Rhythmic Stimulation of Linguistic Performance: A Common Structure?

An increasing number of studies report that different forms of rhythmic stimulation influence linguistic task performance. First, this chapter aims at describing to what extent the construction of a tree-like structure in which lower-level units are combined into higher-level constituents in linguistic syntax and rhythm could be subserved by similar mechanisms. Second, we review and categorize rhythmic stimulation findings based on the temporal delay between the rhythmic stimulation and linguistic task that it influences, the precise relationship between the rhythmic and linguistic stimuli used, and the nature of the linguistic task. Lastly, this chapter discusses which categories of rhythmic stimulation effects can be interpreted in a framework based on a shared cognitive system that is responsible for hierarchical structure building.