Ling, S., Lee, A. C. H., Armstrong, B. C., & Nestor, A. (2019). How are visual words represented? Insights from EEG-based visual word decoding, feature derivation and image reconstruction. Human Brain Mapping. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.24757
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Abstract
Investigations into the neural basis of reading have shed light on
the cortical locus and the functional role of visual-orthographic
processing. Yet, the fine-grained structure of neural representations
subserving reading remains to be clarified. Here, we capitalize on the
spatiotemporal structure of electroencephalography (EEG) data to examine
if and how EEG patterns can serve to decode and reconstruct the
internal representation of visually presented words in healthy adults.
Our results show that word classification and image reconstruction were
accurate well above chance, that their temporal profile exhibited an
early onset, soon after 100ms, and peaked around 170ms. Further,
reconstruction results were well explained by a combination of
visual-orthographic word properties. Last, systematic individual
differences were detected in orthographic representations across
participants. Collectively, our results establish the feasibility of
EEG-based word decoding and image reconstruction. More generally, they
help to elucidate the specific features, dynamics, and
neurocomputational principles underlying word recognition.
Keywords: EEG, multivariate analysis, reading, word processing
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