Behavioral and Electrophysiological Correlates of Semantic Processing in Kannada

Abstract

Semantics is one of the fundamentals of language components, encoding of which helps in understanding the meaning of the spoken or written language. The processing pattern of semantics has been studied extensively in different languages using either the conventional psycholinguistic experiments or advanced neuroimaging techniques. Previous studies have documented the behavioral and electrophysiological correlates of semantic processing in different languages. However, the correlation between these measures has not been well established. The current study aimed to examine semantic processing in Kannada and also to study the association between behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) measures derived on semantic processing. Young adult native speakers of Kannada performed a sentence judgment task during which behavioral measures and ERP components were recorded. The behavioral measures included reaction time (RT) and accuracy; ERP components considered were N400 latency and amplitude. The results did not show significant correlation between the behavioral and N400 measures although a distinct neural pattern for semantic processing in Kannada was evident. This variance in the findings is discussed with regard to the characteristics of language structure and ERP components.

Keywords: Semantic, Reaction time, N400, Kannada, ERP components, electrophysiological, linguistic stimuli

Cite this Article

Niharika M. K., Prema K. S. Rao. Behavioral and Electrophysiological Correlates of Semantic Processing in Kannada. Research and Reviews: Journal of Neuroscience. 2019; 9(2): 1–9p.