Pitch modulates lexical identification in spoken word recognition: ERP and behavioral evidence

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in cross-modal word fragment priming (CMWP) to address the function of pitch for the identification of spoken words. In CMWP fragments of spoken words (e.g., retaken from Regal [Engl. shelves]) are immediately followed by visual targets. Together with reduced reaction times (RTs), an ERP deflection named P350 has been found to be reduced for targets, which match the primes (e.g:, in the prime-target pair re-REGAL) as compared to unrelated targets (e.g., re- WIRBEL [Engl. burble]). The P350 has been related to facilitated, lexical identification [Friedrich, Kotz, Friederici and Gunter (in press), ER-Ps reflect lexical identification in word fragment priming, JOCN]. In the present study, we presented syllable primes with different pitch contours. One version of each prime bore a stressed pitch contour (e.g., re_1), the other an unstressed pitch contour (e.g., re 2). Primes were combined with targets being either stressed on the first syllable (e.g., REgel [Engl. rule]) or on the second syllable (e.g., reGAL [Engl. shelves]). We found a reduced amplitude of the P350 and slightly faster reactions for targets with a stress pattern that matched the pitch of the primes (e.g., re_1-REgel) as compared to targets with a stress pattern that did not match the pitch of the primes (e.g., re_1-reGAL). The present study replicates the P350 effect with different material, and indicates that pitch is used for lexical identification in spoken word recognition. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.