Oscillatory activity and EEG phase synchrony of concurrent word segmentation and meaning-mapping in 9-year-old children
When learning a new language, one must segment words from continuous speech and associate them with meanings. These complex processes can be boosted by attentional mechanisms triggered by multi-sensory information. Previous electrophysiological studies suggest that brain oscillations are sensitive t...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2021-10-01
|
| Series: | Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878929321001006 |
| _version_ | 1818883461624102912 |
|---|---|
| author | Neus Ramos-Escobar Emma Segura Guillem Olivé Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells Clément François |
| author_facet | Neus Ramos-Escobar Emma Segura Guillem Olivé Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells Clément François |
| author_sort | Neus Ramos-Escobar |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | When learning a new language, one must segment words from continuous speech and associate them with meanings. These complex processes can be boosted by attentional mechanisms triggered by multi-sensory information. Previous electrophysiological studies suggest that brain oscillations are sensitive to different hierarchical complexity levels of the input, making them a plausible neural substrate for speech parsing. Here, we investigated the functional role of brain oscillations during concurrent speech segmentation and meaning acquisition in sixty 9-year-old children. We collected EEG data during an audio-visual statistical learning task during which children were exposed to a learning condition with consistent word-picture associations and a random condition with inconsistent word-picture associations before being tested on their ability to recall words and word-picture associations. We capitalized on the brain dynamics to align neural activity to the same rate as an external rhythmic stimulus to explore modulations of neural synchronization and phase synchronization between electrodes during multi-sensory word learning. Results showed enhanced power at both word- and syllabic-rate and increased EEG phase synchronization between frontal and occipital regions in the learning compared to the random condition. These findings suggest that multi-sensory cueing and attentional mechanisms play an essential role in children's successful word learning. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T15:34:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5fa1c076f9ff4502ac467e6738fbdd0b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1878-9293 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T15:34:01Z |
| publishDate | 2021-10-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-5fa1c076f9ff4502ac467e6738fbdd0b2022-12-21T20:15:39ZengElsevierDevelopmental Cognitive Neuroscience1878-92932021-10-0151101010Oscillatory activity and EEG phase synchrony of concurrent word segmentation and meaning-mapping in 9-year-old childrenNeus Ramos-Escobar0Emma Segura1Guillem Olivé2Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells3Clément François4Dept. of Cognition, Development and Educational Science, Institute of Neuroscience, University of Barcelona, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, 08097, Spain; Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, 08097, SpainDept. of Cognition, Development and Educational Science, Institute of Neuroscience, University of Barcelona, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, 08097, Spain; Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, 08097, SpainDept. of Cognition, Development and Educational Science, Institute of Neuroscience, University of Barcelona, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, 08097, Spain; Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, 08097, SpainDept. of Cognition, Development and Educational Science, Institute of Neuroscience, University of Barcelona, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, 08097, Spain; Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, 08097, Spain; Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, ICREA, Barcelona, Spain; Corresponding author at: Dept. of Cognition, Development and Educational Science, Institute of Neuroscience, University of Barcelona, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, 08097, Spain.Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, LPL, 13100, Aix-en-Provence, France; Corresponding author at: Laboratoire Parole et Langage, CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, 5 avenue Pasteur, 13100, Aix-en-Provence, France.When learning a new language, one must segment words from continuous speech and associate them with meanings. These complex processes can be boosted by attentional mechanisms triggered by multi-sensory information. Previous electrophysiological studies suggest that brain oscillations are sensitive to different hierarchical complexity levels of the input, making them a plausible neural substrate for speech parsing. Here, we investigated the functional role of brain oscillations during concurrent speech segmentation and meaning acquisition in sixty 9-year-old children. We collected EEG data during an audio-visual statistical learning task during which children were exposed to a learning condition with consistent word-picture associations and a random condition with inconsistent word-picture associations before being tested on their ability to recall words and word-picture associations. We capitalized on the brain dynamics to align neural activity to the same rate as an external rhythmic stimulus to explore modulations of neural synchronization and phase synchronization between electrodes during multi-sensory word learning. Results showed enhanced power at both word- and syllabic-rate and increased EEG phase synchronization between frontal and occipital regions in the learning compared to the random condition. These findings suggest that multi-sensory cueing and attentional mechanisms play an essential role in children's successful word learning.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878929321001006ChildrenSpeech segmentationMeaning-mappingEEGFrequency-taggingScalp-based phase synchrony |
| spellingShingle | Neus Ramos-Escobar Emma Segura Guillem Olivé Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells Clément François Oscillatory activity and EEG phase synchrony of concurrent word segmentation and meaning-mapping in 9-year-old children Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Children Speech segmentation Meaning-mapping EEG Frequency-tagging Scalp-based phase synchrony |
| title | Oscillatory activity and EEG phase synchrony of concurrent word segmentation and meaning-mapping in 9-year-old children |
| title_full | Oscillatory activity and EEG phase synchrony of concurrent word segmentation and meaning-mapping in 9-year-old children |
| title_fullStr | Oscillatory activity and EEG phase synchrony of concurrent word segmentation and meaning-mapping in 9-year-old children |
| title_full_unstemmed | Oscillatory activity and EEG phase synchrony of concurrent word segmentation and meaning-mapping in 9-year-old children |
| title_short | Oscillatory activity and EEG phase synchrony of concurrent word segmentation and meaning-mapping in 9-year-old children |
| title_sort | oscillatory activity and eeg phase synchrony of concurrent word segmentation and meaning mapping in 9 year old children |
| topic | Children Speech segmentation Meaning-mapping EEG Frequency-tagging Scalp-based phase synchrony |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878929321001006 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT neusramosescobar oscillatoryactivityandeegphasesynchronyofconcurrentwordsegmentationandmeaningmappingin9yearoldchildren AT emmasegura oscillatoryactivityandeegphasesynchronyofconcurrentwordsegmentationandmeaningmappingin9yearoldchildren AT guillemolive oscillatoryactivityandeegphasesynchronyofconcurrentwordsegmentationandmeaningmappingin9yearoldchildren AT antonirodriguezfornells oscillatoryactivityandeegphasesynchronyofconcurrentwordsegmentationandmeaningmappingin9yearoldchildren AT clementfrancois oscillatoryactivityandeegphasesynchronyofconcurrentwordsegmentationandmeaningmappingin9yearoldchildren |