Saccade-related brain potentials during reading correct and incorrect versions of proverbs

Using a reading task, the present study investigated saccade-related brain potentials (SRPs) accompanying the perception of the final words of proverbs, i.e. of sentences where the context allows a strong anticipation of the final word. The sentences were presented one at a time on a TV monitor. The proverbs appeared either in their original form or with their final word changed to be incongruous with the sentence context. SRPs to the two types of final words were recorded from 4 scalp areas. The onset of the saccade leading to the final word was used to trigger the averaging of SRPs. Incongruent and congruent brain responses were also compared by means of difference waveforms. The results showed that a difference between SRPs to congruous vs incongruous final words of proverbs already appeared simultaneously with the SRP component indicating the analysis of the visual pattern of the word. This finding supports an interactive model of word perception.