Synesthetic Entrainment in Interactive Reading Sessions of Children's Books

Children's books promote brain- and language development during interactive reading, because of two qualities. They support language processing by combining experiences across multiple senses (synesthesia), and they synchronize brain activity within and between brains (entrainment). In interactive readings, children develop attention skills and cognitive control, practice information management (extraction and retention), improve phonemic discrimination, and socialize (bonding with the reading adult, and later with book characters during "deep reading"). Language from screens (e.g. television), however, does not promote (and may retard) early brain- and language development because it does not induce entrainment and presents little cross-modal facilitation.