Jueyao Lin , Xiaocong Chen , Xunan Huang , Patrick Chun Man Wong , Angel Wing Shan Chan , Michael T. Ullman , Caicai Zhang
{"title":"Semantic overreliance as a suboptimal compensation for syntactic impairments in children with Developmental Language Disorder","authors":"Jueyao Lin , Xiaocong Chen , Xunan Huang , Patrick Chun Man Wong , Angel Wing Shan Chan , Michael T. Ullman , Caicai Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105571","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The neurocognitive dynamics of semantic-syntactic interplay are not well understood in children with and without Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). This study examined the N400, P600 and their interplay in Cantonese-speaking children with DLD and age-matched typically developing (TD) children, by manipulating semantic and syntactic violations in Chinese classifier-noun agreement. Behaviorally, children with DLD demonstrated overall lower accuracy in grammaticality judgment. The N400 and P600 analyses respectively confirmed robust semantic processing but attenuated syntactic processing in the DLD group. Crucially, the N400-P600 interplay analyses revealed that TD children prioritized syntactic processing over semantic processing for outright syntactic violations, as indicated by less N400-P600 dependence and robust P600 dominance, whereas children with DLD relied on semantic processing and showed reduced P600 dominance. These results underscore a challenge to prioritize syntactic processing and (suboptimal) compensatory reliance on semantic processing in children with DLD, compatible with the predictions of the Procedural circuit Deficit Hypothesis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55330,"journal":{"name":"Brain and Language","volume":"266 ","pages":"Article 105571"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Brain and Language","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0093934X25000409","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"AUDIOLOGY & SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The neurocognitive dynamics of semantic-syntactic interplay are not well understood in children with and without Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). This study examined the N400, P600 and their interplay in Cantonese-speaking children with DLD and age-matched typically developing (TD) children, by manipulating semantic and syntactic violations in Chinese classifier-noun agreement. Behaviorally, children with DLD demonstrated overall lower accuracy in grammaticality judgment. The N400 and P600 analyses respectively confirmed robust semantic processing but attenuated syntactic processing in the DLD group. Crucially, the N400-P600 interplay analyses revealed that TD children prioritized syntactic processing over semantic processing for outright syntactic violations, as indicated by less N400-P600 dependence and robust P600 dominance, whereas children with DLD relied on semantic processing and showed reduced P600 dominance. These results underscore a challenge to prioritize syntactic processing and (suboptimal) compensatory reliance on semantic processing in children with DLD, compatible with the predictions of the Procedural circuit Deficit Hypothesis.
期刊介绍:
An interdisciplinary journal, Brain and Language publishes articles that elucidate the complex relationships among language, brain, and behavior. The journal covers the large variety of modern techniques in cognitive neuroscience, including functional and structural brain imaging, electrophysiology, cellular and molecular neurobiology, genetics, lesion-based approaches, and computational modeling. All articles must relate to human language and be relevant to the understanding of its neurobiological and neurocognitive bases. Published articles in the journal are expected to have significant theoretical novelty and/or practical implications, and use perspectives and methods from psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience along with brain data and brain measures.