Neural synchronization mediates on-line sentence processing: EEG coherence evidence from filler-gap constructions.

Abstract

This study investigated cognitive and neural processes involved in gap filling during on-line sentence comprehension. Electroencephalogram (EEG) coherences were used to demonstrate that increases in the synchronization of neural activity in different cortical regions occur during gap filling when load in semantic working memory is high due to semantically unrelated words in the filler-gap interval. Sentences could either require gap filling at a verb or not, and the nouns preceding the verb could be either semantically related or unrelated. In the unrelated but not related condition, coherences in the beta band were larger during verb processing for sentences requiring gap filling compared to sentences not requiring gap filling. The coherence changes involved linkages between frontal and posterior temporal-parietal sites in both hemispheres. These results further indicate that semantic working memory is involved in the process of gap filling.