Project description
The brain’s hidden rhythm of language
Human language should be balanced. If speech is too predictable, it becomes dull. If it’s too chaotic, it is difficult to follow. The same tension most likely exists inside the brain, where neural activity constantly shifts between rhythmic patterns and irregular signals. The ERC-funded BALANG project aims to explore whether this neural balance shapes how language sounds and feels. By combining neuroscience experiments with analyses of speech and text across languages, researchers will shed light on how predictable rhythms and surprising information interact in communication. The project will also examine whether popular speeches and prose reflect this balance, and whether the brain finds it pleasing. If the hypotheses are confirmed, BALANG could reveal why language feels effortless, engaging and aesthetically satisfying.
Objective
It has long been recognised that the brain functions in a neural balance of periodic and aperiodic activity. The significance of this is a matter of intense debate. It seems clear that such a fundamental neural balance would manifest as other forms of balance—in cognition and behaviour.
BALANG pursues this idea for human language. Here, balance is described for both information and acoustics. We don’t like to hear the same old story, but being completely caught off guard isn’t pleasant either. Similarly, speech rhythm is neither monotone nor overly animated.
I propose that the neural balance of periodic and aperiodic explains balance in language. Pilot data and prior literature suggest that familiar information and isochronous speech align with the predictive functions of periodic brain activity. On the other hand, new, unforeseeable information and anisochrony are a good fit for aperiodic activity.
BALANG centres on the triad of the brain, language, and aesthetics. It aims at explaining why language poses little effort, is familiar and new, isochronous and anisochronous—and a matter of preference. Neuroscientific experiments will test whether neural balance of brain areas that process language and speech meets with balanced information and acoustics. Using speech/text corpora, I will test whether balance holds across languages. By analysing popular prose/speeches and linking them to brain signals, I will assess whether balance is pleasant. In evolutionary terms, effective communication should be rewarding—with low metabolic cost. Finally, I will test whether more periodic brains prefer the familiar and isochronous, whereas more aperiodic brains prefer the new and anisochronous?
My agenda contains five work packages, with dedicated risk management. If my hypotheses are correct, I will deliver an entirely novel view on language, the brain, and aesthetics. Regardless of outcome, BALANG helps to clarify the significance of neural balance for cognition and behaviour.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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(opens in new window) ERC-2025-COG
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80539 MUNCHEN
Germany
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