The Story in the Code: Programmers Show Distinct Brain Responses to Form and Meaning Violations During Python Comprehension

Abstract

Despite efforts to bolster computer programming education, programming remains a difficult skill to acquire that we do not fully understand. Using the event-related potential method, this dissertation investigates how programmers process meaning and form during code comprehension as a method for understanding their underlying mental models of programming knowledge. Programmers exhibited distinct brain responses to semantic violations (N400) and structural violations (P600), similar to other symbolic systems such as natural language and mathematics. Programming expertise was associated with more prominent P600 effects, indicating a stronger sensitivity to structural cues. This dissertation presents the first evidence that programmers process meaning and form as distinct sources of information that jointly influence code comprehension, and that the construction, retrieval, and application of schemas informs programming expertise.