LINGUIST List 22.2716 Thu Jun 30 2011 Diss: Neuroling: Abada: 'Electrophysiological Investigations of Age...' Editor for this issue: Mfon Udoinyang <mfonlinguistlist.org> To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.cfm. Directory         1.     Shani Abada , Electrophysiological Investigations of Age Differences in Phrasal Interpretation: The time course of cross-modal interactions Message 1: Electrophysiological Investigations of Age Differences in Phrasal Interpretation: The time course of cross-modal interactions Date: 30-Jun-2011 From: Shani Abada <shani.abadamail.mcgill.ca> Subject: Electrophysiological Investigations of Age Differences in Phrasal Interpretation: The time course of cross-modal interactions E-mail this message to a friend Institution: McGill University Program: Department of Linguistics Dissertation Status: Completed Degree Date: 2010 Author: Shani H Abada Dissertation Title: Electrophysiological Investigations of Age Differences in Phrasal Interpretation: The time course of cross-modal interactions Dissertation URL: http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/-?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=9688 Linguistic Field(s): Neurolinguistics Subject Language(s): English (eng) Dissertation Director(s): Karsten Steinhauer Shari R. Baum Dissertation Abstract: The current research examines the neural correlates of younger and older adults' processing of prosodic cues as they relate to phrase groupings and the influence of visual context on prosodic perception. Studies investigating linguistic prosodic perception in older adults show that these individuals remain sensitive to prosody, but allude to subtle processing differences. The use of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) is a particularly useful means of investigating prosodic processing because ERPs permit an analysis of prosodic processing in real time. Here, ERPs were recorded from younger (ages 18 to 25 years; n = 20) and older (ages 65 to 80 years; n = 11) subjects were presented with phrases such as 'bag and bed and cup', with pauses inserted so as to create a phrasal grouping with an early boundary ('bag # and bed and cup') or a late boundary ('bag and bed # and cup'). Visual displays of the items were presented simultaneous with the onset of the auditory phrases. These pictures corresponded to the phrases (match), differed in the phrase grouping depicted (prosodic mismatch), differed by the center item (semantic mismatch), or differed in both phrase grouping and the second item (double mismatch). Participants were asked to determine whether the auditory and visual stimuli matched. We found that older and younger participants were able to successfully integrate auditory and visual prosodic and semantic information. Both age groups showed increased difficulty detecting prosodic mismatches, though this was particularly difficult for older adults. Prosodic and semantic mismatches were reflected in N400 and P600 electrophysiological responses, providing important insight into the interpretation of these components. Interestingly, many young adults and all older adults displayed a specific pattern of eye movement which also influenced neural responses. Together, the ERP, eye movement and behavioral findings suggest that older and younger adults display similar sensitivity to prosody in early processing stages but may differ in performance at later stages of integration. Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 30-Jun-2011       About LINGUIST    |   Contact Us       While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.