Hemispheric contributions in lexical-semantic processing: an ERP study

Research Project

Project/Area Number	26870474
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Basic / Social brain science Linguistics
Research Institution	Keio University (2016) Tokyo Metropolitan University (2014-2015)
Principal Investigator	HATA Masahiro 慶應義塾大学, 先導研究センター(日吉), 特任助教 (50706439)
Project Period (FY)	2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2016)
Budget Amount *help	¥3,380,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥780,000) Fiscal Year 2015: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000) Fiscal Year 2014: ¥2,730,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥630,000)
Keywords	カテゴリー / 言語 / 事象関連電位 / N400 / プライミング / 意味
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Although clinical and experimental studies have reported left-hemispheric dominance in language processing, right-hemispheric function is also suggested in language comprehension; however, its exact contribution remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the contribution of both hemispheres in processing words referring to animal and artefactual categories through electroencephalography and a visual half-field paradigm. In an early time widow, an amplitude difference between high and low similarities in semantic features was observed only in the categories with animals present in the Left Visual Field/Right Hemisphere condition. The following time windows did not have any visual filed effect. These results suggest that the right hemisphere contributes to early processing of semantic features through category-dependent processing. This finding is important for understanding the contribution of each hemisphere in semantic processing and therefore language development in children.