After decades of research, language scientists have found that people's brains respond differently to different kinds of errors in a sentence. One way to study the brain's response to semantic errors is to use electroencephalogram (EEG). EEG measures the electrical activity that is always happening in every part of the brain. To measure this activity, scientists ask people to wear special caps that are covered with sensors called electrodes. The electrodes sit on the scalp and measure the electrical activity coming from the neurons (brain cells) that are right underneath the electrodes. Scientists can then study how the electrical activity changes based on what volunteers are doing.
Scientists have recorded EEG's while volunteers read sentences with semantic anomalies. In their experiments, scientists asked volunteers to read many sentences that contain semantic mistakes. The scientists then and take the average of the brain's activity when as the volunteers read the sentences. The averaged brain activity is called an event-related potential (ERP) waveform, which that is like a wave that contains several high and low points.

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