Dividing attention influences contextual facilitation and revision during language comprehension.

ABSTRACT: Although we often seem to successfully comprehend language in the face of distraction, few studies have examined the role of sustained attention in critical components of sentence processing, such as integrating information over a sentence and revising predictions when unexpected information is encountered. The current study investigated the impact of attention on sentence processing using a novel dual-task paradigm. Participants read weakly and strongly constraining sentences with expected or unexpected endings while also tracking the motion of dots in the background, and their EEG was recorded. Under full attention, the amplitude of the N400 component of the ERP, a measure of semantic access, was reduced (facilitated) in a graded fashion by contextual strength and fit. This context-based

SUBMITTER: Hubbard RJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8491584 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature