Integrating Large Language Model, EEG, and Eye-Tracking for Word-Level Neural State Classification in Reading Comprehension.

Journal: IEEE transactions on neural systems and rehabilitation engineering : a publication of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society
PMID:

Abstract

With the recent proliferation of large language models (LLMs), such as Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT), there has been a significant shift in exploring human and machine comprehension of semantic language meaning. This shift calls for interdisciplinary research that bridges cognitive science and natural language processing (NLP). This pilot study aims to provide insights into individuals' neural states during a semantic inference reading-comprehension task. We propose jointly analyzing LLMs, eye-gaze, and electroencephalographic (EEG) data to study how the brain processes words with varying degrees of relevance to a keyword during reading. We also use feature engineering to improve the fixation-related EEG data classification while participants read words with high versus low relevance to the keyword. The best validation accuracy in this word-level classification is over 60% across 12 subjects. Words highly relevant to the inference keyword received significantly more eye fixations per word: 1.0584 compared to 0.6576, including words with no fixations. This study represents the first attempt to classify brain states at a word level using LLM-generated labels. It provides valuable insights into human cognitive abilities and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), and offers guidance for developing potential reading-assisted technologies.

Authors

  • Yuhong Zhang
    Department of Ultrasound, The Second Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.
  • Qin Li
    Department of Spine Surgery, The Third Hospital of Mianyang, Sichuan Mental Health Center, Mianyang, China.
  • Sujal Nahata
  • Tasnia Jamal
  • Shih-Kuen Cheng
  • Gert Cauwenberghs
  • Tzyy-Ping Jung
    Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, Institute for Neural Computation, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.