Language is a rhythmic stimulus made up of multiple sound waves occurring at multiple timescales. In a similar fashion, our brains are continually producing multiple waves of electricity at different frequencies and we call these brain waves ?cortical oscillations?. I am interested in finding out if entrainment (?alignment?) of these cortical oscillations to the acoustic rhythms present in language is one of the key ways in which the brain processes language. My current project uses Electroencephalography (EEG) to measure how the cortical oscillations of infants change during the first year of life. Starting at 8 weeks until 1 year, I periodically scan infants brainwaves in response to language and see if the entrainment changes during the development of their brains.
