Experimental use of quantitative electroencephalography in the analysis of (literary) reading Event-Related-Potential (ERP) Waves

Abstract

The article is the first part of a two-part survey on the use of the electroencephalogram (EEG) method in the analysis of (literary) reading. The authors first present the EEG method and the content of the EEG recording. The latter registers continuous changes in voltage on the head's surface (article I), which reflect changes in the brain's rhythm (article II). After that, they focus on the method of ERP averaging, with which they observe average changes in the electrophysiological signals between numerous repetitions of the thought experiment; that enables a precise recording of the changes in brain activity during reading of a certain word, word phrase, or sentence. The results of the ERP studies represent a referential framework for tackling experimental research in brain activity during reading of literary texts.