Transcranial Photobiomodulation Over the Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus Reveals a Tendency of Enhancing Sentence Processing Ability in School-Age Children

This study employed transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM), a non-invasive neuromodulation technology, to regulate cellular respiration and metabolism in language-related brain regions, aiming to enhance the sentence processing abilities of typically developing children. A within-subject design was utilized with participants undergoing both active and sham tPBM sessions. The tPBM protocol used a wavelength of 1064 nm and an irradiance dosage of 150 mW/cm2, targeting the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG). The findings demonstrated that tPBM significantly enhanced sentence processing performance. Furthermore, sentence processing in children showed tPBM-induced enhancement that was marginally associated with improvements in verbal working memory, potentially exhibiting a developmental link between WM and syntactic processing. This study is a groundbreaking attempt to utilize tPBM as a safe and child-friendly tool to improve language-related cognitive abilities in school-age children, suggesting promising applications in clinical and educational settings, especially for those with language disorders.