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A central question in neurolinguistics is how the brain computes the meaning of complex expressions from the meanings of the parts. We investigate adjective-noun composition using EEG, focusing on the effects of the intensional and denotational semantics of the modifying adjective. We used NPs from 4 semantic conditions in Bokmål Norwegian: privative modal (e.g. "fake president"), privative temporal ("former president"), non-privative modal ("real president"), and non-privative temporal ("current president"). In 2 non-semantic conditions, the adjective was replaced by either a non-word or a pseudo-word. The composition contrast (semantic vs non-semantic trials) revealed a larger P600 component after the noun in the semantic trials. The effects of intensionality (modal vs temporal adjective) were found in the N400 time frame, while the effects of denotation (privative vs nonprivative adjective) were found in a post-N400 window. We discuss some implications of these results for neurocognitive theories of compositional language processing. ARTICLE HISTORY

Language and perception are two central cognitive systems. Until relatively recently, however, the interaction between them has been examined only partially and not from an over-arching theoretical perspective. Yet it has become clear that linguistic and perceptual interactions are essential to understanding both typical and atypical human behaviour. In this editorial, we examine the link between language and perception across three domains. First, we present a brief review of work investigating the importance of perceptual features, particularly shape bias, when learning names for novel objects-a critical skill acquired during language development. Second, we describe the Visual World Paradigm, an experimental method uniquely suited to investigate the languageperception relationship. Studies using the Visual World Paradigm demonstrate that the relationship between linguistic and perceptual information during processing is both intricate and bi-directional: linguistic cues guide interpretation of visual scenes, while perceptual information shapes interpretation of linguistic input. Finally, we turn to a discussion of cospeech gesture focusing on iconic gestures which depict aspects of the visual world (e.g., motion, shape).The relationship between language and these semantically-meaningful gestures is likewise complex and bi-directional. However, more research is needed to illuminate the exact circumstances under which iconic gestures shape language production and comprehension. In conclusion, although strong evidence exists supporting a critical relationship between linguistic and perceptual systems, the exact levels at which these two systems interact, the time-course of the interaction, and what is driving the interaction, remain largely open questions in need of future research.

Understanding language requires the ability to compose the meanings of words into phrase and sentence meanings. Formal theories in semantics have framed the hypothesis that all instances of meaning composition, irrespective of the syntactic and semantic properties of the expressions involved, boil down to a unique formal operation, that is, the application of a function to an argument, a view known as “Frege’s Conjecture.” We test the processing consequences of this idea using event-related potentials (ERPs) and a novel experimental paradigm where composition versus noncomposition of words from the same grammatical category (nouns) are compared in two different syntactic environments: predication and modification. We found that noun composition in a modification context, where the noun follows an adjective, elicits a reduced N400 component, whereas noun composition in a predication context, where the noun follows a verb, produces an enhanced LAN component. These data challenge the uniqueness thesis, central to formal semantics, and support instead linguistic theories and processing models that posit different composition operations for predicates and modifiers.