Event related potentials--an objective tool for the assessment of the speech understanding process. I. Semantic potential N400
Sandersky, A.; Karpesh, A.; Karpesh, L.; Skarzinsky, H.
Vestnik Otorinolaringologii 2009(4): 72-74
2009
ISSN/ISBN: 0042-4668 PMID: 19738597 Document Number: 630234
Auditory evoked potentials represent a specific "bioelectrical" reaction of the brain structures to a certain stimulus. N400 potential is recorded in response to the speech stimuli, its amplitude being inversely related to the correspondence of the word to the preceding text. The amplitude of the N400 wave is inversely related to a semantic similarity of a key word and a critical word. N400 potential is considered to reflect the process accompanying the decoding of a word, such as lexical analysis. It represents an objective tool providing the insight into the process accompanying speech understanding. It is of great clinical value as a diagnostic test for various language disorders [4].