{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,21]],"date-time":"2026-04-21T13:10:35Z","timestamp":1776777035563,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"MIT Press - Journals","issue":"9","content-domain":{"domain":["direct.mit.edu"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2014,9,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n               <jats:p>The verb \u201cpounce\u201d describes a single, near-instantaneous event. Yet, we easily understand that, \u201cFor several minutes the cat pounced\u2026\u201d describes a situation in which multiple pounces occurred, although this interpretation is not overtly specified by the sentence's syntactic structure or by any of its individual words\u2014a phenomenon known as \u201caspectual coercion.\u201d Previous psycholinguistic studies have reported processing costs in association with aspectual coercion, but the neurocognitive mechanisms giving rise to these costs remain contentious. Additionally, there is some controversy about whether readers commit to a full interpretation of the event when the aspectual information becomes available, or whether they leave it temporarily underspecified until later in the sentence. Using ERPs, we addressed these questions in a design that fully crossed context type (punctive, durative, frequentative) with verb type (punctive, durative). We found a late, sustained negativity to punctive verbs in durative contexts, but not in frequentative (e.g., explicitly iterative) contexts. This effect was distinct from the N400 in both its time course and scalp distribution, suggesting that it reflected a different underlying neurocognitive mechanism. We also found that ERPs to durative verbs were unaffected by context type. Together, our results provide strong evidence that neural activity associated with aspectual coercion is driven by the engagement of a morphosyntactically unrealized semantic operator rather than by violations of real-world knowledge, more general shifts in event representation, or event iterativity itself. More generally, our results add to a growing body of evidence that a set of late-onset sustained negativities reflect elaborative semantic processing that goes beyond simply combining the meaning of individual words with syntactic structure to arrive at a final representation of meaning.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1162\/jocn_a_00638","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2014,4,4]],"date-time":"2014-04-04T15:07:56Z","timestamp":1396624076000},"page":"1905-1917","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1162\/mitpressjournals.corrections.policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":40,"title":["When Events Change Their Nature: The Neurocognitive Mechanisms Underlying Aspectual Coercion"],"prefix":"10.1162","volume":"26","author":[{"given":"Martin","family":"Paczynski","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"1Tufts University"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ray","family":"Jackendoff","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"1Tufts University"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Gina","family":"Kuperberg","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"1Tufts University"},{"name":"2Massachusetts General Hospital"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"281","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2014,9,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"2021073000580232800_R1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2131","DOI":"10.1162\/jocn.2009.21303","article-title":"Coercion and compositionality.","volume":"22","author":"Baggio","year":"2010","journal-title":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience"},{"key":"2021073000580232800_R2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"36","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jml.2008.02.005","article-title":"Computing and recomputing discourse models: An ERP study.","volume":"59","author":"Baggio","year":"2008","journal-title":"Journal of Memory and Language"},{"key":"2021073000580232800_R4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1075\/la.162","volume-title":"The processing of events.","author":"Bott","year":"2010"},{"key":"2021073000580232800_R5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"132","DOI":"10.1016\/j.bandl.2008.04.003","article-title":"Processing events: Behavioral and neuromagnetic correlates of aspectual coercion.","volume":"106","author":"Brennan","year":"2008","journal-title":"Brain and Language"},{"key":"2021073000580232800_R6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"777","DOI":"10.1080\/01690961003616840","article-title":"Processing psych verbs: Behavioral and MEG measures of two different types of semantic complexity.","volume":"25","author":"Brennan","year":"2010","journal-title":"Language and Cognitive Processes"},{"key":"2021073000580232800_R7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1093\/acprof:oso\/9780195333213.001.0001","volume-title":"Supersizing the mind: Embodiment, action, and cognitive extension.","author":"Clark","year":"2008"},{"key":"2021073000580232800_R8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1093\/acprof:oso\/9780199248582.001.0001","volume-title":"Verbs: Aspect and causal structure.","author":"Croft","year":"2012"},{"key":"2021073000580232800_R9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1093\/acprof:oso\/9780199271092.001.0001","volume-title":"Simpler syntax.","author":"Culicover","year":"2005"},{"key":"2021073000580232800_R10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"347","DOI":"10.1023\/A:1005916004600","article-title":"Aspect shift and coercion.","volume":"16","author":"de Swart","year":"1998","journal-title":"Natural Language & Linguistic Theory"},{"key":"2021073000580232800_R11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"590","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1933-1592.2011.00553.x","article-title":"Stressing the flesh: In defense of strong embodied cognition.","volume":"86","author":"Dempsey","year":"2012","journal-title":"Philosophy and Phenomenological Research"},{"key":"2021073000580232800_R12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"785","DOI":"10.1006\/ijhc.1995.1074","article-title":"Ontological domains, semantic sorts and systematic ambiguity.","volume":"43","author":"D\u00f6lling","year":"1995","journal-title":"International Journal of Human-Computer Studies"},{"key":"2021073000580232800_R13","first-page":"113","article-title":"Semantic form and abductive fixation of parameters.","volume-title":"From underspecification to interpretation. 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