二语主谓一致加工的数吸引效应及其个体差异——来自中国高水平英语学习者的ERP证据

The Number Attraction Effect in L2 Agreement Processing and Its Individual Differences:ERP Evidence From Advanced Chinese EFL Learners

本文采用ERP技术来探究二语主谓一致加工中的数吸引效应及其个体差异。根据实验结果,主要有如下发现:首先,高水平二语学习者在不同局部名词条件下表现出了不一样的加工模式,在单数局部名词条件下,引发了P600;在复数局部名词条件下,引发了N400。其次,二语数吸引效应表现出了不对称模式:复数局部名词仅能干预语法违反句的加工,但不能影响语法正确句的加工。最后,个体差异分析发现,二语数吸引效应表现出了N400—P600的连续分布模式:单数局部名词条件下,产生P600效应的被试多于产生N400效应的被试;而在复数局部名词条件下,产生N400效应的被试多于产生P600效应的被试。上述实验结果表明,高水平二语学习者在加工主谓一致时对数吸引效应敏感,并且这一加工过程与基于线索的记忆检索模型相吻合。此外,二语学习者对数吸引效应的敏感性存在个体差异,不同学习者在不同局部名词条件下采用的句法加工策略也不同。

This study used the ERP(event-related potential)technique to investigate the number attraction effect in L2 agreement processing and its individual differences.Experiment results showed that advanced EFL learners exhibited distinct ERP patterns in different local noun conditions:ungrammatical verbs following singular local nouns elicited a P600 effect relative to their grammatical counterparts,whereas this positivity was replaced by an N400 effect when plural local nouns intervened between the subject head nouns and the verbs.Moreover,advanced EFL learners showed an asymmetrical pattern of attraction effect,in that plural local nouns interfered with the processing of ungrammatical sentences rather than grammatical sentences.Lastly,individual difference analyses revealed that EFL learners exhibited a pattern of N400—P600 continuum,with the number of P600-effect dominant participants being larger than that of N400-effect dominant participants in the singular local noun condition,but the number of N400-effect dominant participants larger than that of P600-effect dominant participants in the plural local noun condition.The overall outcome demonstrated that advanced EFL learners are sensitive to the attraction effect.Moreover,individual differences in the L2 number attraction effect implies that L2 syntactic processing is not restricted to a parsing route of a particular kind.