Language processing in reading and speech perception is fast and incremental: implications for event-related potential research.

An overview of language processing during reading and listening is provided. Evidence is reviewed indicating that language processing in both domains is fast and incremental. We also discuss some aspects of normal reading and listening that are often obscured in event-related potential (ERP) research. We also discuss some apparent limitations of ERP techniques, as well as some recent indications that electroencephalographic (EEG) measures can be used to probe how lexical knowledge and lexical or structural expectations can contribute to the incremental process of language comprehension.