Sentence processing refers to the cognitive and linguistic mechanisms that allow individuals to understand and interpret sentences. This involves breaking down the structure of a sentence, identifying its components such as subjects, verbs, and objects, and determining their relationships. The brain rapidly analyzes these elements to derive meaning, often using context and prior knowledge to aid comprehension. During sentence processing, various factors can influence how quickly and accurately a sentence is understood. These include the complexity of the sentence structure, the familiarity of the vocabulary, and the listener's or reader's background knowledge. Researchers in fields like psycholinguistics study these processes to better understand how language is processed in real-time.