ERP evidence for the contribution of meaning complexity underlying emotional word processing

The present study aimed to investigate the role of meaning complexity in processing emotional words. EEG data were collected while participants performed a lexical decision task. The critical stimuli included negative words, unambiguous neutral words, and ambiguous neutral words. ERP results showed that negative words elicited a smaller N400 and a larger LPC than unambiguous neutral words, while the difference between negative words and ambiguous neutral words in the two components was only found over some midline electrodes. These results suggest that the typical emotional effect might be squeezed out when the potential role of meaning complexity were magnified, leaving a pure effect isolated to emotional valence and arousal. These results indicate that meaning complexity is one of the factors that contribute to the emotional effect.