Effects of rhythmic stimulation on language processing in the normal population and in children with language disorders – RALP

Our project exploits music as a privileged model to investigate brain functions and its possibility to boost language processing.The first objective is to make substantial advances in understanding the modification of the oscillatory brain activity induced by a musical or linguistic temporal structure. The second objective is to test under which conditions and to what extent linguistic abilities can be boosted via enhanced temporal predictive coding via either simple exposure to musical rhythms (short-term approach) or music training (longitudinal approach). This will be tested in the normal population (adults and children) as well as in clinical populations: children with hearing impairment and children with developmental language disorders. Both axes use advanced neuroimaging data analyses and innovative methods in clinical research. The project is at the intersection of cognitive neurosciences, psycholinguistics and movement sciences. It will lead to a better understanding of the role played by rhythm on language abilities, and it will pave the ground to translational research in language rehabilitation and better rehabilitation treatments. Providing evidence for a benefit of rhythmic entrainment on several levels of language processing in children with different types of language impairment will have an extremely important societal impact. Indeed, improved remediation strategies will have both a direct effect on individuals in terms of well-being and an effect on society in terms of cost reduction.