Neural activity during sentence processing as reflected in theta, alpha, beta, and gamma oscillations
Publication year
2016Number of pages
12 p.
Source
NeuroImage, 142, (2016), pp. 43-54ISSN
Publication type
Article / Letter to editor
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Organization
SW OZ DCC BO
SW OZ DCC PL
Journal title
NeuroImage
Volume
vol. 142
Languages used
English (eng)
Page start
p. 43
Page end
p. 54
Subject
DI-BCB_DCC_Theme 1: Language and Communication; PsycholinguisticsAbstract
We used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to explore the spatiotemporal dynamics of neural oscillations associated with sentence processing in 102 participants. We quantified changes in oscillatory power as the sentence unfolded, and in response to individual words in the sentence. For words early in a sentence compared to those late in the same sentence, we observed differences in left temporal and frontal areas, and bilateral frontal and right parietal regions for the theta, alpha, and beta frequency bands. The neural response to words in a sentence differed from the response to words in scrambled sentences in left-lateralized theta, alpha, beta, and gamma. The theta band effects suggest that a sentential context facilitates lexical retrieval, and that this facilitation is stronger for words late in the sentence. Effects in the alpha and beta bands may reflect the unification of semantic and syntactic information, and are suggestive of easier unification late in a sentence. The gamma oscillations are indicative of predicting the upcoming word during sentence processing. In conclusion, changes in oscillatory neuronal activity capture aspects of sentence processing. Our results support earlier claims that language (sentence) processing recruits areas distributed across both hemispheres, and extends beyond the classical language regions.
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- Faculty of Social Sciences [29483]
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