Reactions of Brain in English Reading Tests

The purpose of this research is to analyze the event-related potentials (ERPs) of brain waves while engaged in reading in English. The brain wave responses of participants in choosing correct and incorrect answers on English reading tests were studied. Three English reading tests at differing levels of difficulty were used in the experiment and twelve participants (non-native English learners), six males and six females whose ages ranged from 20 to 24, voluntarily participated in the experiment. Experimental results were analyzed by independent t-tests on the EEG potentials of participants having different levels of English proficiency. A significant difference was observed at the frontal lobe under differing conditions. Subjects who chose incorrect answers on the tests elicited a higher N600, a finding similar to that of previous literature. In addition, an interesting result was found: for males, the significant area was located in the right hemisphere, whereas for females, it was in the left hemisphere. This seems to imply that males and females employ different areas of the brain to comprehend the meaning of difficult statements.