Modeling of pragmatic inference in real time by EEG experiment.

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K13222
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Linguistics
• Research Institution: Mejiro University
• Principal Investigator: TOKIMOTO Shingo 目白大学, 外国語学部, 教授 (00291849)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 宮岡 弥生 広島経済大学, 経済学部, 教授 (10351975) ; 玉岡 賀津雄 名古屋大学, 人文学研究科, 教授 (70227263) ; 滝浦 真人 放送大学, 教養学部, 教授 (90248998)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): KIYAMA Sachiko 東北大学, 文学研究科, 准教授 (10612509) ; TOKIMOTO Naoko 尚美学園大学, 総合政策学部, 講師 (10435662)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 語用論的推論 / 脳波 / 発生源推定 / 会話的含意 / 事象関連電位

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study examined the neural basis of pragmatic inference by EEG experiments. We manipulated context to control the type of inference, namely, deduction and abduction. In the experiment in which discourses were visually presented to Japanese native speakers, we observed negative event-related potentials (ERPs) around the latency of 500 ms for understanding implicit meaning. The amplitude of ERP for the latter was greater than the former. The generators for the ERPs were localized in the frontal and occipital regions of medial part. This suggests that the pragmatic inference was performed simultaneously in multiple regions in the brain.

Free Research Field

神経言語学