Inhibitory states modulate the processing of negated concepts in existential sentences. Evidence from ERPs

The Reusing Inhibition for Negation (RIN) hypothesis proposes that linguistic negation recruits neural mechanisms involved in inhibitory control. Previous research has shown that processing existential negation can influence response inhibition. The present study examines the reciprocal relationship, testing whether inhibitory states modulate the processing of existential negation. In this event-related potentials (ERP) study, each trial began with a Go/NoGo task, followed by an affirmative or a negative existential sentence (e.g., "Now there are bracelets" vs. "There are no bracelets") and a probe recognition task targeting the noun ("bracelets"). The NoGo condition was designed to induce an inhibitory state before the affirmed or negated noun was processed. Negated concepts presented under inhibitory NoGo trials elicited an enhanced anterior P2 component, suggesting increased early attentional engagement, and a reduced frontal N400-like negativity, indicating modulation of semantic processing. Source localization linked this N400-like modulation to the right middle frontal gyrus, a region associated with inhibitory control. In addition, probe recognition for negated concepts elicited larger response-locked readiness potentials, with generators in the right anteromedial superior frontal gyrus, reflecting increased preparatory demands when maintaining negated concepts prior to response execution. Together, these ERP findings suggest that inhibitory states modulate the neural processing of negated concepts and provide additional electrophysiological evidence relevant to the RIN hypothesis.