Anodal tDCS over Broca's area improves fast mapping and explicit encoding of novel vocabulary

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“…Other studies showed no significant differences between the efficiency of two learning strategies (Warren et al, 2016;Himmer et al, 2017). Our own previous results (Shtyrov et al, 2021;Perikova et al, 2022) demonstrated very similar levels of performance for both strategies in a free recall task implemented immediately after a word learning session.…”

Neural Basis Of Sound-Symbolic Pseudoword-Shape Correspondences

“…Although Broca's area is considered to be involved in syntactic processing (Fedorenko & Blank, 2020;Kemmerer, 2022;Maran et al, 2022), a number of studies implicate it in audiovisual associations relevant to language: For instance, high-gamma power in Broca's area was reported to be enhanced by congruent audiovisual speech, along with a progressive increase in coherence between auditory cortex and Broca's area over the duration of the stimulus, whereas coherence between these regions decreased over time for incongruent audiovisual speech (Lange et al, 2013). Another study found that anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS, which increases cortical excitability) over Broca's area facilitated acquisition of novel associations between pseudowords and unfamiliar visual objects (Perikova et al, 2022). An fMRI study using MVPA found that viewing of congruent lip movements facilitated classification of phonemes in Broca's area, with a larger effect for phonemes distinguished by manner of articulation (voiced vs. unvoiced consonants) than those distinguished by place of articulation (Zhang and Du, 2022).…”

Electrophysiology of Word Learning

“…In addition to using multiple neuroimaging methods, studying behavioral learning outcomes and using different learning protocols (e.g., passive perceptual vs. active tasks, or contextual, implicit vs. explicit acquisition designs applied on the same items) could also improve our understanding of neural processes underlying language learning. These could be further complemented with noninvasive neuromodulation methods (such as transcranial magnetic or electric stimulation, see, e.g., [71][72][73][74]) that can help reveal causal relationships between specific brain structures and types or stages of the learning processes.…”