Studying brain activity during word-by-word interactions using wireless EEG.

Tatiana Goregliad Fjaellingsdal,Stefan Scherbaum,Esther Ruigendijk,Diana Schwenke,Martin Georg Bleichner,Marte Otten

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0230280

Tatiana Goregliad Fjaellingsdal, Stefan Scherbaum + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0230280

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Abstract

We introduce here the word-by-word paradigm, a dynamic setting, in which two people take turns in producing a single sentence. This task requires a high degree of coordination between the partners and the simplicity of the task allows us to study with sufficient experimental control behavioral and neural processes that underlie this controlled interaction. For this study, 13 pairs of individuals engaged in a scripted word-by-word interaction, while we recorded the neural activity of both participants simultaneously using wireless EEG. To study expectation building, different semantic contexts were primed for each participant. Semantically unexpected continuations were introduced in 25% of all sentences. In line with the hypothesis, we observed amplitude differences for the P200—N400—P600 ERPs for unexpected compared to expected words. Moreover, we could successfully assess speech and reaction times. Our results show that it is possible to measure ERPs and RTs to semantically unexpected words in a dyadic interactive scenario.

Highlights

Humans interact on a daily basis, using language to communicate
We have shown that the word-by-word paradigm allows assessing speech times of utterances and the reaction times to speak during the interaction
In contrast to the predicted increase in reading aloud times for unexpected words, we found a significant decrease in reaction time (RT) for unexpected versus expected sentence continuations for the sequence critical word (CW)+1, CW+3, CW+5

Summary

Introduction

Humans interact on a daily basis, using language to communicate Such communications are marked by a constant back and forth between the speaker(s) and listener(s). A dynamic that is facilitated by predicting what other people will say and using it to prepare our response [1]. This often works out and allows us to quickly respond, and even initiate an adequate response before the other person has finished the sentence [2].

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