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Abstract:
This study examined the timing and topography of brain
activity associated with the processing of function words.
Psycholinguistic evidence indicates that function words (e.g.,
the
,
is
) serve a structural role and content words (e.g.,
dog
,
run
) serve a referential role. These word classes also differ in
non-linguistic properties (e.g., frequency of occurrence,
duration). Some neurophysiological studies suggest that function
words are processed more anteriorly and laterally in the brain than
content words. However, it is not clear which properties led to
this finding. We hypothesized that the structural role of function
words is less likely to be engaged out of linguistic context.
Event-related potentials were recorded to "the" when presented both
in a story and in isolation, from 32 sites in adults. Scalp current
density analysis was used to compute topographic maps of the brain
activity. "The" was processed differently in natural discourse than
in isolation, as evidenced by differences as early as 165 ms. A
more anterior lateral focus, larger on the left, was found for
"the" in context compared to out of context. This study supports
claims of left anterior processing of function words.
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