Prediction Underlying Comprehension of Human Motion: an Analysis of Deaf Signer and Non-Signer EEG in Response to Visual Stimuli

IntroductionSensory inference and top-down predictive processing, reflected in human neural activity, play a critical role in higher-order cognitive processes, such as language comprehension. However, the neurobiological bases of predictive processing in higher-order cognitive processes are not well-understood.MethodsThis study used electroencephalography (EEG) to track participants' cortical dynamics in response to Austrian Sign Language and reversed sign language videos, measuring neural coherence to optical flow in the visual signal. We then used machine learning to assess entropy-based relevance of specific frequencies and regions of interest to brain state classification accuracy.ResultsEEG features highly relevant for classification were distributed across language processing-related regions in Deaf signers (frontal cortex and left hemisphere), while in non-signers such features were concentrated in visual and spatial processing regions.DiscussionThe results highlight functional significance of predictive processing time windows for sign language comprehension and biological motion processing, and the role of long-term experience (learning) in minimizing prediction error.