MEG

In this study we combine continuous MEG recording and forward modelling (temporal response functions) to measure phase-amplitude coupling evoked by distinct linguistic features in spoken language comprehension. We show that both structural and statistical language knowledge jointly shape neural dynamics.

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This study addresses a fundamental aspect of human speech processing: namely, how acoustic and linguistic features interact during comprehension.

It remains unclear whether the proposed functional role of α and β oscillations in perceptual and motor function is generalizable to higher-level cognitive processes, such as spoken language comprehension. We found that syntactic features predict α and β power in language-related regions beyond low-level linguistic features when listening to naturalistic speech in a known language. We offer experimental findings that integrate a neuroscientific framework on the role of brain oscillations as “building blocks” with spoken language comprehension. This supports the view of a domain-general role of oscillations across the hierarchy of cognitive functions, from low-level sensory operations to abstract linguistic processes.