ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the use of component N400 of the event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by Chinese idioms ending with matching and nonmatching words to explore the cognitive patterns and processing mechanisms elicited by Chinese characters. Methods Sixty-two right-handed healthy adults (age 19-50 years) , were presented with Chinese idioms ending with words with the same pronunciation but different form and meaning, words with similar forms but different pronunciation and meaning, words with same meaning but different pronunciation and form, and words with different pronunciation, form and meaning. A Guangzhou Runjie WJ-1 instrument was used to record component N400 of the potentials evoked. Results N400 showed a midline distribution , and could be detected under electrodes Fz, Cz and Pz. Significant differences were found in N400 latencies and amplitudes between matching and nonmatching ending-words. Compared with idioms with matching ending-words, N400 latencies were prolonged and amplitudes increased in nonmatching cases. The observed changes in N400 latencies and amplitudes were related to stimulus types, and the longest latency and largest amplitude were e-licited by ending-words with different pronunciation, form and meaning. No gender difference in N400 latency or amplitude was observed. Conclusions Compared with Western phonetic words, Chinese ideographic words are more flexible stimuli for N400 research, offering 3 dimensions for change: pronunciation, form and meaning. The N400 features elicited by matching and nonmatching ending words in Chinese idioms are mainly determined by the meaning of the word.