2022 제9회 콜로키움-Neural Evidence for Syntactic Unification in L2 Online Sentence: A Time-Frequency Analysis
- 영어영문학과
- 조회수399
- 2023-02-16
※ 영어영문학과 제9회 콜로키움 안내
▶ 일시: 5/31(화) 10:30~12:00 (1시간 강연, 30분 질의응답)
▶ 온라인 WebEx 진행
- 미팅룸 번호: 2512 332 8994
- 패스워드: COLLO9
▶ 발표자: 송윤상 교수(홍콩대학교)
▶ 주제: Neural Evidence for Syntactic Unification in L2 Online Sentence: A Time-Frequency Analysis
▶ 개요: In this talk, I discuss the results of my recent neurolinguistic study that investigated whether semantics-independent syntactic unification occurs during online L2 sentence comprehension. The study used time-frequency analysis, where electroencephalogram (EEG) signals are decomposed into a set of independent neural oscillations for each frequency. Previous native language (L1) processing studies show that this analysis enables us to distinguish between syntactic and semantic unification of individual words in a sentence, as these operations are represented by functionally distinct neuronal networks that synchronize at different frequencies. Building on this previous result, the present study examined whether L2 learners exhibit a neural signature of syntactic unification, namely, a sustained neural oscillatory power increase in a low beta band, as native speakers do. I measured the EEG power change of native English speakers and Cantonese-speaking learners of English while they were reading (a) both syntactically and semantically well-formed sentences, (b) syntactically intact but semantically uninterpretable sentences (syntactic prose), and (c) random word lists. The results showed that low-beta power significantly increased in native speakers when reading not only well-formed sentences but also syntactic prose, but not when reading random word lists. Crucially, such a significant beta-power increase pattern was replicated by L2 learners, suggesting that syntactic unification occurs in L2 comprehension as reliably as in L1 comprehension. These results will be discussed in connection with current working hypotheses in second language acquisition and processing.