An event-related potential study of semantic style-match judgments of artistic furniture

This study investigates how semantic networks represent different artistic furniture. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants made style-match judgments for table and chair sets. All of the tables were in the Normal style, whereas the chairs were in the Normal, Minimal, ReadyMade, or Deconstruction styles. The Normal and Minimal chairs had the same rates of “match” responses, which were both higher than the rates for the ReadyMade and Deconstruction chairs. Compared with Normal chairs, the ERPs elicited by both ReadyMade chairs and Deconstruction chairs exhibited reliable N400 effects, which suggests that these two design styles were unlike the Normal design style. However, Minimal chairs evoked ERPs that were similar to the ERPs of Normal chairs. Furthermore, the N400 effects elicited by ReadyMade and Deconstruction chairs showed different scalp distributions. These findings reveal that semantic networks represent different design styles for items of the same category.

► Semantic networks represent different design styles for artificial objects of the same category in different ways.
► ReadyMade and Deconstruction elicited larger N400 effects, and reveal unique characteristics on the scalp distributions.
► Non-prototypical categories have more distinct features that make them easier for participants to identify.
► ERP tool could aid an objective exploration of the facts beyond the scope of the subjective methods in the design studies.