Better together: integrating multivariate with univariate methods, and MEG with EEG to study language comprehension

We used MEG and EEG to examine the effects of Plausibility (anomalous vs. plausible) and Animacy (animate vs. inanimate) on activity to incoming words during language comprehension. We conducted univariate event-related and multivariate spatial similarity analyses on both datasets. The univariate and multivariate results converged in their time course and sensitivity to Plausibility. However, only the spatial similarity analyses detected effects of Animacy. The MEG and EEG findings largely converged between 300-500 ms, but diverged in their univariate and multivariate responses to anomalies between 600-1000 ms. We interpret the full set of results within a predictive coding framework. In addition to the theoretical significance, we discuss the methodological implications of the convergence and divergence between the univariate and multivariate results, as well as between the MEG and EEG results. We argue that a deeper understanding of language processing can be achieved by integrating different analysis approaches and techniques.