Semantic space and homonymous words

Abstract

Significant differences were found in the organization of electrobiological responses of the brain to the words-homonyms, presented in different meanings by priming a certain context in the electrophysiological experiment on a sample of 14 people As a result of comparison of series before and after negative reinforcement by the method of Semantic Radical of the word entering the semantic field of one of the two studied meanings of the word-homonym, the fact of indirect long-term influence of the emotional component is revealed. This is manifested not only in the change in the meaning of the homonym word (presented in the relevant context) in the late latency (300–500 MS) in the frontal leads, but also in the reconfiguration of its meaning in a non-relevant context (in the earlier – 200 MS – latencies in the central leads). Thus, the results objectively indicate the possibility of two types of reconfiguration of the semantic map (space) (1) operational reconfiguration to the current context defined in this experiment by the corresponding prime, and (2) long-term reconfiguration determined by the control action.