Cortical tracking to the beat: a window on the learning processes underlying grammar acquisition
Recent studies have demonstrated a robust association between musical rhythmic processing and grammatical abilities. One influential proposal is that this link arises because musical rhythm enhances sensitivity to speech prosody, the overall rhythm and melody of spoken language. Prosodic cues (e.g., pitch, pauses, and phrasing) reliably signal syntactic structure and, crucially, have recently been shown to be sufficiently rhythmic to support temporal predictions. This link is particularly relevant for grammar learning, which strongly depends on predictive processes that mature relatively late in development.
In the first study of my PhD thesis, we showed that rhythmic structure, addressed as beat-inducing input, facilitates the detection and learning of grammar-like structures in Artificial Languages (ALs). In this presentation, I will introduce the second study, which investigates the neural basis of this facilitation in healthy adults and school-age children using electroencephalography (EEG). Participants were passively exposed to three Artificial Languages (ALs) conditions that varied in rhythmic structure (beat-inducing vs non-beat-inducing), presence of grammar-like rules (non-adjacent dependencies), and the temporal alignment between these elements. We extracted Steady-State Evoked Potentials (SSEPs) and Inter-Trial Phase Coherence (ITPC) at the beat frequency to test whether ongoing detection of grammar-like structures is reflected in modulations of these neural measures and whether such effects are observed in both age groups.
You can attend in person in Bellvitge seminars room, or connect via Zoom using the following meeting link:
Date: January 12th, 12:00h
Location: Bellvitge seminar room and online with the following zoom link:
https://ub-edu.zoom.us/j/91093327900?pwd=GK0hHoXb0UcAqbsbaS9VkaeoOXbzDq.1
Meeting ID: 910 9332 7900
Passcode: 159265