Exploring*Oscillatory*Signatures*of*Prediction*and*Prediction*Error*in* Language*Processing*
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2016-08-01
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en
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Abstract
Language!comprehension!is!a!quick!and!dynamic!process.!The!predictive!coding!
theory! suggests! that! we! regularly! make! use! of! contextual! clues! in! order! to!
predict! the! upcoming! content.! In! this! study,! we! have! used!
magnetoencephalography!(MEG)!to!investigate!oscillatory!changes!connected!to!
predictions! and! prediction! errors! in! discourse! comprehension.! While!
participants!read!short,!semantically!manipulated!stories,!we!measured!beta!and!
gamma!oscillatory!powers!as!respective!indicators!of!adaptation!and!prediction!
strengthening!throughout! the! stories,!and!the!oneQoff! surprise,!errorQtriggering!
effect,! at! the! very! end! of! the! story.! As! hypothesized,! we! found! evidence! of!
adaptation! and! prediction! strengthening,! reflected! in! the! significant! beta! band!
power! increase! as! the! reader! becomes! familiar!with! the! content! of! the! story.!
Furthermore,! contrary! to! our! expectations,! we! found! a! significant! increase! in!
both!low!and!high!gamma!power!in!the!same!direction!as!beta!band!finding.!This!
finding,!while! failed! to! confirm!gamma! frequencies! as! indicators!of! surprise! in!
language! comprehension,!were! in! line!with! previous! sentence! comprehension!
studies! that! suggested!gamma!band! to!be! indicative!of! the!match!between!our!
expectations!and!input.!Finally,!we!failed!to!find!any!difference!in!gamma!power!
at!the!occurrence!of!the!oneQoff!surprise!factor!incongruent!with!the!rest!of!the!
story.! Our! findings! confirm! partial,! yet! consistent! discrepancy! between! the!
predictive! coding! hypothesis! on! prediction! and! prediction! errors! oscillatory!
signatures,!and!evidence!from!the!language!comprehension!research.!!
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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen