PNAs: new research reveals the mechanism of "real-time" language understanding in the brain

October 1, 2019 / biourn / -- in a recent study published in PNAS, researchers at Cambridge University developed a new computing model for how the brain understands the meaning of words, and tested the real-time brain activity of volunteers "Our ability to put a word into context based on other words around us is a real-time process, thanks to our brain However, we still don't understand the mechanism " The study's author, Dr Lorraine Tyler, from Cambridge University, said (photo source: www Pixabay Com) the core of language understanding is the so-called "semantic synthesis" process In this process, the brain will combine the meanings of words in sentences when it hears them, so that they will become meaningful in what has been said The new study reveals the ongoing "real-time" recording process within the brain In this study, the author used the phrase "the old man ate the apple" to observe how the brains of the participants responded, and the researchers could track the dynamic pattern of information flow between key language areas in the brain When the word "eat" is heard, it stimulates the brain's constraints on how to interpret the next word in a sentence: "eat" may be related to food This study shows how these constraints directly affect the understanding of the meaning of the next word in a sentence Professor Tyler said: "the mechanism by which our brains help to understand what others are saying is amazing By looking at the flow of real-time information in the brain, we have shown how the meaning of words can be quickly interpreted and placed in context " Sources of information: mechanisms of real-time speech interpretation in the human brain reviewed original sources: Bingjiang Lyu El Al., "natural dynamics of semantic composition," PNAs (2019) Www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1903402116