
- Frontiers in Psychology, Vol. 3
Synchronizing timelines: Relations between fixation durations and N400 amplitudes during sentence reading
journal, June 2007
- Dambacher, Michael; Kliegl, Reinhold
- Brain Research, Vol. 1155
Age-related and individual differences in the use of prediction during language comprehension
journal, December 2010
- Federmeier, Kara D.; Kutas, Marta; Schul, Rina
- Brain and Language, Vol. 115, Issue 3
Pace Yourself: Intraindividual Variability in Context Use Revealed by Self-paced Event-related Brain Potentials
journal, May 2017
- Payne, Brennan R.; Federmeier, Kara D.
- Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Vol. 29, Issue 5
Semantic processing without conscious identification: Evidence from event-related potentials.
journal, January 2000
- Stenberg, Georg; Lindgren, Magnus; Johansson, Mikael
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, Vol. 26, Issue 4
Trans-saccadic parafoveal preview benefits in fluent reading: A study with fixation-related brain potentials
journal, August 2012
- Dimigen, Olaf; Kliegl, Reinhold; Sommer, Werner
- NeuroImage, Vol. 62, Issue 1
Trans-saccadic repetition priming: ERPs reveal on-line integration of information across words
journal, January 2016
- Grainger, Jonathan; Midgley, Katherine J.; Holcomb, Phillip J.
- Neuropsychologia, Vol. 80
The E-Z Reader model of eye-movement control in reading: Comparisons to other models
journal, August 2003
- Reichle, Erik D.; Rayner, Keith; Pollatsek, Alexander
- Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 26, Issue 4
Ocular artifacts in recording EEGs and event-related potentials II: Source dipoles and source components
journal, September 1993
- Lins, Otavio G.; Picton, Terence W.; Berg, Patrick
- Brain Topography, Vol. 6, Issue 1
Revisiting the incremental effects of context on word processing: Evidence from single-word event-related brain potentials: Effects of context on world-level N400
journal, August 2015
- Payne, Brennan R.; Lee, Chia-Lin; Federmeier, Kara D.
- Psychophysiology, Vol. 52, Issue 11
Parafoveal processing in reading
journal, October 2011
- Schotter, Elizabeth R.; Angele, Bernhard; Rayner, Keith
- Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, Vol. 74, Issue 1
An analysis of the saccadic system by means of double step stimuli
journal, January 1979
- Becker, W.; Jürgens, R.
- Vision Research, Vol. 19, Issue 9
Synonyms provide semantic preview benefit in English
journal, November 2013
- Schotter, Elizabeth R.
- Journal of Memory and Language, Vol. 69, Issue 4
The assessment and analysis of handedness: The Edinburgh inventory
journal, March 1971
- Oldfield, R. C.
- Neuropsychologia, Vol. 9, Issue 1
The P600-as-P3 hypothesis revisited: Single-trial analyses reveal that the late EEG positivity following linguistically deviant material is reaction time aligned
journal, October 2014
- Sassenhagen, Jona; Schlesewsky, Matthias; Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, Ina
- Brain and Language, Vol. 137
Parafoveal versus foveal N400s dissociate spreading activation from contextual fit
journal, January 2009
- Kretzschmar, Franziska; Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, Ina; Schlesewsky, Matthias
- NeuroReport, Vol. 20, Issue 18
The P3b and P600(s): Positive contributions to language comprehension
journal, February 2019
- Leckey, Michelle; Federmeier, Kara D.
- Psychophysiology
On the role of language membership information during word recognition in bilinguals: Evidence from flanker-language congruency effects
journal, September 2017
- Declerck, Mathieu; Snell, Joshua; Grainger, Jonathan
- Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Vol. 25, Issue 2
Structure and limited capacity in verbal working memory: A study with event-related potentials
journal, April 2003
- Kolk, Herman H. J.; Chwilla, Dorothee J.; van Herten, Marieke
- Brain and Language, Vol. 85, Issue 1
Parafoveal lexical activation depends on skilled reading proficiency.
journal, January 2015
- Veldre, Aaron; Andrews, Sally
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, Vol. 41, Issue 2
Predictability, plausibility, and two late ERP positivities during written sentence comprehension
journal, August 2014
- DeLong, Katherine A.; Quante, Laura; Kutas, Marta
- Neuropsychologia, Vol. 61
The Difference Between “Significant” and “Not Significant” is not Itself Statistically Significant
journal, November 2006
- Gelman, Andrew; Stern, Hal
- The American Statistician, Vol. 60, Issue 4
The span of the effective stimulus during a fixation in reading
journal, November 1975
- McConkie, George W.; Rayner, Keith
- Perception & Psychophysics, Vol. 17, Issue 6
Prediction during language comprehension: Benefits, costs, and ERP components
journal, February 2012
- Van Petten, Cyma; Luka, Barbara J.
- International Journal of Psychophysiology, Vol. 83, Issue 2
Semantic preview benefit in eye movements during reading: A parafoveal fast-priming study.
journal, January 2010
- Hohenstein, Sven; Laubrock, Jochen; Kliegl, Reinhold
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, Vol. 36, Issue 5
Differential Task Effects on N400 and P600 Elicited by Semantic and Syntactic Violations
journal, March 2014
- Schacht, Annekathrin; Sommer, Werner; Shmuilovich, Olga
- PLoS ONE, Vol. 9, Issue 3
Electrophysiological distinctions in processing conceptual relationships within simple sentences
journal, June 2003
- Kuperberg, Gina R.; Sitnikova, Tatiana; Caplan, David
- Cognitive Brain Research, Vol. 17, Issue 1
A Neurocomputational Model of the N400 and the P600 in Language Processing
journal, December 2016
- Brouwer, Harm; Crocker, Matthew W.; Venhuizen, Noortje J.
- Cognitive Science, Vol. 41
The Importance of Reading Naturally: Evidence From Combined Recordings of Eye Movements and Electric Brain Potentials
journal, June 2016
- Metzner, Paul; von der Malsburg, Titus; Vasishth, Shravan
- Cognitive Science, Vol. 41
Differential task effects on semantic and syntactic processes as revealed by ERPs
journal, May 2002
- Hahne, Anja; Friederici, Angela D.
- Cognitive Brain Research, Vol. 13, Issue 3
A lexical basis for N400 context effects: Evidence from MEG
journal, December 2009
- Lau, Ellen; Almeida, Diogo; Hines, Paul C.
- Brain and Language, Vol. 111, Issue 3
The N400 as a function of the level of processing
journal, May 1995
- Chwilla, Dorothee J.; Brown, Colin M.; Hagoort, Peter
- Psychophysiology, Vol. 32, Issue 3
When syntax meets semantics
journal, November 1997
- Gunter, Thomas C.; Stowe, Laurie A.; Mulder, Gusbertus
- Psychophysiology, Vol. 34, Issue 6
Latency of sequential eye movements: Implications for reading.
journal, January 1983
- Rayner, Keith; Slowiaczek, Maria L.; Clifton, Charles
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, Vol. 9, Issue 6
Eye movements in reading and information processing: Keith Rayner’s 40 year legacy
journal, January 2016
- Clifton, Charles; Ferreira, Fernanda; Henderson, John M.
- Journal of Memory and Language, Vol. 86
Parafoveal processing in reading Chinese sentences: Evidence from event-related brain potentials: EEG correlates of parafoveal processing in Chinese
journal, August 2015
- Li, Nan; Niefind, Florian; Wang, Suiping
- Psychophysiology, Vol. 52, Issue 10
Thirty Years and Counting: Finding Meaning in the N400 Component of the Event-Related Brain Potential (ERP)
journal, January 2011
- Kutas, Marta; Federmeier, Kara D.
- Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 62, Issue 1