Distinguish between focus and newness: An ERP study

The relationship between focus and newness was explored by recording brain responses to information structure in discourse reading. Focus was manipulated by whether or not placing a Chinese focus-particle “shi” in front of the critical words, while newness was manipulated by whether or not introducing the critical words in the preceding context. The focused words elicited a larger P2 as well as a larger positivity than the non-focused words, possibly reflecting attention allocation and immediate integration of focused information respectively. In contrast, the new words elicited a larger N400 and a smaller LPC than the given words, which may reflect difficult integration or memory retrieval of new information. These results suggest that the processing of focus and newness may involve different cognitive processes. Therefore, focus should be distinguished from newness from the perspective of cognitive processing.