Presentation
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The role of Uniqueness and Relationality in basic semantic composition: Evidence from neural oscillations
Poster B4 in Poster Session B and Reception, Thursday, October 6, 6:30 - 8:30 pm EDT, Millennium Hall
Natalia Bekemeier1, Anne Klepp2, Mariya Kharaman3, Peter Indefrey1,4,5; 1Heinrich Heine University, 2FernUniversitaet in Hagen, 3University of Konstanz, 4Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 5Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour
The Theory of Concept Types (CT) and Determination (Löbner, 2011) distinguishes four CTs based on two inherent conceptual properties of noun concepts, viz. Uniqueness [U] and Relationality [R]: Sortal (a stone [-U][-R]), Individual (the sun [+U][-R]), Relational (his ear [-U][+R]), and Functional (his father [+U][+R]). Each of the CTs requires a certain inherent determiner type. The combination of a given concept with an incongruent determiner results in a shift of the real-world referent of a concept: a stone (Sortal [-U][-R]) – his stone (Relational [-U]→[+R]). The present study used electroencephalography to investigate oscillatory brain activity underlying semantic composition related to the processing of the conceptual features Uniqueness and Relationality. Two objectives were followed: (i) neuronal signatures of inherent Uniqueness and Relationality in congruent conditions, and (ii) the processing cost of shifted values of Uniqueness and Relationality in comparison to identical inherent values. We restricted our hypotheses to only alpha and theta frequency ranges that were reported in studies on argument-verb dependencies (Meyer et al., 2013) and on aspects of semantic relations (Maguire et al., 2010). We hypothesized that the variable inherent values of Uniqueness (definite vs. indefinite) or the shift of Uniqueness would be indexed by theta band power modulations. We expected the variable inherent values or the shift of Relationality to elicit modulation of theta and alpha band activity due to the presence or addition/deletion of a possessor argument. To test our hypotheses, we reanalyzed a subset of data collected by Bekemeier et al., 2019 pertaining to the congruent/incongruent CT conditions. The comparisons between inherent Uniqueness values revealed no significant differences, demonstrating similar semantic composition processes. The comparisons between inherent values of Relationality showed modulations in alpha and theta power ranges. Comparisons related to shifted Uniqueness in inherently relational concepts reached significance: the shifted negative Uniqueness (a mother (→[-U][+R]) vs. a brother ([-U][+R])) resulted in a stronger early suppression in alpha and theta frequency bands relative to the inherent negative Uniqueness. The shifted positive Uniqueness (the brother (→[+U][+R])) triggered a weaker alpha enhancement and a stronger theta suppression than the inherently positive Uniqueness (his mother ([+U][+R])) in a late time window. The only straightforward positive shift of Relationality (the sun ([+U][-R]) vs. his sun ([+U]→[+R])) elicited a weaker alpha desynchronization relative to the congruent condition. The results can be summarized in the following manner: (i) event-related alpha desynchronization was observed in an early latency (200-600 ms post stimulus/trigger) and was determined by the strength of semantic integration of the phrase constituents (articles over possessive pronouns); (ii) an initial alpha suppression was followed by alpha enhancement (duration of over 1000 ms) if the stimulus structure/complexity required high maintenance in the (verbal) working memory (inherent Relationality with congruent determination being the most demanding); (iii) “old” (articles) vs. “new” (possessive pronouns) information processing was indexed by the modulation of theta power, with the “old” information eliciting the strongest theta suppression. Our results show that even in basic semantic composition there are significant differences driven by inherent conceptual features as Uniqueness and Relationality.
Topic Areas: Meaning: Lexical Semantics, Meaning: Combinatorial Semantics