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The Semantics of Adjective Noun Phrases in the Human Brain

Alona Fyshe, Gustavo Sudre, Leila Wehbe, Nicole Rafidi, Tom M. Mitchell
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/089615
Alona Fyshe
aDepartment of Computer Science, University of Victoria, 3800 Finnerty Road, Victoria, BC, Canada, V8P 5C2
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Gustavo Sudre
bNational Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA 20814
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Leila Wehbe
cHelen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. 94720
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Nicole Rafidi
dMachine Learning Department, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, 15213
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Tom M. Mitchell
dMachine Learning Department, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, 15213
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Abstract

As a person reads, the brain performs complex operations to create higher order semantic representations from individual words. While these steps are effortless for competent readers, we are only beginning to understand how the brain performs these actions. Here, we explore semantic composition using magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings of people reading adjective-noun phrases presented one word at a time. We track the neural representation of semantic information over time, through different brain regions. Our results reveal several novel findings: 1) the neural representation of adjective semantics observed during adjective reading is reactivated after phrase reading, with remarkable consistency, 2) a neural representation of the adjective is also present during noun presentation, but this neural representation is the reverse of that observed during adjective presentation 3) the neural representation of adjective semantics are oscillatory and entrained to alpha band frequencies. We also introduce a new method for analyzing brain image time series called Time Generalized Averaging. Taken together, these results paint a picture of information flow in the brain as phrases are read and understood.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted November 25, 2016.
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The Semantics of Adjective Noun Phrases in the Human Brain
Alona Fyshe, Gustavo Sudre, Leila Wehbe, Nicole Rafidi, Tom M. Mitchell
bioRxiv 089615; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/089615
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The Semantics of Adjective Noun Phrases in the Human Brain
Alona Fyshe, Gustavo Sudre, Leila Wehbe, Nicole Rafidi, Tom M. Mitchell
bioRxiv 089615; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/089615

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