Neurocognitive correlates of category ambiguous verb processing: The single versus dual lexical entry hypotheses

Sladjana Lukic*, Aya Meltzer-Asscher, James Higgins, Todd B. Parrish, Cynthia K. Thompson

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Word-class ambiguous words engender greater processing time and fMRI (BOLD signal) activation than unambiguous ones. Theoretical accounts of this phenomenon suggest that words with multiple meanings (1) are associated with multiple lexical entries and thus require greater selection demands, or (2) undergo computationally expensive grammatical processes that convert words from one word-class to another. Using an fMRI grammaticality judgment task, we tested these accounts by examining word-class ambiguous polysemic (e.g., brush) and homonymic (e.g., bear) verbs, and unambiguous verbs (e.g., bake). Results showed that ambiguous verbs evoked longer response times and greater neural activation in the left inferior frontal and parietal gyri. However, homonymic verbs also showed increased left inferior frontal and temporal neural activations compared to polysemic verbs. This indicates that rather than having multiple lexical representations like homonyms, polysemic verbs may share a core representation with their noun counterparts.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)65-76
Number of pages12
JournalBrain and Language
Volume194
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2019

Funding

This work was supported by Graduate Research Ignition Grant from the School of Communication and Graduate Research Grant, Northwestern University (awarded to S. Lukic) and in part by the National Institutes of Health grants RO1-DC01948/P50DC012283 (awarded to C. K. Thompson). The authors are very grateful to Dr. Elena Barbieri, Dr. Yu Fen Chen and Azmi Banibaker for their assistance with fMRI data collection, Dr. Ajay Shashikumar Kurani for his help with the fMRI data analysis, and Dr. Masaya Yoshida for valuable discussions.

Keywords

  • Categorical ambiguity
  • Conversion/zero-morphology
  • Semantic control
  • Word-class
  • fMRI

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
  • Language and Linguistics
  • Linguistics and Language
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Speech and Hearing

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