Sequential adaptation effects reveal proactive control in processing spoken sentences: Evidence from event-related potentials.

Abstract How domain-general cognitive control is engaged in language processing remains debated. We address how linguistic processes are monitored and regulated by analyzing the effects of previous-trial sentence correctness on the P600 component of the event-related potential (ERP) in the current-trial. In data from a previous experiment about processing spoken sentences, P600 amplitudes to both correct and incorrect words in current sentences were smaller after incorrect as compared to correct previous sentences. Therefore, the detection of speech errors may initiate sustained proactive control over the monitoring demands for upcoming sentences. No sequential adaptation was found in the difference between P600 amplitudes to incorrect and correct current conditions. We propose that the P600 reflects the reactive reanalysis of speech processing and/or the resolution of linguistic conflicts, but is also sensitive to proactive speech monitoring, an important aspect of cognitive control.