Semantic or lexico-syntactic factors: what determines word-class specific activity in the human brain?

Abstract Words from different classes have been found to activate different brain areas. However, it is unclear whether grammatical word properties, for example their being part of different lexical categories (e.g. nouns vs. verbs) or semantic features of the words (e.g. that they refer to visually perceived entities or to actions) are relevant for eliciting differential brain responses. We tested this by comparing brain potentials elicited by nouns and verbs that varied in their action and visual associations. Naturally spoken word stimuli were from three categories: (1) nouns with strong visual associations; (2) action verbs with strong associations of actions, and (3) nouns with strong action associations. Word-category specific differences became apparent around 500 ms after stimulus onset, ~150–200 ms after the average recognition point of the words involved. Brain responses to visual nouns and action verbs differed at central and occipital recording sites. A very similar topographical difference emerged from the comparison of visual vs. action nouns, whereas no significant difference was found between action-related nouns and verbs. These results indicate that grammatical differences alone, e.g. between two lexical classes such as action verbs and action-related nouns, are not sufficient for eliciting differential brain responses. In contrast, semantic differences between items from the same lexical category can be sufficient for changing the topography of cortical processes induced by word stimuli. This is support for associative theories of word processing.