EEG Theta Responses Induced by Emoji Semantic Violations

EEG Theta Responses Induced by Emoji Semantic Violations | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article EEG Theta Responses Induced by Emoji Semantic Violations Mengmeng Tang, Bingfei Chen, Xiufeng Zhao, Lun Zhao This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-119874/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 11 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study investigated emoji semantic processing by measuring changes in event-related electroencephalogram (EEG) power. The last segment of experimental sentences was designed as either words or emojis consistent or inconsistent with the sentential context. The results showed that incongruent emojis led to a conspicuous increase of theta power (4-7Hz), while incongruent words induced a decrease. Furthermore, the theta power increase was observed at midfrontal, occipital and bilateral temporal lobes with emojis. This suggests a higher working memory load for monitoring errors, difficulty of form recognition and concept retrieval in emoji semantic processing. It implies different neuro-cognitive processes involved in the semantic processing of emojis and words. Cognitive Neuroscience emoji semantic processing theta responses EEG language Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Major revision 27 Jan, 2021 Reviews received at journal 16 Jan, 2021 Reviews received at journal 27 Dec, 2020 Reviewers agreed at journal 23 Dec, 2020 Reviewers agreed at journal 21 Dec, 2020 Reviewers agreed at journal 15 Dec, 2020 Reviewers invited by journal 15 Dec, 2020 Editor assigned by journal 13 Dec, 2020 Editor invited by journal 04 Dec, 2020 Submission checks completed at journal 04 Dec, 2020 First submitted to journal 01 Dec, 2020 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-119874","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":5843483,"identity":"94d98068-1738-4970-8685-54d22dd9f61d","order_by":0,"name":"Mengmeng Tang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"China University of Petroleum, Beijing","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mengmeng","middleName":"","lastName":"Tang","suffix":""},{"id":5843484,"identity":"68616c1a-cb01-443e-a60a-be185c7100fd","order_by":1,"name":"Bingfei Chen","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"China University of Petroleum, 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