Contributed Talk Sessions | Poster Sessions | All Posters | Search Papers

Poster Session A: Tuesday, August 12, 1:30 – 4:30 pm, de Brug & E‑Hall

Neural Signatures of Argument Structure Constructions

Pegah Ramezani¹, Achim Schilling², Patrick Krauss³; ¹Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, ²Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, ³University Erlangen-Nuremberg

Presenter: Pegah Ramezani

Understanding how the brain processes language, particularly abstract grammatical structures like Argument Structure Constructions (ASCs), is a key goal in cognitive neuroscience. Exploring how the brain differentiates these constructions helps uncover the neural basis of language comprehension. To investigate this, EEG data was recorded from 12 native English speakers as they listened to sentences representing each ASC type. Analysis of neural signals revealed distinct patterns linked to specific constructions. Significant differences emerged in comparisons between several pairs, especially between transitive and resultative and caused-motion and ditransitive. Other comparisons showed weaker or no differentiation. Machine learning classification supported these findings, identifying construction-specific neural signatures. Although individual variation existed, the Alpha frequency band consistently played the most prominent role in distinguishing constructions, followed by Beta and Delta bands, with Gamma showing minimal impact. These results demonstrate that the brain processes grammatical constructions in distinct ways, challenging the notion of uniform syntactic processing. The findings highlight how neural oscillations, particularly in the Alpha band, are sensitive to grammatical patterns, deepening our understanding of the neural and cognitive architecture underlying language comprehension.

Topic Area: Language & Communication

Extended Abstract: Full Text PDF