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Abstract:
Evidence from studies of children with language impairment
(Neville, et al., 1993), deaf individuals (Neville, et al., 1992),
and bilingual speakers (Weber-Fox & Neville, 1996) suggest
that event-related brain potentials (ERPs) are sensitive to
linguistic proficiency. These previous findings were based on
comparing groups of individuals with marked differences in their
linguistic abilities and/or language experiences. The aim of the
present study was to determine whether ERPs are sensitive to more
subtle differences in linguistic proficiency, as in the range of
performances observed in normal speakers who have had similar
language experiences during development. Thirty young adults (15
female) were tested on 4 subtests of the $E3Test of Adolescent and
Adult Language$E4 (TOAL-3). $E3High$E4 and $E3low$E4
proficiency groups were formed based on the median splits of
subtest scores. The ERPs of the two proficiency groups were
compared for responses elicited by closed- and open-class words and
semantic anomalies. Results indicated that ERPs are
sensitive to specific aspects of linguistic proficiency within
normal ranges. $E3High$E4 proficiency in spoken grammatical
abilities was reflected in shorter N280 latencies over anterior
regions of the left hemisphere. $E3Low$E4 proficiency in
spoken grammatical abilities was reflected in larger amplitude
N400s. These data suggest that specialized subsystems for syntactic
processing may be slightly faster in more proficient speakers,
whereas, individuals who are less proficient may rely to a greater
extent on contextual cues for sentence processing
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