Brain oscillations are prevalent in all species and are involved in numerous perceptual operations. α oscillations are thought to facilitate processing through the inhibition of task-irrelevant networks, while β oscillations are linked to the putative reactivation of content representations. Can the proposed functional role of α and β oscillations be generalized from low-level operations to higher-level cognitive processes? Here we address this question focusing on naturalistic spoken language comprehension. Twenty-two (18 female) Dutch native speakers listened to stories in Dutch and French while MEG was recorded. We used dependency parsing to identify three dependency states at each word: the number of (1) newly opened dependencies, (2) dependencies that remained open, and (3) resolved dependencies. We then constructed forward models to predict α and β power from the dependency features. Results showed that dependency features predict α and β power in language-related regions beyond low-level linguistic features. Left temporal, fundamental language regions are involved in language comprehension in α, while frontal and parietal, higher-order language regions, and motor regions are involved in β. Critically, α- and β-band dynamics seem to subserve language comprehension tapping into syntactic structure building and semantic composition by providing low-level mechanistic operations for inhibition and reactivation processes. Because of the temporal similarity of the α-β responses, their potential functional dissociation remains to be elucidated. Overall, this study sheds light on the role of α and β oscillations during naturalistic spoken language comprehension, providing evidence for the generalizability of these dynamics from perceptual to complex linguistic processes.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT It remains unclear whether the proposed functional role of α and β oscillations in perceptual and motor function is generalizable to higher-level cognitive processes, such as spoken language comprehension. We found that syntactic features predict α and β power in language-related regions beyond low-level linguistic features when listening to naturalistic speech in a known language. We offer experimental findings that integrate a neuroscientific framework on the role of brain oscillations as "building blocks" with spoken language comprehension. This supports the view of a domain-general role of oscillations across the hierarchy of cognitive functions, from low-level sensory operations to abstract linguistic processes.

大脑振荡在所有物种中都很普遍，并参与许多感知操作。 α 振荡被认为通过抑制与任务无关的网络来促进处理，而 β 振荡则与内容表征的推定重新激活有关。所提出的 α 和 β 振荡的功能作用可以从低级操作推广到更高级别的认知过程吗？在这里，我们解决这个问题的重点是自然口语理解。二十二名（18 名女性）荷兰语母语人士在录制 MEG 时聆听荷兰语和法语故事。我们使用依赖项解析来识别每个单词的三个依赖项状态：（1）新打开的依赖项的数量，（2）保持打开的依赖项的数量，以及（3）已解决的依赖项的数量。然后，我们构建了前向模型来根据依赖性特征预测 α 和 β 幂。结果表明，依赖性特征可以预测低级语言特征之外的语言相关区域的 α 和 β 幂。左颞叶、基本语言区参与 α 区的语言理解，而额叶和顶叶、高阶语言区和运动区则参与 β 区。至关重要的是，α 和 β 带动力学似乎通过为抑制和重新激活过程提供低级机械操作来促进句法结构构建和语义构成的语言理解。由于 α-β 反应的时间相似性，它们潜在的功能分离仍有待阐明。总的来说，这项研究揭示了 α 和 β 振荡在自然口语理解过程中的作用，为这些动态从感知到复杂语言过程的普遍性提供了证据。

意义陈述目前尚不清楚所提出的α和β振荡在知觉和运动功能中的功能作用是否可以推广到更高层次的认知过程，例如口语理解。我们发现，当聆听已知语言的自然语音时，句法特征可以预测低级语言特征之外的语言相关区域的 α 和 β 幂。我们提供的实验结果整合了关于大脑振荡作为“构建块”与口语理解的作用的神经科学框架。这支持了从低级感觉操作到抽象语言过程的认知功能层次结构中振荡的一般领域作用的观点。