Language prediction in monolingual and bilingual speakers: an EEG study.

Prediction of upcoming words is thought to be crucial for language comprehension. Here, we are asking whether bilingualism entails changes to the electrophysiological substrates of prediction. Prior findings leave it open whether monolingual and bilingual speakers predict upcoming words to the same extent and in the same manner. We address this issue with a naturalistic approach, employing an information-theoretic metric, surprisal, to predict and contrast the N400 brain potential in monolingual and bilingual speakers. We recruited 18 Iranian Azeri-Persian bilingual speakers and 22 Persian monolingual speakers. Subjects listened to a story in Persian while their electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded. Bayesian item-level analysis was used. While in monolingual speakers N400 was sensitive to information-theoretic properties of both the current and previous words, in bilingual speakers N400 reflected the properties of the previous word only. Our findings show evidence for a processing delay in bilingual speakers which is consistent with prior research.

Nonlinear Analysis of Electroencephalogram Signals while Listening to the Holy Quran.

BACKGROUND: Electrical activity of the brain, resulting from electrochemical signaling between neurons, is recorded by electroencephalogram (EEG). The neural network has complex behavior at different levels that strongly confirms the nonlinear nature of interactions in the human brain. This study has been designed and implemented with the aim of determining the effects of religious beliefs and the effect of listening to Holy Quran on electrical activity of the brain of the Iranian Persian-speaking Muslim volunteers. METHODS: The brain signals of 47 Persian-speaking Muslim volunteers while listening to the Holy Quran consciously, and while listening to the Holy Quran and the Arabic text unconsciously were used. Therefore, due to the nonlinear nature of EEG signals, these signals are studied using approximate entropy, sample entropy, Hurst exponent, and Detrended Fluctuation Analysis. RESULTS: Statistical analysis of the results has shown that listening to the Holy Quran consciously increases approximate entropy and sample entropy, and decreases Hurst Exponent and Detrended Fluctuation Analysis compared to other cases. CONCLUSION: Consciously listening to the Holy Quran decreases self-similarity and correlation of brain signal and instead increases complexity and dynamicity in the brain.

Spirituality and brain waves.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of Quran on a Persian-speaking Muslim. Volunteers listened to three different audio files (Verses from Sura 'Forqan' unconsciously; Arabic text unconsciously; Verses from Sura 'Fath' consciously). EEG signals were recorded and the changes in the relative power of theta and alpha band are considered an indicators of relaxation. The findings indicate that conscious listening to Holy Quran increases the relative theta power in most areas of the head, compared to the rest condition, and listening to Quran unconsciously increased relative theta power in the frontal and central lobes of the head significantly, compared to the rest condition. Also, listening to Quran consciously increases the relative alpha power in the frontal lobe, compared to the rest condition.