The development of brain rhythms at rest and its impact on vocabulary acquisition

Abstract

A long-standing question in developmental science is how the neurodevelopment of the brain influences cognitive functions. Here, we examined the developmental change of resting EEG power and its links to vocabulary acquisition in school-age children. We further explored what mechanisms may mediate the relation between brain rhythm maturation and vocabulary knowledge. Eyes-opened resting-state EEG data were recorded from 53 typically-developing Chinese children every 2 years between the ages of 7 and 11. Our results showed first that delta, theta, and gamma power decreased over time, whereas alpha and beta power increased over time. Second, after controlling for general cognitive abilities, age, home literacy environment, and phonological skills, theta decreases explained 6.9% and 14.4% of unique variance in expressive vocabulary at ages 9 and 11, respectively. We also found that beta increase from age 7 to 9 significantly predicted receptive vocabulary at age 11. Finally, theta decrease predicted expressive vocabulary through the effects of phoneme deletion at age 9 and tone discrimination at age 11. These results substantiate the important role of brain oscillations at rest, especially theta rhythm, in language development. The developmental change of brain rhythms could serve as sensitive biomarkers for vocabulary development in school-age children, which would be of great value in identifying children at risk of language impairment.

Theta activity and cognitive functioning: Integrating evidence from resting-state and task-related developmental electroencephalography (EEG) research

“…The association was specific to the theta band. Language Meng et al (2022) 7–11-year-olds Eyes-open (looking at a cross on a screen) Greater reductions in relative resting theta (4–8 Hz) power across the scalp from 7 to 9 years and from 7 to 11 years predicted higher expressive vocabulary at 9 and 11 years, respectively. Greater increases in beta power across the scalp from 7 to 9 years predicted higher receptive vocabulary at 11 years.…”

Proceedings of CIM22: 'Participation' (Single document PDF)

“…Such data types are multifaceted, including information about social networks, engagement (e.g., streams, likes, shares), and user-generated content (e.g., profiles, comments, posts). Natural Language Processing (NLP) offers adequate tools for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting large corpora of text-based user data from online sources in real-time as events-such as the coronavirus pandemic-unfold (Liu et al, 2021). Although NLP has been widely applied to research on digital behavior, its full potential for studying musical phenomena remains to be seen.…”

The longitudinal interplay of print exposure and auditory brain responses in the prediction of reading skills

“…Studies that include both print exposure and brain variables are few, especially in the field of EEG research. Single indications of a connection have been proposed in the literature, including the link between maternal education level and delta power in resting state EEG at 9 years 31 and the negative link between higher adult word count and EEG beta power in infants 32 . In general, evidence for the association between brain-and home environmentrelated factors has been accumulating, especially the relationship between individual neuroimaging outcomes and more distal factors of children's environments, such as socioeconomic status (SES).…”