Browse > Article
http://dx.doi.org/10.6115/khea.2011.49.2.037

A Study of Event-Related Brain Potentials in Children's Korean Sentence Comprehension  

Choi, In-Hwa (Graduate School of Social Welfare, Myongji University)
Yi, Soon-Hyung (Department of Child Development and Family Studies, Seoul National University)
Publication Information
Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association / v.49, no.2, 2011 , pp. 37-49 More about this Journal
Abstract
The present study investigated the semantic and syntactic processes in Korean children's sentence comprehension by measuring event-related brain potentials(ERPs). The subjects were 18 right-handed, healthy native Korean children(1st graders), who were free from any hearing problems. While the children listened to the auditory sentence stimuli, ERPs were recorded with the electrodes mounted in a 'Quik-Cap' on the subject's head. The ERP data were recorded and analyzed using the NeuroScan 4.3 and EEGLABv6.03b programs. For statistical analyses, descriptive statistics, three-way repeated measures ANOVA, and t-tests were performed using a SPSS 15.0 PC program. The results indicated that semantic violations elicited a negativity (N400) ranging from 300 to 500 msec. For syntactic violations, children displayed a positivity (P600) ranging from 900 to 1,100 msec. The discovery of N400 and P600 in semantic and syntactic processes respectively, confirmed the suggestion that Indo-European and Korean languages share a common mechanism for sentence comprehension.
Keywords
sentence comprehension; event-related brain potentials; semantic process; syntactic process;
Citations & Related Records
연도 인용수 순위
  • Reference
1 Kutas, M., & Hillyard, S. A.(1980). Event-related brain potentials to semantically inappropriate and surprisingly large words. Biological Psychology, 11, 99-116.   DOI   ScienceOn
2 Kutas, M., & Hillyard, S. A.(1983). Event-related brain potentials to grammatical errors and semantic anomalies. Memory and Cognition, 11(5), 539-550.   DOI   ScienceOn
3 Molfese, D. L., Freeman, R., & Palermo, D.(1975). The ontogeny of lateralization for speech and nonspeech stimuli. Brain and Language, 2, 356-368.   DOI
4 Obler, L. K., & Gjerlow, K.(1999). Language and the Brain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
5 Osterhout, L., & Holcomb, P.(1992). Event-related brain potentials elicited by syntactic anomaly. Journal of Memory and Language, 31, 785-806.   DOI   ScienceOn
6 Osterhout, L., & Holcomb, P.(1995). Event-related potential and language comprehension. In M. D. Rugg and M. G. H. Coles(Eds.), Electrophysiology of mind: Event-related brain potentials and cognition(pp.171-215). New York: Oxford University Press.
7 Osterhout, L., McLaughlin, J., & Bersick, M.(1997). Event-related brain potentials and human language. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 1, 203-209.   DOI   ScienceOn
8 Rice, M. L., Wexler, K., & Hershberger, S.(1999). Grammaticality judgments of an extended optional infinitive grammar: Evidence from English-speaking children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 42, 943-961.   DOI
9 Silva-Pereyra, J. F. S., Klarman, L., Lin, L. J., & Kuhl, P. K.(2005). Sentence processing in 30-month-old children: An event-related potential study. Neuro Report, 16(6), 645-648.
10 Adamson-Harris, A.(2000). Processing semantic and grammatical information in auditory sentences: Electrophysiological evidence from children and adults. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Oregon, Eugene, USA.
11 Atchley, R. A., Rice, M. L., Betz, S. K., Kwasny, K. M., Sereno, J. A., & Jongman, A.(2006). A comparison of semantic and syntactic event related potentials generated by children and adults. Brain and Language, 99, 236-246.   DOI   ScienceOn
12 Booth, J. R., MacWhinney, B., & Harasaki, Y.(2000). Developmental differences in visual and auditory processing of complex sentences. Child Development, 71(4), 981-1003.   DOI   ScienceOn
13 Coles, M. G. H., & Rugg, M. D.(1995). Event-related brain potentials: An introduction. In M. D. Rugg and M. G. H. Coles(Eds.), Electrophysiology of mind: Event-related brain potentials and cognition(pp.1-26). New York: Oxford University Press.
14 Hahne, A., & Jescheniak, J. D.(2001). What's left if the jabberwock gets the semantics? An ERP investigation into semantic and syntactic processes during auditory sentence comprehension. Cognitive and Brain Research, 11, 199-212.   DOI   ScienceOn
15 Dick, F., Wulfect, B., Krupa-Kwiatkowski, M., & Bates, E.(2004). The development of complex sentence interpretation in typically developing children compared with children with specific language impairments or early unilateral focal lesions. Developmental Science, 7(3), 360-377.   DOI   ScienceOn
16 Friederici, A. D., Hahne, A., & Mecklinger, A.(1996). Temporal structure of syntactic parsing: Early and late event-related brain potential effects elicited by syntactic anomalities. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 22, 1219-1248.   DOI   ScienceOn
17 Hahne, A., Eckstein, K., & Friederici, A. D.(2004). Brain signatures of syntactic and semantic processes during children's language development. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 16(7), 1302-1318.   DOI   ScienceOn
18 Holcomb, P. J., Coffey, S. A., & Neville, H. J.(1992). Visual and auditory sentence processing: A developmental analysis using event-related potentials. Developmental Neuropsychology, 8, 203-241.   DOI   ScienceOn
19 Juottonen, K., Revonsuo, A., & Lang, H.(1996). Dissimilar age influences on two ERP waveforms(LPC and N400) reflecting semantic context effect. Cognitive Brain Research, 10, 371-375.
20 Just, M. A., Carpenter, P. A., Keller, T. A., Eddy, W. F., & Thulborn, K. R.(1996). Brain activation modulated by sentence comprehension. Science, 274, 114-116.   DOI   ScienceOn
21 배소영(1997). 한국아동의 문법형태소 습득에 관한 연구: 조사 '가, 이, 는, 도, 를'. 말-언어장애연구, 2, 27-42.
22 하은진(1999). 사동문과 피동문의 이해 및 표현 발달에 관한 연구. 이화여자대학교 대학원 석사학위논문.
23 김충명(2002). 한국어 문장 이해과정에서의 통사 및 의미 처리특성 연구. 서울대학교 대학원 박사학위논문.
24 남지순(2007). 한국어 동사.형용사 활용 마법사. 서울: 도서출판 박이정.
25 서울장애인종합복지관(2004). 구문의미 이해력 검사. 서울: 서울장애인종합복지관
26 신경순(2003). A Study of semantic and syntactic violations in Korean language processing by high-resolution EEG. 서울대학교 대학원 석사학위논문.
27 이홍재(2001). 한글 문장 읽기에서 나타나는 ERP와 fMRI의 특징. 고려대학교 대학원 박사학위논문.
28 조명한(1982). 한국 아동의 언어획득 연구: 책략모형. 서울: 서울대학교 출판부.