A common N400 EEG component reflecting contextual integration irrespective of symbolic form.

Journal article

OBJECTIVE: Electroencephalographic (EEG) waves modulated by context have been identified about 400 ms after presentation of a new semantic stimulus, such as a word or a number, within a prior context. However, it is not known if any component of these waves arises from a common brain system activated by different symbolic forms. METHODS: Multichannel EEG recordings were performed in 10 healthy subjects during the presentation of lexical and numerical series with congruent and incongruent endings. EEG was analysed using a combination of independent component and cluster analysis. RESULTS: Contextual integration of semantic stimuli elicited a negative independent component at around 400 ms that shared the same pattern of spatio-temporal covariation across numerical series and sentences within single subjects. This independent component was bigger following incongruent endings. CONCLUSIONS: These data provide evidence that one element of the activity contributing to the N400 is common to different symbolic forms. SIGNIFICANCE: One component of the brain systems evaluating the semantic inter-relationship of new stimuli with prior context may be common to different symbolic forms.

Authors: Fogelson, N; Loukas, C; Brown, J; Brown, P

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology
• Volume: 115
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 1349-1358
• Publication date: 2004-06-01
• DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2004.01.010
• EISSN: 1872-8952
• ISSN: 1388-2457
• Language: English
• Keywords: Humans; Adult; Male; Evoked Potentials, Auditory; Female; Electroencephalography; Language; Brain; Semantics; Brain Mapping; Acoustic Stimulation; Cluster Analysis