Name:Monica Hegde

School/Affiliation:Groupe de Recherches sur l’Analyse Multimodale de la Fonction Cérébrale (GRAMFC, Inserm UMR1105), Université de Picardie

Co-Authors:Mohammadreza Edalati, Arthur Foulon, Anne Kosem, Barbara Tillmann, Sahar Moghimi

Virtual or In-person:Virtual

Short Bio:

Monica Hegde is a postdoctoral researcher at the Groupe de Recherches sur l’Analyse Multimodale de la Fonction Cérébrale (GRAMFC, Inserm UMR1105), Université de Picardie. Her research focuses on how the brain processes sounds in infancy. She earned her PhD under Laurianne Cabrera and Thierry Nazzi, studying how infants process speech sounds and develop phonological categories. In her postdoc with Sahar Moghimi, she investigates early sensorimotor processing, exploring the interaction between auditory and tactile rhythms in newborns using EEG. Her work aims to uncover how multisensory rhythm processing contributes to early development.

Abstract:

Rhythm perception is fundamental for early development. In adults, rhythm perception and beat-based predictions are supported by sensorimotor mechanisms . Caregivers naturally pat infants to music, but it remains unclear whether infants integrate sensorimotor input into rhythm perception. This study investigates whether tactile stimulation modulates neural tracking of auditory rhythms of lullabies in newborns.
We are currently testing full-term newborns (N = 15/40) and measure EEG in two conditions:
(1) Auditory-tactile, where lullabies with a beat at 2 Hz (Beat Level at 120 BPM) are paired with patting at 1 Hz (Strong Beat at 60 BPM), alternating 4 beats of auditory-tactile (AT) stimulation with 4 beats of auditory-only (A); and (2) Auditory-only, where infants hear the lullabies without tactile input.
We will analyze (1) neural responses to auditory and tactile stimuli separately and then (2) further explore whether alternating AT and A stimulation enhances neural tracking of lullaby rhythms and synchronization to the beat. We will compare coherence between EEG signals and the amplitude envelope and temporal spectral flux of the lullabies. Preliminary FFT analyses of infants’ EEG show increased power around 1 and 2 Hz for the Auditory-Tactile in comparison with the Auditory-only condition.