Brain-imaging evidence for compression of binary sound sequences in human memory.

ABSTRACT: According to the language-of-thought hypothesis, regular sequences are compressed in human memory using recursive loops akin to a mental program that predicts future items. We tested this theory by probing memory for 16-item sequences made of two sounds. We recorded brain activity with functional MRI and magneto-encephalography (MEG) while participants listened to a hierarchy of sequences of variable complexity, whose minimal description required transition probabilities, chunking, or nested structures. Occasional deviant sounds probed the participants' knowledge of the sequence. We predicted that task difficulty and brain activity would be proportional to the complexity derived from the minimal description length in our formal language. Furthermore, activity should increase with complexit

SUBMITTER: Al Roumi F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10619979 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature