Learning Through Song: Assessing Neural Tracking, Engagement, and Comprehension in the Classroom

Poster Session A - Saturday, April 13, 2024, 2:30 – 4:30 pm EDT, Sheraton Hall ABC

Anna Czepiel¹, Christina Vanden Bosch der Nederlanden¹; ¹University of Toronto Mississauga

Learning from song can be more effective compared to learning from speech. Indeed, neural tracking is greater for sung than spoken words, perhaps due to the greater predictability of song features, such as rhythmic regularity. However, two crucial gaps need to be filled to examine how music can be used in real-world learning environments, like the classroom. First, no one has directly compared neural tracking and behavioural outcomes - such as comprehension and listening effort - when learning from song. Second, most research has been conducted in laboratory settings, where participants typically sit alone in a small room. This is very different from real-world dynamics, which often involve social interaction. In a two-stage approach, we will examine the beneficial effects of learning through song versus speech, using mobile EEG in laboratory and classroom contexts. In Experiment 1, participants will listen to controlled as well as naturalistic stimuli in both speech and song modalities in a laboratory setting. Experiment 2 will move toward an ecologically valid classroom context, where we will collect multiple mobile EEG measurements (hyperscanning) of students and teachers. We hypothesise that neural tracking of features from incoming information (e.g., acoustic envelope, assessed via cerebro-acoustic phase coherence) will be greater in song stimuli, which would positively correlate to comprehension, engagement, and learning in the classroom. This work will provide an important extension of our fundamental knowledge of cognitive neuroscience into natural environments, and has the potential to inspire interventions for effective teaching and learning.

Topic Area: LANGUAGE: Other