ERP correlates of script chronology violations

Research indicates a distinction between the processing of script content (which events, behaviors, scenes… are part of it) and script chronology (what is their usual order of occurrence). Using sequences of two line drawings depicting everyday social script events, we examined the event related potential (ERP) correlates of script chronology violations (i.e., wrong order). An increased left anterior negativity (LAN) following chronology violations suggests similarities between the processing of script chronology in visually observed human behavior and verbal syntax. Consequently, this study extends previous findings suggesting that the LAN is sensitive to structure violation across domains (e.g., verbal syntax, abstract structure), including that of meaningful human actions.