by University of Pittsburgh

New research by neuroscientists at the University of Pittsburgh and University of California San Francisco (UCSF) revealed that a simple, earbud-like device developed at UCSF that imperceptibly stimulates a key nerve leading to the brain could significantly improve the wearer’s ability to learn the sounds of a new language. This device may have wide-ranging applications for boosting other kinds of learning as well.

Mandarin Chinese is considered one of the hardest languages for native English speakers to learn, in part because the language—like many others around the world—uses distinctive changes in pitch, called “tones,” to change the meaning of words that otherwise sound the same. In the new study, published today in npj Science of Learning, researchers significantly improved the ability of native English speakers to distinguish between Mandarin tones by using precisely timed, non-invasive stimulation of the vagus nerve—the longest of the 12 cranial nerves that connect the brain to the rest of the body. What’s more, vagus nerve stimulation allowed research participants to pick up some Mandarin tones twice as quickly.

“Showing that non-invasive peripheral nerve stimulation can make language learning easier potentially opens the door to improving cognitive performance across a wide range of domains,” said lead author Fernando Llanos, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher in Pitt’s Sound Brain Lab.

“This is one of the first demonstrations that non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation can enhance a complex cognitive skill like language learning in healthy people,” said Matthew Leonard, Ph.D., an assistant professor, Department of Neurological Surgery, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, whose team developed the nerve stimulation device. Leonard is a senior author of the new study, alongside Bharath Chandrasekaran, Ph.D., professor and vice chair of research, Department of Communication Science and Disorders, Pitt School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, and director of the Sound Brain Lab.