This project investigates how the brain constructs meaning during language comprehension by analyzing intracranial EEG (iEEG) data with millisecond-scale temporal resolution. Conducted under Dr. Kumar Duraivel and Prof. Evelina Fedorenko at MIT's EvLab, this research addresses limitations of fMRI studies, which capture neural activity only at second-level resolution. Language comprehension involves transforming sensory input from auditory/visual cortices into structured linguistic representations through semantic and syntactic processing, then integrating these with higher-order cognitive systems. Previous fMRI research shows incremental comprehension difficulty selectively activates language networks, but cannot capture rapid neural dynamics underlying speech perception, syntax, and semantic understanding. Using iEEG's high temporal resolution, I will model neural effects of comprehension difficulty and working memory, examining how syntactic, semantic, and predictive processes emerge and interact in language-selective cortex during real-time meaning construction.
