representation in the “mental lexicon” – i.e., in word recognition. Critically, upon recognition, semantic (among other types of) information becomes available and can then be integrated with the current mental model of the unfolding sentence or discourse. A similar stream of increasingly complex perceptual analyses leading to recognition, which then affords semantic access, also has been posited for face and object processing. On such a view, the N400 might be functionally characterized as arising from one (or more) of these processing steps, and, indeed, which one(s) of these processes the N400 reflects is what distinguishes most of the currently competing theories.
