The comprehension of figurative language [Elektronische Ressource] : electrophysiological evidence on the processing of irony / vorgelegt von Stefanie Regel

Regel, Stefanie

Informations

• Publié par: universitat_potsdam
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 47
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 7 Mo

Extrait

The comprehension of figurative language:
Electrophysiological evidence on the
processing of irony









































Impressum

Max Planck Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 2009

Published also online at the
Institutional Repository of the University of Potsdam:
URL http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2009/3337/
URN urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-33376
[http://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-33376]

Dieses Werk ist unter folgender Creative Commons-Lizenz lizenziert:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

Druck: Sächsisches Druck- und Verlagshaus Direct World, Dresden

ISBN 978-3-936816-85-9

The comprehension of figurative language:
Electrophysiological evidence on the
processing of irony



Der Humanwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Potsdam
eingereichte

DISSERTATION

zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades
doctor philosophiae
Dr. phil.


vorgelegt
von Stefanie Regel
geboren am 20. Januar 1979 in Karl-Marx-Stadt

2008










































Dekanin: Prof. Dr. Ria de Bleser
Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Angela D. Friederici
PD Dr. Evelyn Ferstl




Tag der Verteidigung: 13.03.2009 Acknowledgements
This thesis could not have been accomplished without the support and contribution of
many people. In particular, I would like to thank Prof. Angela Friederici who gave me
the opportunity, and the support to conduct this work at the Max Planck Institute for
Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences.
I am also grateful to Prof. Angela Friederici and PD Dr. Evelyn Ferstl for agreeing to
review this thesis.
My special thanks go to Dr. Thomas Gunter for his excellent advisory support, his
valuable comments and suggestions, and for reading and re-reading various versions of
this work.
I would like also to thank Prof. Seana Coulson for motivating discussions.
For introducing me to the methodology of ERP research I am grateful to Dr. Dirk
Köster. My colleagues Jens Brauer and Dr. Beate Sabisch, Dr. Jörg Bahlmann, Dr.
Henning Holle and Christian Obermeier I would like to thank for their helpful sugges-
tions and discussions along this way.
Further, I like to thank Cornelia Schmidt and Kristiane Werrmann for their help with
the acquisition of the ERP data, and especially Kerstin Flake for her expert advice with
the graphic design and illustration.
I am deeply grateful to Berno Wrobel and my parents Ulrich and Kristina Regel for
their continuous and unconditional support.
Contents
Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................................... iii
Introduction..................................................................................................................................1


I Theoretical and empirical background ..................................................................... 3
1 Figurative language comprehension ......................................................................................5
1.1 Characteristics of irony........................................................................................................5
1.1.1 Defining irony ...........................................................................................................6
1.1.2 Characteristics of verbal irony: The identification of language-
accompanying cues ............................................................................................7
1.1.3 Pragmatic approaches on irony .................................................................................8
1.2 Psycholinguistic approaches on figurative language .........................................................10
1.2.1 The standard pragmatic model ................................................................................11
1.2.2 The direct access view.............................................................................................13
1.2.3 The graded salience hypothesis...............................................................................15
1.2.4 Implications for neurophysiological investigation of irony comprehension ...........17
2 Event Related Brain Potentials19
2.1 Electroencephalography ....................................................................................................19
2.2 Event-related brain potentials............................................................................................21
2.3 Language-related ERP components...................................................................................22
2.3.1 The P200 component...............................................................................................23
2.3.2 The LAN component24
2.3.3 The N400 component ..............................................................................................25
2.3.4 The P300 component26
2.3.5 The P600 component27
3 Neurophysiological and -psychological evidence of figurative language
comprehension .......................................................................................................................33
3.1 Evidence from ERP studies ...............................................................................................33
3.2 lesion studies.............................................................................................36
3.3 Evidence from neuroimaging studies ................................................................................40
vi
II Experiments ...............................................................................................................45
4 Experiment 1: Auditory processing of irony ....................................................................... 47
4.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................... 47
4.2 Participants........................................................................................................................ 50
4.3 Methods.... 50
4.3.1 Stimulus material.................................................................................................... 50
4.3.1.1 Pretests ....................................................................................................... 52
4.3.1.2 Prosodic analyses ....................................................................................... 52
4.3.2 Procedure................................................................................................................ 55
4.3.3 Data acquisition and analysis.................................................................................. 56
4.4 Results............................................................................................................................... 57
4.5 Discussion......................................................................................................................... 60
5 Visual processing of irony...................................................................................................... 67
5.1 Experiment 2: Visual processing of irony with regard to explicit cueing......................... 67
5.1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 67
5.1.2 Participants ............................................................................................................. 69
5.1.3 Methods .................................................................................................................. 69
5.1.3.1 Stimulus material and procedure................................................................ 69
5.1.3.2 Data acquisition and analysis ..................................................................... 70
5.1.4 Results .................................................................................................................... 71
5.1.5 Discussion............................................................................................................... 74
5.2 Experiment 3: The processing of cued and uncued irony................................................. 78
5.2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 78
5.2.2 Participants ............................................................................................................. 79
5.2.3 Methods 79
5.2.3.1 Stimulus material and procedure................................................................ 79
5.2.3.2 Data acquisition and analysis ..................................................................... 79
5.2.4 Results ..............