Electrophysiological estimates of the time course of semantic and phonological encoding in implicit Chinese monosyllabic word production

Two different event-related potential (ERP) components were used to investigate the temporal processing of semantic and phonological encoding during implicit Chinese monosyllabic word production. Participants were shown pictures and carried out a dual choice go/nogo decision based on semantic information (whether the picture was of an animate or an inanimate object) and phonological information (whether the tone of picture’ s name was high level and low rising or rise falling and high falling). Both the lateralized readiness potential (LRP; related to response preparation) and N200 (presumably related to response inhibition) indicated that semantic activation occurs earlier than phonological activation