Work Description

Title: The Timing versus Resource Problem in Nonnative Sentence Processing: Evidence from a Time-Frequency Analysis of Anaphora Resolution in Successive wh-Movement in Native and Nonnative Speakers of French Open Access Deposited

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Attribute Value
Abstract
  • Nonnative processing has been argued to reflect either reduced processing capacity or delayed timing of structural analysis compared to the extraction of lexical/semantic information. The current study simultaneously investigates timing and resource allocation through a time-frequency analysis of the intrinsic neural activity during syntactic processing in native and English-speaking nonnative speakers of French. It involved structurally constrained anaphora resolution in bi-clausal wh-filler-gap dependencies such as Quelle décision à propos de lui est-ce que Paul a dit que Lydie avait rejetée sans hésitation? ‘Which decision about him did Paul say that Lydie rejected without hesitation?’. We tested the hypothesis that nonnative speakers may allocate greater resources than native speakers to the computation of syntactic representations based on the grammatical specifications encoded in lexical entries, though both native and nonnative processing involves the immediate application of structural constraints. This distinct resource allocation is likely to arise in response to higher activation thresholds for nonnative knowledge acquired after the first language grammar has been fully acquired. To examine this bias in nonnative neurocognitive processing, we manipulated the wh-filler to contain either a lexically specified noun complement such as à propos de lui ‘about him’ or a non-lexcially specified noun phrase modifier such as le concernant ‘concerning him’. We focused on processing at the intermediate gap site, that is, the point of information exchange between the matrix and the embedded clauses by adopting a measurement window corresponding to the bridge verb dit ‘said’ and subordinator que ‘that’ introducing the embedded clause. Our results showed that structural constraints on anaphora produced event-related spectral perturbations at 13-14Hz early into the presentation of the bridge verb across groups. An interaction of structural constraints on anaphora with group was found at 18-19Hz early into the presentation of the bridge verb. In this interaction, the nonnative-speaker activity at 18-19Hz echoed the concurrent general patterns at 13-14Hz, whereas the native-speaker activity revealed distinct power at 18-19Hz and at 13-14Hz. There was no evidence of delay of structural constraints on intermediate gaps with respect to lexical access to the bridge verb and subordinator. However, nonnative speakers’ allocation of power in cell assembly synchronizations of fillers and gaps at the intermediate gap site reflected the grammatical specifications lexically encoded in the fillers.
Methodology
  • EEG was recorded at a 1000Hz sampling rate via a 64-electrode EGI system (Electrical Geodesics Inc., Eugene, OR) referenced to Cz (vertex) during recording as displayed in Figure 1. The EEG signal was collected using a Net Amps 300 amplifier with a gain of 5000 and acquisition software Netstation (version 4.5.4). All preprocessing and data cleaning procedures were performed using the EEGLAB toolbox based on MATLAB version 9.5.0.94444. Data were filtered offline with a .05-100.5-Hertz band-pass filter (0.1Hz transition bandwidth, -6 dB attenuation at cutoff frequency, Hamming windowed, order 33000). Line noise was removed using the CleanLine plugin for EEGLAB.
Description
  • The data represent induced power at the bridge between a matrix clause and an embedded clause represented by the words dit 'said' and que 'that' in French linked to four conditions as in (1a - d). (1a) Quel reportage la concernant est-ce que Laetitia a dit que Jérémie avait regardé avec appréhension? (1b) Quel reportage à propos d’elle est-ce que Laetitia a dit que Jérémie avait regardé avec appréhension? (1c) Quel reportage la concernant est-ce que Jérémie a dit que Laetitia avait regardé avec appréhension? (1d) Quel reportage à propos d’elle est-ce que Jérémie a dit que Laetitia avait regardé avec appréhension? ‘Which report regarding/about her did Laetitia/Jérémie say that Jérémie/Laetitia had watched with apprehension?’ These four conditions manipulated the contains of interrogative expressions. (1a/condition A) involves a modifier with an early match antecedent. (1b/condition B) involves a complement with an early match antecedent. (1c/condition C) involves a modifier with a late match antecedent. (1d/condition D) involves a complement with an late match antecedent. Our the time-frequency analysis was performed with the FieldTrip toolbox as eight datasets for four conditions (1a - 1d) and two groups (NSs and NNSs). The time window of interest in each epoched trial included the two critical bridge words dit que ‘said that’, and so covered 1.85 seconds, plus a 700ms baseline. A 50ms interval was left between the baseline and the critical window to prevent spectral leakage in plotting and analyses. We convolved a family of Morlet wavelets of 7 cycles with the selected time window of each EEG trial, which yielded the time-frequency information of the induced neural activity. After the induced power was obtained for each condition of each subject, a log transformation was conducted across channels and frequencies for each subject to standardize the power unit as dB. The length of the wavelets was set as 3 standard deviations of the Gaussian kernel. At 1Hz, the wavelet duration was 2.228 seconds. The spectral bandwidth was 0.286Hz. At 60Hz, the wavelet duration was 0.037 seconds. The spectral bandwidth was 17.143Hz. This procedure only allowed us to analyze the data starting at 5Hz (wavelet duration = 0.446 seconds; spectral bandwidth = 1.429Hz).
Creator
Depositor
Contact information
Keyword
Citations to related material
Publisher
Resource type
Last modified
  • 09/29/2022
License
To Cite this Work:
Dekydtspotter, L. The Timing versus Resource Problem in Nonnative Sentence Processing: Evidence from a Time-Frequency Analysis of Anaphora Resolution in Successive wh-Movement in Native and Nonnative Speakers of French [Data set]. Indiana University - DataCORE.

Relationships

Download All Files

All files in this dataset must be individually downloaded. This zip download will include the dataset metadata export, only.
Files can be downloaded individually in the "Files" panel above.

Best for data sets < 3 GB. Downloads all files plus metadata into a zip file.