The capability of your mind to synchronize with all the tone and intonation of language influences how language is processed. This is the conclusion of a study from the Basque research centre BCBL. The results can bring about more effective actions to train the mind to be able to avoid disorders like dyslexia.

Over the years, neuroscience research have demonstrated that the auditory areas of the brain synchronize with external sensory stimuli. That would be to state, the mind can essentially adjust the frequency of brain waves using an oscillations or rhythm of perceptible stimuli.

However, little was known so far of the consequences of the impact of mind synchronization, also called brain entrainment, in brain regions directly linked to language processing.

A research performed by the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language of San Sebastian has thoroughly examined the mind synchronization of 72 individuals. According to Nicola Molinaro, a researcher in the BCBL, the experiment demonstrates that the synchronization with language is more intense when the brain listens to low-frequency waves–those associated with the accent, tones and intonation of speech.

Likewise, the analysis has proven that this synchronization results in an immediate stimulation of the brain areas associated with speech processing, as is the case of the Broca area, a part located in the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere.

In preceding work, researchers in the middle of San Sebastian found that children who have dyslexia show a weak synchronization with low frequency bands, and therefore, a poor activation of the areas associated with language processing.

In addition, it’s scientifically demonstrated that young men and women who don’t optimally process low frequency waves have significantly higher difficulty in decoding phonemes and words, which can be directly associated with reading ability and potential disorders, including dyslexia.

Therapeutic interventions centered on learning

When assessing the impact of cerebral synchrony linked to tones and language intonation, Molinaro clarifies that therapeutic interventions centered on language learning could be developed during childhood by stimulating low frequency sensory elements and thus receive a clearer idea of the sounds which compose the language.

This may be applicable to tasks with speech therapists, developing particular interventions to synchronize with low frequency speech. “With repeated training sessions we can help children with language delay to recover the mechanisms of attention,” she states.

The BCBL researchers ran a total of two studies with 35 and 37 people respectively; those individuals listened to various sentences for about six minutes.

Through magneto encephalography (MEG), a noninvasive technique which enables accurately documenting and assessing the neuronal activity of the brain while the participants execute a task, the investigators examined brain areas which were synchronized with distinct frequency groups.

For Molinaro, it is important to continue analyzing the occurrence of cerebral synchronization to specify more clearly what happens in the brain.

The authors intend to conduct additional investigations to analyze exactly what occurs with this phenomenon once the subject is at a communicative context with various people talking at the exact same time along with other conditions.

Journal reference:

European Journal of Neuroscience