Hsu-Wen Huang | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (original) (raw)

Papers by Hsu-Wen Huang

Research paper thumbnail of Dispreferred adjective orders elicit brain responses associated with lexico-semantic rather than syntactic processing

Research paper thumbnail of An Electrophysiological study of the orthographic neighborhood frequency effect in Chinese word recognition

An Electrophysiological study of the orthographic neighborhood frequency effect in Chinese word r... more An Electrophysiological study of the orthographic neighborhood frequency effect in Chinese word recognition ... Hsu-Wen Huang1, Chia-Ying Lee1,2, Chia-Lin, Lee4, Jie-Li Tsai1, Daisy L. Hung1,2,3, Ovid J.-L. Tzeng1,2 ... 1. Laboratory for Cognitive Neuropsychology, ...

Research paper thumbnail of A concrete view of aging: Event related potentials reveal age-related changes in basic integrative processes in language

Neuropsychologia, Jan 1, 2011

Normal aging is accompanied by changes in both structural and functional cerebral organization. A... more Normal aging is accompanied by changes in both structural and functional cerebral organization. Although verbal knowledge seems to be relatively stable across the lifespan, there are age-related changes in the rapid use of that knowledge during on-line language processing. In particular, aging has been linked to reduce effectiveness in preparing for upcoming words and building an integrated sentence-level representation. The current study assessed whether such age-related changes extend even to much simpler language units, such as modification relations between a centrally presented adjective and a lateralized noun. Adjectives were used to elicit concrete and abstract meanings of the same, polysemous lexical items (e.g., "green book" vs. "interesting book"). Consistent with findings that lexical information is preserved with age, older adults, like younger adults, exhibited concreteness effects at the adjectives, with more negative responses to concrete adjectives over posterior (300-500 ms; N400) and frontal (300-900 ms) channels. However, at the noun, younger adults exhibited concreteness-based predictability effects linked to left hemisphere processing and imagery effects linked to right hemisphere processing, contingent on whether the adjectives and nouns formed a cohesive conceptual unit. In contrast, older adults showed neither effect, suggesting that they were less able to rapidly link the adjective-noun meaning to form an integrated conceptual representation. Age-related changes in language processing may thus be more pervasive than previously realized. Abstract Productive Farm Organic Abstract Abstract Native Dress Purple Concrete Concrete Hilly Farm Fenced Concrete RVF Concrete Flowered Dress Ceremonial Abstract (LVF in List 3) Abstract Interesting Book Engaging Abstract Abstract Sensitive Nose Pudgy Concrete List 2 Concrete Pimply Nose Pudgy Concrete LVF Concrete Green Book Engaging Abstract (RVF in List 4) Abstract Native Dress Ceremonial Abstract Abstract Productive Farm Hilly Concrete Concrete Purple Dress Flowered Concrete RVF Concrete Fenced Farm Organic Abstract (LVF in List 4) Abstract Sensitive Nose Expert Abstract Abstract Interesting Book Thick Concrete Neuropsychologia. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2013 January 01.

Research paper thumbnail of Sublexical ambiguity effect in reading Chinese disyllabic compounds

Brain and language, Jan 1, 2011

For Chinese compounds, neighbors can share either both orthographic forms and meanings, or orthog... more For Chinese compounds, neighbors can share either both orthographic forms and meanings, or orthographic forms only. In this study, central presentation and visual half-field (VF) presentation methods were used in conjunction with ERP measures to investigate how readers solve the sublexical semantic ambiguity of the first constituent character in reading a disyllabic compound. The sublexical ambiguity of the first character was manipulated while the orthographic neighborhood sizes of the first and second character (NS1, NS2) were controlled. Subjective rating of number of meanings corresponding to a character was used as an index of sublexical ambiguity. Results showed that low sublexical ambiguity words elicited a more negative N400 than high sublexical ambiguity words when words were centrally presented. Similar patterns were found when words were presented to the left VF. Interestingly, different patterns were observed for pseudowords. With left VF presentation, high sublexical ambiguity psudowords showed a more negative N400 than low sublexical ambiguity pseudowords. In contrast, with right VF presentation, low sublexical ambiguity pseudowords showed a more negative N400 than high sublexical ambiguity pseudowords. These findings indicate that a level of morphological representation between form and meaning needs to be established and refined in Chinese. In addition, hemispheric asymmetries in the use of word information in ambiguity resolution should be taken into account, even at sublexical level.

Research paper thumbnail of Number of sense effects of Chinese disyllabic compounds in the two hemispheres

Brain and Language, Jan 1, 2011

The current study manipulated the visual field and the number of senses of the first character in... more The current study manipulated the visual field and the number of senses of the first character in Chinese disyllabic compounds to investigate how the related senses (polysemy) of the constituted character in the compounds were represented and processed in the two hemispheres. The ERP results in experiment 1 revealed crossover patterns in the left hemisphere (LH) and the right hemisphere (RH). The sense facilitation in the LH was in favor of the assumption of single-entry representation for senses. However, the patterns in the RH yielded two possible interpretations: (1) the nature of hemispheric processing in dealing with sublexical sense ambiguity; (2) the semantic activation from the separate-entry representation for senses. To clarify these possibilities, experiment 2 was designed to push participants to a deeper level of lexical processing by the word class judgment. The results revealed the sense facilitation effect in the RH. In sum, the current study was in support of the single-entry account for related senses and demonstrated that two hemispheres processed sublexical sense ambiguity in a complementary way.

Research paper thumbnail of Cognitive and neural basis of the consistency and lexicality effects in reading Chinese

Journal of Neurolinguistics, Jan 1, 2010

This study aims to investigate the underlying cognitive mechanisms of Chinese orthography-to-phon... more This study aims to investigate the underlying cognitive mechanisms of Chinese orthography-to-phonology transformation and its neural correlates. A behavioral study demonstrated that the phonetic radical can be used to suggest the pronunciation of a Chinese pseudocharacter based on the type frequency of the pronunciations associated with its constituent phonetic radical, rather than just to sound out its constituent phonetic radical.

Research paper thumbnail of Imagine that! ERPs provide evidence for distinct hemispheric contributions to the processing of concrete and abstract concepts

Research paper thumbnail of The temporal signatures of semantic and phonological activations for Chinese sublexical processing: An event-related potential study

Brain research, Jan 1, 2006

Research paper thumbnail of Orthographic neighborhood effects in reading Chinese two-character words

Neuroreport, Jan 1, 2006

The present study investigates the e¡ects of neighborhood size and neighborhood frequency in read... more The present study investigates the e¡ects of neighborhood size and neighborhood frequency in reading Chinese two-character words. The neighborhood size of a word is de¢ned as the summation of neighbors sharing the ¢rst constituent (neighborhood size 1) and the second constituent (neighborhood size 2) characters. The ¢rst experiment found two opposite neighborhood size e¡ects in lexical decision of high-frequency and low-frequency words. The regression analysis showed that neighborhood size 1 in£uenced word reading more than the neighborhood size 2. The second experiment con¢rmed this ¢nding and showed that reading words with higher frequency neighbors took a longer time and elicited greater N400 and LPC than those without higher frequency neighbors. These ¢ndings indicate that, when reading Chinese two-character words, all words sharing the ¢rst constituent character are activated in the early stage of word recognition and the existence of highfrequency words among neighbors leads to greater competition in the stage of semantic integration and response selection. NeuroReport17:1061^1065

Research paper thumbnail of Dispreferred adjective orders elicit brain responses associated with lexico-semantic rather than syntactic processing

Research paper thumbnail of An Electrophysiological study of the orthographic neighborhood frequency effect in Chinese word recognition

An Electrophysiological study of the orthographic neighborhood frequency effect in Chinese word r... more An Electrophysiological study of the orthographic neighborhood frequency effect in Chinese word recognition ... Hsu-Wen Huang1, Chia-Ying Lee1,2, Chia-Lin, Lee4, Jie-Li Tsai1, Daisy L. Hung1,2,3, Ovid J.-L. Tzeng1,2 ... 1. Laboratory for Cognitive Neuropsychology, ...

Research paper thumbnail of A concrete view of aging: Event related potentials reveal age-related changes in basic integrative processes in language

Neuropsychologia, Jan 1, 2011

Normal aging is accompanied by changes in both structural and functional cerebral organization. A... more Normal aging is accompanied by changes in both structural and functional cerebral organization. Although verbal knowledge seems to be relatively stable across the lifespan, there are age-related changes in the rapid use of that knowledge during on-line language processing. In particular, aging has been linked to reduce effectiveness in preparing for upcoming words and building an integrated sentence-level representation. The current study assessed whether such age-related changes extend even to much simpler language units, such as modification relations between a centrally presented adjective and a lateralized noun. Adjectives were used to elicit concrete and abstract meanings of the same, polysemous lexical items (e.g., "green book" vs. "interesting book"). Consistent with findings that lexical information is preserved with age, older adults, like younger adults, exhibited concreteness effects at the adjectives, with more negative responses to concrete adjectives over posterior (300-500 ms; N400) and frontal (300-900 ms) channels. However, at the noun, younger adults exhibited concreteness-based predictability effects linked to left hemisphere processing and imagery effects linked to right hemisphere processing, contingent on whether the adjectives and nouns formed a cohesive conceptual unit. In contrast, older adults showed neither effect, suggesting that they were less able to rapidly link the adjective-noun meaning to form an integrated conceptual representation. Age-related changes in language processing may thus be more pervasive than previously realized. Abstract Productive Farm Organic Abstract Abstract Native Dress Purple Concrete Concrete Hilly Farm Fenced Concrete RVF Concrete Flowered Dress Ceremonial Abstract (LVF in List 3) Abstract Interesting Book Engaging Abstract Abstract Sensitive Nose Pudgy Concrete List 2 Concrete Pimply Nose Pudgy Concrete LVF Concrete Green Book Engaging Abstract (RVF in List 4) Abstract Native Dress Ceremonial Abstract Abstract Productive Farm Hilly Concrete Concrete Purple Dress Flowered Concrete RVF Concrete Fenced Farm Organic Abstract (LVF in List 4) Abstract Sensitive Nose Expert Abstract Abstract Interesting Book Thick Concrete Neuropsychologia. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2013 January 01.

Research paper thumbnail of Sublexical ambiguity effect in reading Chinese disyllabic compounds

Brain and language, Jan 1, 2011

For Chinese compounds, neighbors can share either both orthographic forms and meanings, or orthog... more For Chinese compounds, neighbors can share either both orthographic forms and meanings, or orthographic forms only. In this study, central presentation and visual half-field (VF) presentation methods were used in conjunction with ERP measures to investigate how readers solve the sublexical semantic ambiguity of the first constituent character in reading a disyllabic compound. The sublexical ambiguity of the first character was manipulated while the orthographic neighborhood sizes of the first and second character (NS1, NS2) were controlled. Subjective rating of number of meanings corresponding to a character was used as an index of sublexical ambiguity. Results showed that low sublexical ambiguity words elicited a more negative N400 than high sublexical ambiguity words when words were centrally presented. Similar patterns were found when words were presented to the left VF. Interestingly, different patterns were observed for pseudowords. With left VF presentation, high sublexical ambiguity psudowords showed a more negative N400 than low sublexical ambiguity pseudowords. In contrast, with right VF presentation, low sublexical ambiguity pseudowords showed a more negative N400 than high sublexical ambiguity pseudowords. These findings indicate that a level of morphological representation between form and meaning needs to be established and refined in Chinese. In addition, hemispheric asymmetries in the use of word information in ambiguity resolution should be taken into account, even at sublexical level.

Research paper thumbnail of Number of sense effects of Chinese disyllabic compounds in the two hemispheres

Brain and Language, Jan 1, 2011

The current study manipulated the visual field and the number of senses of the first character in... more The current study manipulated the visual field and the number of senses of the first character in Chinese disyllabic compounds to investigate how the related senses (polysemy) of the constituted character in the compounds were represented and processed in the two hemispheres. The ERP results in experiment 1 revealed crossover patterns in the left hemisphere (LH) and the right hemisphere (RH). The sense facilitation in the LH was in favor of the assumption of single-entry representation for senses. However, the patterns in the RH yielded two possible interpretations: (1) the nature of hemispheric processing in dealing with sublexical sense ambiguity; (2) the semantic activation from the separate-entry representation for senses. To clarify these possibilities, experiment 2 was designed to push participants to a deeper level of lexical processing by the word class judgment. The results revealed the sense facilitation effect in the RH. In sum, the current study was in support of the single-entry account for related senses and demonstrated that two hemispheres processed sublexical sense ambiguity in a complementary way.

Research paper thumbnail of Cognitive and neural basis of the consistency and lexicality effects in reading Chinese

Journal of Neurolinguistics, Jan 1, 2010

This study aims to investigate the underlying cognitive mechanisms of Chinese orthography-to-phon... more This study aims to investigate the underlying cognitive mechanisms of Chinese orthography-to-phonology transformation and its neural correlates. A behavioral study demonstrated that the phonetic radical can be used to suggest the pronunciation of a Chinese pseudocharacter based on the type frequency of the pronunciations associated with its constituent phonetic radical, rather than just to sound out its constituent phonetic radical.

Research paper thumbnail of Imagine that! ERPs provide evidence for distinct hemispheric contributions to the processing of concrete and abstract concepts

Research paper thumbnail of The temporal signatures of semantic and phonological activations for Chinese sublexical processing: An event-related potential study

Brain research, Jan 1, 2006

Research paper thumbnail of Orthographic neighborhood effects in reading Chinese two-character words

Neuroreport, Jan 1, 2006

The present study investigates the e¡ects of neighborhood size and neighborhood frequency in read... more The present study investigates the e¡ects of neighborhood size and neighborhood frequency in reading Chinese two-character words. The neighborhood size of a word is de¢ned as the summation of neighbors sharing the ¢rst constituent (neighborhood size 1) and the second constituent (neighborhood size 2) characters. The ¢rst experiment found two opposite neighborhood size e¡ects in lexical decision of high-frequency and low-frequency words. The regression analysis showed that neighborhood size 1 in£uenced word reading more than the neighborhood size 2. The second experiment con¢rmed this ¢nding and showed that reading words with higher frequency neighbors took a longer time and elicited greater N400 and LPC than those without higher frequency neighbors. These ¢ndings indicate that, when reading Chinese two-character words, all words sharing the ¢rst constituent character are activated in the early stage of word recognition and the existence of highfrequency words among neighbors leads to greater competition in the stage of semantic integration and response selection. NeuroReport17:1061^1065