Despite the widely documented influence of gender stereotypes on social behaviour, little is known about the electrophysiological substrates engaged in the processing of such information when conveyed by language. Using event-related brain potentials (ERPs), we examined the brain response to third-person pronouns (lei “she” and lui “he”) that were implicitly primed by definitional (passeggeraFEM “passenger”, pensionatoMASC “pensioner”) or stereotypical antecedents (insegnante “teacher”, conducente “driver”). An N400-like effect on the pronoun emerged when it was preceded by a definitionally incongruent prime (passeggeraFEM – lui; pensionatoMASC – lei), and a stereotypically incongruent prime for masculine pronouns only (insegnante – lui). In addition, a P300-like effect was found when the pronoun was preceded by definitionally incongruent primes. However, this effect was observed for female, but not male participants. Overall, these results provide further evidence for online effects of stereotypical gender in language comprehension. Importantly, our results also suggest a gender stereotype asymmetry in that male and female stereotypes affected the processing of pronouns differently.

The electrophysiological underpinnings of processing gender stereotypes in language / Siyanova Chanturia, A.; Pesciarelli, Francesca; Cacciari, Cristina. - In: PLOS ONE. - ISSN 1932-6203. - ELETTRONICO. - 7(12):(2012), pp. e48712-e48712. [10.1371/journal.pone.0048712]

The electrophysiological underpinnings of processing gender stereotypes in language

PESCIARELLI, Francesca;CACCIARI, Cristina
2012

Abstract

Despite the widely documented influence of gender stereotypes on social behaviour, little is known about the electrophysiological substrates engaged in the processing of such information when conveyed by language. Using event-related brain potentials (ERPs), we examined the brain response to third-person pronouns (lei “she” and lui “he”) that were implicitly primed by definitional (passeggeraFEM “passenger”, pensionatoMASC “pensioner”) or stereotypical antecedents (insegnante “teacher”, conducente “driver”). An N400-like effect on the pronoun emerged when it was preceded by a definitionally incongruent prime (passeggeraFEM – lui; pensionatoMASC – lei), and a stereotypically incongruent prime for masculine pronouns only (insegnante – lui). In addition, a P300-like effect was found when the pronoun was preceded by definitionally incongruent primes. However, this effect was observed for female, but not male participants. Overall, these results provide further evidence for online effects of stereotypical gender in language comprehension. Importantly, our results also suggest a gender stereotype asymmetry in that male and female stereotypes affected the processing of pronouns differently.
2012
7(12)
e48712
e48712
The electrophysiological underpinnings of processing gender stereotypes in language / Siyanova Chanturia, A.; Pesciarelli, Francesca; Cacciari, Cristina. - In: PLOS ONE. - ISSN 1932-6203. - ELETTRONICO. - 7(12):(2012), pp. e48712-e48712. [10.1371/journal.pone.0048712]
Siyanova Chanturia, A.; Pesciarelli, Francesca; Cacciari, Cristina
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Siyanova_etal_2012.pdf

Open access

Descrizione: articolo pubblicato
Tipologia: Versione pubblicata dall'editore
Dimensione 367.16 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
367.16 kB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri
Pubblicazioni consigliate

Licenza Creative Commons
I metadati presenti in IRIS UNIMORE sono rilasciati con licenza Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal, mentre i file delle pubblicazioni sono rilasciati con licenza Attribuzione 4.0 Internazionale (CC BY 4.0), salvo diversa indicazione.
In caso di violazione di copyright, contattare Supporto Iris

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11380/807889
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 12
  • Scopus 39
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 37
social impact