Sentence context and lexical ambiguity resolution by the two hemispheres

Miriam Faust; Christine Chiarello

doi:10.1016/s0028-3932(98)00042-6

Sentence context and lexical ambiguity resolution by the two hemispheres

Miriam Faust
, Christine Chiarello

Department of Psychology

University of California at Riverside

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

139 Scopus citations

Abstract

A lexical decision experiment investigated hemisphere asymmetries in resolving lexical ambiguity within a sentence context. Sentences that biased a single meaning (either dominant or subordinate) of sentence-final ambiguous words were followed by a lateralized target related to the sentence-congruent or -incongruent meaning of the ambiguous word, or an unrelated word. In the RVF sentence-congruent targets were facilitated, while incongruent targets were not primed. In contrast, related targets were facilitated in the LVF, regardless of sentence context. This suggests that selecting the contextually appropriate word meaning requires the left hemisphere, and supports a right hemisphere role in maintaining alternate word senses.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	827-835
Number of pages	9
Journal	Neuropsychologia
Volume	36
Issue number	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/s0028-3932(98)00042-6
State	Published - 1 Sep 1998

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
—This research was supported by grant 94-00112 from the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation. The preparation of this manuscript was facilitated by a James McKeen Cattell Fund Sabbatical Award to the second author.

Funding

—This research was supported by grant 94-00112 from the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation. The preparation of this manuscript was facilitated by a James McKeen Cattell Fund Sabbatical Award to the second author.

Funders
United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation

Keywords

Ambiguity
Cerebral asymmetries
Lexical decision
Sentence priming

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10.1016/s0028-3932(98)00042-6

Cite this

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abstract = "A lexical decision experiment investigated hemisphere asymmetries in resolving lexical ambiguity within a sentence context. Sentences that biased a single meaning (either dominant or subordinate) of sentence-final ambiguous words were followed by a lateralized target related to the sentence-congruent or -incongruent meaning of the ambiguous word, or an unrelated word. In the RVF sentence-congruent targets were facilitated, while incongruent targets were not primed. In contrast, related targets were facilitated in the LVF, regardless of sentence context. This suggests that selecting the contextually appropriate word meaning requires the left hemisphere, and supports a right hemisphere role in maintaining alternate word senses.",

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Sentence context and lexical ambiguity resolution by the two hemispheres

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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Keywords

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