Proposal : Addition of N400 experiment

I propose adding a new ERP experiment to the repo that elicits the N400 component, which reflects semantic processing and the brain’s response to unexpected or incongruent words in language.

Summary of the Feature

• Experiment Name: language_n400

• Paradigm: Sentence reading task using semantic congruity manipulation

• Design: Present sentences where the final word is either congruent (makes sense) or incongruent (semantically unexpected). For example:

  • Congruent: “She spread the bread with butter.”
  • Incongruent: “She spread the bread with socks.”

• ERP Component: N400 — a negative-going wave peaking around 400 ms after the critical word, strongest at central-parietal electrodes (e.g., Cz, Pz).

• Use Case: Useful for education, ERP training, and research on semantic processing. Also supports comparison with other ERP components like the P300.

Dataset Reference (Public, External)

To support this experiment, I plan to reference the [Dryad N400 Sentence Stimulus Dataset], which is released under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license (public domain).

This dataset provides:

• Sentence stimuli with semantic congruity/incongruity conditions
• Public EEG recordings from a validated semantic violation task
• A benchmark for ERP extraction and validation

Note: I will not re-upload the dataset. Instead:

• The dataset will be cited in the experiment README
• A direct link to the Dryad DOI will be included
• The dataset may be referenced in the analysis notebook for optional benchmarking or comparison

If you'd like to see this feature implemented, add a 👍 reaction to this post.

The issue names no implementation files or tests. Start by reviewing existing ERP experiments in EEG-ExPy and their README conventions, then determine how a sentence-reading task and optional external dataset reference should fit the repository. Done means a runnable language_n400 experiment with the stated congruent and incongruent conditions and a citation to the Dryad dataset.