Idioms can have both a literal interpretation and a figurative interpretation (e.g., to “kick the bucket”). Which interpretation should be activated can be disambiguated by a preceding context (e.g., “The old man was sick. He kicked the bucket.”). We investigated whether the idiomatic and literal uses of idioms have different predictive properties when the idiom has been biased toward a literal or figurative sentence interpretation. EEG was recorded as participants performed a lexical decision task on idiom-final words in biased idioms and literal (compositional) sentences. Targets in idioms were identified faster in both figuratively and literally used idioms than in compositional sentences. Time–frequency analysis of a prestimulus interval revealed relatively more alpha–beta power decreases in literally than figuratively used idiomatic sequences and compositional sentences. We argue that lexico-semantic retrieval plays a larger role in literally than figuratively biased idioms, as retrieval of the word meaning is less relevant in the latter and the word form has to be matched to a template. The results are interpreted in terms of context integration and word retrieval and have implications for models of language processing and predictive processing in general.

This study examined how acquisition of novel words from an unknown language (L2) is influenced by their orthographic similarity with existing native language (L1) words in beginning adult learners. Participants were tested in a two-alternative forced-choice recognition task and a typing production task as they learned to associate 80 L2 (pseudo)words with pictures depicting their meanings. There was no effect of L1 orthographic neighborhood density on accuracy in the two-alternative forced-choice task, but typing accuracy was higher for L2 words with many L1 neighbors in the earliest stages of learning. ERPs recorded during a language decision task before and after learning also showed differences as a function of L1 neighborhood density. Across sessions, L2 words with many L1 neighbors elicited slower responses and larger N400s than words with fewer L1 neighbors, suggesting that L1 neighbors continued to influence processing of the L2 words after learning (though to a lesser extent). Finally, ERPs recorded during a typing task after learning also revealed an effect of L1 neighborhood that began about 700 msec after picture onset, suggesting that the cross-language neighborhood effects cannot solely be attributed to bottom–up activation of L1 neighbors. Together, these results demonstrate that strategic associations between novel L2 words and existing L1 neighbors scaffold learning and result in interactions among cross-language neighbors, suggestive of an integrated L1–L2 lexicon.

Language comprehension involves activating word meanings and integrating them with the sentence context. This study examined whether these routines are carried out even when they are theoretically unnecessary, namely, in the case of opaque idiomatic expressions, for which the literal word meanings are unrelated to the overall meaning of the expression. Predictable words in sentences were replaced by a semantically related or unrelated word. In literal sentences, this yielded previously established behavioral and electrophysiological signatures of semantic processing: semantic facilitation in lexical decision, a reduced N400 for semantically related relative to unrelated words, and a power increase in the gamma frequency band that was disrupted by semantic violations. However, the same manipulations in idioms yielded none of these effects. Instead, semantic violations elicited a late positivity in idioms. Moreover, gamma band power was lower in correct idioms than in correct literal sentences. It is argued that the brain's semantic expectancy and literal word meaning integration operations can, to some extent, be “switched off” when the context renders them unnecessary. Furthermore, the results lend support to models of idiom comprehension that involve unitary idiom representations.

Oscillatory neuronal dynamics, observed in the human electroencephalogram (EEG) during language processing, have been related to the dynamic formation of functionally coherent networks that serve the role of integrating the different sources of information needed for understanding the linguistic input. To further explore the functional role of oscillatory synchrony during language processing, we quantified event-related EEG power changes induced by the presentation of open-class (OC) words and closed-class (CC) words in a wide range of frequencies (from 1 to 30 Hz), while subjects read a short story. Word presentation induced three oscillatory components: a theta power increase (4–7 Hz), an alpha power decrease (10– 12 Hz), and a beta power decrease (16–21 Hz). Whereas the alpha and beta responses showed mainly quantitative differences between the two word classes, the theta responses showed qualitative differences between OC words and CC words: A theta power increase was found over left temporal areas for OC words, but not for CC words. The left temporal theta increase may index the activation of a network involved in retrieving the lexical semantic properties of the OC items.