An ERP study of the neural correlates of processing Chinese content words and function words

Abstract The temporal course of the neural activity associated with Chinese content and function words was investigated, using 64-channel event-related potential (ERP) recording. Seventeen undergraduates were asked to read 144 declarative sentences and average ERPs were computed as a function of vocabulary class. After the early visual components, there were two main features of the ERP profiles generated by function words and content words. The function words elicited an early negative component between 200 and 350 ms, and a slow negative component from 350 to 550 ms. Both the early negativity and the slow wave had a predominantly anterior distribution. The content words only generated one negativity within the time window of 200–550 ms, which was smaller than the negativities elicited by the function words. These findings indicate that distinct neural correlates may be involved in processing these two word classes in the Chinese language.