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The Neural Dynamics of Hierarchical Syntactic Structures During Language Comprehension

Poster Session D - Monday, March 9, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballrooms

Cheryl Gilford¹, Martin Meyer¹, Balthasar Bickel¹, Nina Kazanina²; ¹University of Zurich, ²University of Geneva

Human language comprehension relies on the brain’s capacity to build syntactic structure in real time, yet the neural mechanisms underlying this process remain poorly understood. Most neuroimaging studies of syntax have focused on identifying the spatial localisation of syntactic processing, while others relied on controlled stimuli, restricted frequency ranges, simplified syntactic representations, or computational models that do not reflect incremental sentence processing. As a result, little is known about how neural oscillations coordinate to support syntactic structure building during continuous, naturalistic speech. This study addresses this gap by developing a neurobiologically grounded model of how interactions across oscillatory frequency bands from delta to low gamma support syntactic processing during naturalistic spoken language comprehension. A magnetoencephalography (MEG) dataset from 27 participants listening to four English narratives was used, with structural MRI data from 12 participants enabling source localisation. Syntactic structure was modeled using a psycholinguistically plausible parser that constructs incremental hierarchical representations, generates predictions, and resolves syntactic ambiguity as linguistic input unfolds. From this model, five syntactic features were derived, each reflecting key stages in the construction of hierarchical syntax. Using multivariate temporal response functions (mTRFs), frequency bands are examined for syntactic feature encoding, with reconstruction accuracy and RMSE scores analysed using linear mixed effects and Bayesian modeling. Preliminary findings indicate theta, beta and low gamma contributions in bilateral temporal and frontal brain regions. These findings offer an emerging mechanistic and temporally precise account of syntactic structure building, advancing our understanding of how the brain constructs syntax during naturalistic language comprehension.

Topic Area: LANGUAGE: Syntax