Event-related brain potentials were recorded while 12 Italian-speaking
subjects read correctly and incorrectly inflected verb forms. Partici
ple forms of three types of verbs were investigated: Ist conjugation v
erbs (parlato 'spoken'), 3rd conjugation verbs (dormito 'slept'), and
irregular 2nd conjugation verbs (preso 'taken'). We compared correct a
nd incorrect participle forms; the latter had stem formation errors an
d/or incorrect participle endings. Event-related potentials (ERP) show
ed different responses to incorrect regular and incorrect irregular pa
rticiple forms: incorrect irregulars (prendato instead of preso) elic
ited a widespread negativity, whereas incorrect regulars (parlito, *d
ormato) produced no effect. This difference replicates previous result
s on German inflection and supports the linguistic distinction between
lexically-based and rule-based inflection. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science
Ireland Ltd.