Electrophysiological Evidence for Sentence Comprehension - Wings

components. However, the models that he mentions in the article, mainly models that use
key concepts of generative grammar, have at least one trait that is different from the DP
model, the modularity. This also means that the Ullman's model is at least rather vague in
questions such as primacy of syntax (as in 'syntax-first' models) or autonomy of syntax.
Neurocognitive model of sentence comprehension. Friederici’s model (Friederici, 1995,
2002) is the most influential ‘syntax-first’ model today. It provides both spatial and
temporal information about the processes that underlie language comprehension. The
model is tested mainly in fMRI and ERP studies. It is a three-phase serial processing
model; in the first phase the parser builds the sentence structure, in the second phase
semantic information is linked to the structure in terms of thematic roles assignment and
in the third phase repair and reinterpretation processes take place. The model recognizes
the role of memory in language comprehension: memory structures closely related to
language function (phonological memory, memory for syntactic structures) and ‘general
memory resources’. The three phases correspond to ERP components in the following
order: first phase – ELAN, second phase – LAN, N400, and third phase – P600. The
schematic overview of the model is given on Figure 2.
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