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Abstract:
Abstract: In filler-gap sentences, a phrase ("filler") is
separated by intervening words from a subsequent phrase ("gap")
with which it is integrated. The filler-gap interval provides a
useful model for the study of short-term retention processes during
sentence comprehension. Kluender and Kutas (1993) used
event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to show that a filler phrase
places a demand on short-term retention processes in the filler-gap
interval, but left the processing level at which this demand arises
unspecified. Here we use ERPs to address the issue of whether the
filler places a demand on the semantic component of short-term
retention processes in thefiller-gap interval. Sixteen college-age
right-handed women read filler-gap sentences, which began with a
filler phrase and, in the filler-gap interval, contained a subject
and object that were either semantically related or unrelated.
There was also a control condition in which the filler phrase was
absent (i.e., less memory demand). The main result was that during
the filler-gap interval, left hemisphere electrodes displayed a
larger slow-wave positivity for unrelated than related words. In
the control condition (non-filler gap sentence), manipulation of
semantic relatedness did not produce differences in ERP activity.
Our results suggest that a filler phrase places a demand on the
semantic component of verbal working memory during on-line sentence
comprehension
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