EEG and ERPs in the Study of Language and Social Knowledge

Event-related potentials (ERPs) represent the ideal methodological approach for investigating the time course of language reading and comprehension processes. In this chapter, various ERP components reflecting orthographic, phonological, semantic, and syntactic processing of written and auditory language are examined. Furthermore, data are shown of how ERPs can reflect stereotypes, prejudices and world knowledge, including people’s social traits and attributes. In particular, several recent neuroimaging and electrophysiological studies are presented investigating the neural underpinnings of ethnic and sex biases (both in male and female individuals).