TY - JOUR
T1 - Impulsivity and semantic/emotional processing
T2 - An examination of the N400 wave
AU - De Pascalis, Vilfredo
AU - Arwari, Brian
AU - D'Antuono, Laura
AU - Cacace, Immacolata
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by a biennal grant from the Faculty of Psychology-1, and AST, University of Rome “La Sapienza” to A.A. (Years: 2006-07 to A.A. prots. C26F06MW7H and C26F07472B).
PY - 2009/1
Y1 - 2009/1
N2 - Objective: The study investigated (a) to what extent semantic/emotional processing modulates the N400 wave of the event-related potentials (ERPs) during reading, (b) the influence of impulsivity trait on neurocognitive systems underlying semantic/emotional processing related to the generation of the N400 wave. Methods: A canonical semantic sentence processing paradigm, known to selectively elicit the N400 wave was used. The ERPs were elicited to emotionally valenced (neutral, positive and negative) sentence final words that were either semantically congruent or semantically incongruent with the previous sentence context. Results: Congruent negatively valenced words produced longer reaction times (RTs) than congruent positive and neutral words. Incongruent words elicited more pronounced N400 peak amplitudes than congruent ones, while, for the congruent trials, the N400 amplitude was greater for negative words as compared to positive and neutral words. High impulsive participants, compared to low impulsive ones, (a) made more errors and longer reaction times in identifying incongruent words, (b) displayed more pronounced N400 peak amplitudes over fronto-central midline scalp sites. Conclusions: This pattern of results indicated that the activity of fronto-central system may account for individual differences of impulsivity with high impulsive individuals showing more difficulty in integrating incongruent final words into a sentence context. Significance: Results open up new perspectives for future investigations on language disorders characterized by substantial impulsivity.
AB - Objective: The study investigated (a) to what extent semantic/emotional processing modulates the N400 wave of the event-related potentials (ERPs) during reading, (b) the influence of impulsivity trait on neurocognitive systems underlying semantic/emotional processing related to the generation of the N400 wave. Methods: A canonical semantic sentence processing paradigm, known to selectively elicit the N400 wave was used. The ERPs were elicited to emotionally valenced (neutral, positive and negative) sentence final words that were either semantically congruent or semantically incongruent with the previous sentence context. Results: Congruent negatively valenced words produced longer reaction times (RTs) than congruent positive and neutral words. Incongruent words elicited more pronounced N400 peak amplitudes than congruent ones, while, for the congruent trials, the N400 amplitude was greater for negative words as compared to positive and neutral words. High impulsive participants, compared to low impulsive ones, (a) made more errors and longer reaction times in identifying incongruent words, (b) displayed more pronounced N400 peak amplitudes over fronto-central midline scalp sites. Conclusions: This pattern of results indicated that the activity of fronto-central system may account for individual differences of impulsivity with high impulsive individuals showing more difficulty in integrating incongruent final words into a sentence context. Significance: Results open up new perspectives for future investigations on language disorders characterized by substantial impulsivity.
KW - Affective processes
KW - Event-related potentials
KW - Impulsivity
KW - Language
KW - N400 wave
KW - Semantic processes
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U2 - 10.1016/j.clinph.2008.10.008
DO - 10.1016/j.clinph.2008.10.008
M3 - Article
C2 - 19026592
AN - SCOPUS:58149151215
VL - 120
SP - 85
EP - 92
JO - Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology - Electromyography and Motor Control
JF - Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology - Electromyography and Motor Control
SN - 1388-2457
IS - 1
ER -