Fast Brain Plasticity during Word Learning in Musically-Trained Children

Abstract

Children learn new words every day and this ability requires auditory perception, phoneme discrimination, attention, associative learning and semantic memory. Based on previous results showing that some of these functions are enhanced by music training, we investigated learning of novel words through picture-word associations in musically-trained and control children (8–12 year-old) to determine whether music training would positively influence word learning. Results showed that musically-trained children outperformed controls in a learning paradigm that included picture-sound matching and semantic associations. Moreover, the differences between unexpected and expected learned words, as reflected by the N200 and N400 effects, were larger in children with music training compared to controls after only 3 min of learning the meaning of novel words. In line with previous results in adults, these findings clearly demonstrate a correlation between music training and better word learning. It is argued that these benefits reflect both bottom-up and top-down influences. The present learning paradigm might provide a useful dynamic diagnostic tool to determine which perceptive and cognitive functions are impaired in children with learning difficulties.

Relationships between music training, speech processing, and word learning: a network perspective

“…In addition, on the basis of previous evidence showing a main contribution of the middle-posterior part of the middle temporal gyrus to lexical-semantic access at the world level, 44,79 connectivity in the ventral stream was evaluated between the IP lobe and Brodmann's area 21 (i.e., control region). In line with previous studies, 26,27 musicians were characterized by a behavioral advantage in word learning that originated from a lower false alarm rate. This behavioral advantage was paralleled by a left-hemispheric functional asymmetry in the dorsal stream in the theta frequency range, whereas nonmusicians showed an almost symmetric recruitment of the same circuit.…”

“…Currently, there is a growing body of interest in better understanding whether music training may facilitate different aspects of speech processing, including spectrotemporal analyses, [25][26][27][28][29] hearing speech in noise, [30][31][32] speech segmentation, 33,34 phonetic discrimination learning, 35 and word learning. 26,27 For example, by using a longitudinal approach in children undergoing music training or painting for a period of 9 months, Moreno and colleagues 36 were able to demonstrate a causal relationship between music training and enhanced reading and pitch discrimination abilities in speech. Furthermore, Francois and coworkers 33 performed a longitudinal study over 2 years using a test-training-retest procedure to examine the influence of music training on speech segmentation in 8-year-old children.…”

“…44,74 Interestingly, even though professional musicians were initially not the focus of this framework, scientists began to investigate whether the multifaceted influences of music training on the brain 3 may lead to advantages in word learning. 26,27 Among the factors that have been proposed to moderate transfer effects from music training to word learning, the most prominently discussed are the following: (1) the acoustic similarity between speech and music, 75 (2) the advantage of musicians in spectrotemporal speech processing, 39 (3) the often observed training-related brain changes in several brain regions situated along the ventral and dorsal streams, 3 (4) the potential optimization of cognitive operations as a function of music training, 11 and (5) a certain degree of cortical overlap between speech and music. 76 Furthermore, it has been proposed that the benefits of music training on speech processing may be driven by plastic changes in speech-related networks.…”

Interplay between metrical and semantic processing in French: an N400 study

“…In fact, more recent work has, in a similar vein, asserted the earlier and more frontal N400 to index online speech segmentation, although in that work the frontal negativity was linked to novel word-form to conceptual knowledge mapping in parallel (e.g. Cunillera et al, 2009; Dittinger et al, 2017; François et al, 2017). So while the frontal N400 (or N325) is not yet fully understood, and has led to slightly different views as to what it precisely represents, there seems to be some common ground with phonological/metrical expectancy influencing semantic processing.…”

Increased functional connectivity in the ventral and dorsal streams during retrieval of novel words in professional musicians

“…Notably, recent results also revealed that both short-and long-term music training have a positive influence on diverse cognitive functions, including auditory- (Strait, Slater, O'Connell, & Kraus, 2015) and visual attention (Wang, Ossher, & Reuter-Lorenz, 2015), short-term-, working-and verbal memory (George & Coch, 2011;Schulze & Koelsch, 2012), and on general executive functions (Zuk et al, 2014). Based on such a multifaceted influence of music training on speech processing and cognition, Dittinger and collaborators recently examined the influence of music training on novel word learning in adults (Dittinger et al, 2016) and in 8-12-yearold children (Dittinger, Chobert, Ziegler, & Besson, 2017). Thereby, the authors focused on the development of the N400 component and on the N400 effect (unexpected minus expected words) as an index of novel word learning (frontal N400 or FN400 in a learning phase) and retrieval from episodic and semantic memory (in matching and semantic tasks).…”