Event-related theta power increases in the human EEG during online sentence processing

By analyzing event-related changes in induced band power in narrow frequency bands of the human electroencephalograph, the present paper explores a possible functional role of the alpha and theta rhythms during the processing of words and of sentences. The results show a phasic power increase in the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuroscience letters 2002-04, Vol.323 (1), p.13-16
Main Authors: Bastiaansen, Marcel C.M., van Berkum, Jos J.A., Hagoort, Peter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Alpha Rhythm
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain - physiology
Electroencephalograph rhythms
Electroencephalography
Electrophysiology
Episodic memory
Event-related desynchronization
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Induced band power
Male
Memory - physiology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Reading
Sentence processing
Theta Rhythm
Working memory
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Summary:By analyzing event-related changes in induced band power in narrow frequency bands of the human electroencephalograph, the present paper explores a possible functional role of the alpha and theta rhythms during the processing of words and of sentences. The results show a phasic power increase in the theta frequency range, together with a phasic power decrease in the alpha frequency range, following the presentation of words in a sentence. These effects may be related to word processing, either lexical or in relation to sentence context. Most importantly, there is a slow and highly frequency-specific increase in theta power as a sentence unfolds, possibly related to the formation of an episodic memory trace, or to incremental verbal working memory load.
ISSN:0304-3940
1872-7972
DOI:10.1016/S0304-3940(01)02535-6