Can you see what I am saying? Investigating the differences in processing of onomatopoeia and nouns with a behavioural study and EEG case study

Denton, Elise (2013) Can you see what I am saying? Investigating the differences in processing of onomatopoeia and nouns with a behavioural study and EEG case study. University of Gloucestershire.

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Abstract

This current research aimed to investigate the differences in processing of onomatopoeia and nouns. The first independent variable was modality (written, auditory) which was conducted using a between-subjects design whereby participants were allocated to either one of these conditions. The second IV was type of associated word (onomatopoeia, nouns) which utilised a within-subjects design with each participant being exposed to each type of word. A mixed effects Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was conducted to investigate whether these effects were statistically significant. This indicated that there was not a significant difference between words recalled when modality and type of associated word were manipulated. An electroencephalogram (EEG) was conducted to further investigate and examine the neurological regions involved in the processing of these two categories of words. Results indicated that the brain regions most active when encoding and recalling onomatopoeia and nouns were different as well as the ‘spread of activation’.