1
|
Schwab S, Mouthon M, Jost LB, Salvadori J, Stefanos-Yakoub I, da Silva EF, Giroud N, Perriard B, Annoni JM. Neural correlates of lexical stress processing in a foreign free-stress language. Brain Behav 2023; 13:e2854. [PMID: 36573037 PMCID: PMC9847599 DOI: 10.1002/brb3.2854] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2022] [Revised: 10/25/2022] [Accepted: 12/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION The paper examines the discrimination of lexical stress contrasts in a foreign language from a neural perspective. The aim of the study was to identify the areas associated with word stress processing (in comparison with vowel processing), when listeners of a fixed-stress language have to process stress in a foreign free-stress language. METHODS We asked French-speaking participants to process stress and vowel contrasts in Spanish, a foreign language that the participants did not know. Participants performed a discrimination task on Spanish word pairs differing either with respect to word stress (penultimate or final stressed word) or with respect to the final vowel while functional magnetic resonance imaging data was acquired. RESULTS Behavioral results showed lower accuracy and longer reaction times for discriminating stress contrasts than vowel contrasts. The contrast Stress > Vowel revealed an increased bilateral activation of regions shown to be associated with stress processing (i.e., supplementary motor area, insula, middle/superior temporal gyrus), as well as a stronger involvement of areas related to more domain-general cognitive control functions (i.e., bilateral inferior frontal gyrus). The contrast Vowel > Stress showed an increased activation in regions typically associated with the default mode network (known for decreasing its activity during attentionally more demanding tasks). CONCLUSION When processing Spanish stress contrasts as compared to processing vowel contrasts, native listeners of French activated to a higher degree anterior networks including regions related to cognitive control. They also show a decrease in regions related to the default mode network. These findings, together with the behavioral results, reflect the higher cognitive demand, and therefore, the larger difficulties, for French-speaking listeners during stress processing as compared to vowel processing.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Schwab
- Department of French, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Michael Mouthon
- Neurology-Laboratory for Cognitive and Neurological Sciences, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Lea B Jost
- Neurology-Laboratory for Cognitive and Neurological Sciences, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | | | | | | | - Nathalie Giroud
- Computational Neuroscience of Speech & Hearing, Department of Computational Linguistics, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Benoit Perriard
- Department of French, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Jean-Marie Annoni
- Neurology-Laboratory for Cognitive and Neurological Sciences, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Nathaniel U, Weiss Y, Barouch B, Katzir T, Bitan T. Start shallow and grow deep: The development of a Hebrew reading brain. Neuropsychologia 2022; 176:108376. [PMID: 36181772 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2022] [Revised: 08/06/2022] [Accepted: 09/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Brain plasticity implies that readers of different orthographies can have different reading networks. Theoretical models suggest that reading acquisition in transparent orthographies relies on mapping smaller orthographic units to phonology, than reading opaque orthographies; but what are the neural mechanisms underlying this difference? Hebrew has a transparent (pointed) script used for beginners, and a non-transparent script used for skilled readers. The current study examined the developmental changes in brain regions associated with phonological and orthographic processes during reading pointed and un-pointed words. Our results highlight some changes that are universal in reading development, such as a developmental increase in frontal involvement (in bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) pars opercularis), and increase in left asymmetry (in IFG pars opercularis and superior temporal gyrus, STG) of the reading network. Our results also showed a developmental increase in activation in STG, which stands in contrast to previous studies in other orthographies. We further found an interaction of word length and diacritics in bilateral STG and VWFA across both groups. These findings suggest that children slightly adjust their reading depending on orthographic transparency, relying on smaller units when reading a transparent script and on larger units when reading an opaque script. Our results also showed that phonological abilities across groups correlated with activation in the VWFA, regardless of transparency, supporting the continued role of phonology at all levels of orthographic transparency. Our findings are consistent with multiple route reading models, in which both phonological and orthographic processing of multiple size units continue to play a role in children's reading of transparent and opaque scripts during reading development. The results further demonstrate the importance of taking into account differences between orthographies when constructing neural models of reading acquisition.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Upasana Nathaniel
- Psychology Department and Institute for Information Processing and Decision Making, University of Haifa, Israel; Integrated Brain and Behavior Center (IBBRC), University of Haifa, Israel.
| | - Yael Weiss
- Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Bechor Barouch
- Psychology Department and Institute for Information Processing and Decision Making, University of Haifa, Israel
| | - Tami Katzir
- Department of Learning Disabilities, The E.J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, Israel
| | - Tali Bitan
- Psychology Department and Institute for Information Processing and Decision Making, University of Haifa, Israel; Integrated Brain and Behavior Center (IBBRC), University of Haifa, Israel; Department of Speech Language Pathology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Chen Y, Luo Q, Liang M, Gao L, Yang J, Feng R, Liu J, Qiu G, Li Y, Zheng Y, Lu S. Children's Neural Sensitivity to Prosodic Features of Natural Speech and Its Significance to Speech Development in Cochlear Implanted Children. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:892894. [PMID: 35903806 PMCID: PMC9315047 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.892894] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2022] [Accepted: 06/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Catchy utterances, such as proverbs, verses, and nursery rhymes (i.e., "No pain, no gain" in English), contain strong-prosodic (SP) features and are child-friendly in repeating and memorizing; yet the way those prosodic features encoded by neural activity and their influence on speech development in children are still largely unknown. Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), this study investigated the cortical responses to the perception of natural speech sentences with strong/weak-prosodic (SP/WP) features and evaluated the speech communication ability in 21 pre-lingually deaf children with cochlear implantation (CI) and 25 normal hearing (NH) children. A comprehensive evaluation of speech communication ability was conducted on all the participants to explore the potential correlations between neural activities and children's speech development. The SP information evoked right-lateralized cortical responses across a broad brain network in NH children and facilitated the early integration of linguistic information, highlighting children's neural sensitivity to natural SP sentences. In contrast, children with CI showed significantly weaker cortical activation and characteristic deficits in speech perception with SP features, suggesting hearing loss at the early age of life, causing significantly impaired sensitivity to prosodic features of sentences. Importantly, the level of neural sensitivity to SP sentences was significantly related to the speech behaviors of all children participants. These findings demonstrate the significance of speech prosodic features in children's speech development.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yuebo Chen
- Department of Otolaryngology, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Qinqin Luo
- Department of Chinese Language and Literature, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
- School of Foreign Languages, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Maojin Liang
- Department of Otolaryngology, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Leyan Gao
- Neurolinguistics Teaching Laboratory, Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jingwen Yang
- Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
- Department of Clinical Neurolinguistics Research, Mental and Neurological Diseases Research Center, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Ruiyan Feng
- Neurolinguistics Teaching Laboratory, Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jiahao Liu
- Department of Otolaryngology, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
- Hearing and Speech Science Department, Guangzhou Xinhua University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Guoxin Qiu
- Department of Clinical Neurolinguistics Research, Mental and Neurological Diseases Research Center, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yi Li
- School of Foreign Languages, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yiqing Zheng
- Department of Otolaryngology, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
- Hearing and Speech Science Department, Guangzhou Xinhua University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Shuo Lu
- School of Foreign Languages, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
- Department of Clinical Neurolinguistics Research, Mental and Neurological Diseases Research Center, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Darnai G, Perlaki G, Orsi G, Arató Á, Szente A, Horváth R, Áfra E, Nagy SA, Kovács N, Dóczi T, Janszky J. Language processing in Internet use disorder: Task-based fMRI study. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0269979. [PMID: 35749379 PMCID: PMC9231743 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0269979] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2021] [Accepted: 06/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Internet use disorder (IUD) is generally conceptualized as a fast-growing behavioral addiction. Several structural and functional brain alterations have been revealed in this condition, but previous behavioral studies indicated that language systems may also be impaired. We used a silent word generation task to induce brain activation in Broca’s area and other parts of the language system. Blood-oxygen-level-dependent activation analysis and psychophysiological interaction analysis were applied to assess functional brain changes. IUD was measured by the Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire and two additional questions concerning usage time and subjective rating of addiction. According to our key findings, areas strongly related to the default mode network were altered in IUD during the task. Moreover, Broca’s area showed altered functional connectivity with other language network and occipital areas in IUD. These findings may address the neural background of decreased verbal fluency performance previously reported in the literature, and we emphasize that beside the brain’s reward and inhibitory control systems, the language system is the next candidate to be involved in the pathogenesis of IUD.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gergely Darnai
- Department of Behavioural Sciences, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
- Department of Neurology, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
- MTA-PTE Clinical Neuroscience MR Research Group, Pécs, Hungary
- * E-mail:
| | - Gábor Perlaki
- Department of Neurology, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
- MTA-PTE Clinical Neuroscience MR Research Group, Pécs, Hungary
- Pécs Diagnostic Centre, Pécs, Hungary
| | - Gergely Orsi
- MTA-PTE Clinical Neuroscience MR Research Group, Pécs, Hungary
- Pécs Diagnostic Centre, Pécs, Hungary
- Department of Neurosurgery, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
| | - Ákos Arató
- Department of Neurology, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
| | - Anna Szente
- Department of Neurology, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
| | - Réka Horváth
- Department of Neurology, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
| | - Eszter Áfra
- Department of Behavioural Sciences, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
| | - Szilvia Anett Nagy
- MTA-PTE Clinical Neuroscience MR Research Group, Pécs, Hungary
- Pécs Diagnostic Centre, Pécs, Hungary
- Department of Neurosurgery, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
- Neurobiology of Stress Research Group, Szentágothai Research Centre, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
| | - Norbert Kovács
- Department of Neurology, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
- MTA-PTE Clinical Neuroscience MR Research Group, Pécs, Hungary
| | - Tamás Dóczi
- MTA-PTE Clinical Neuroscience MR Research Group, Pécs, Hungary
- Department of Neurosurgery, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
| | - József Janszky
- Department of Neurology, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
- MTA-PTE Clinical Neuroscience MR Research Group, Pécs, Hungary
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Yu K, Chen Y, Yin S, Li L, Wang R. The roles of pitch type and lexicality in the hemispheric lateralization for lexical tone processing: An ERP study. Int J Psychophysiol 2022; 177:83-91. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2022.05.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2021] [Revised: 04/10/2022] [Accepted: 05/04/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
|
6
|
Liu D, Hu J, Wang S, Fu X, Wang Y, Pugh E, Henderson Sabes J, Wang S. Aging Affects Subcortical Pitch Information Encoding Differently in Humans With Different Language Backgrounds. Front Aging Neurosci 2022; 14:816100. [PMID: 35493942 PMCID: PMC9043765 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.816100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2021] [Accepted: 03/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Aging and language background have been shown to affect pitch information encoding at the subcortical level. To study the individual and compounded effects on subcortical pitch information encoding, Frequency Following Responses were recorded from subjects across various ages and language backgrounds. Differences were found in pitch information encoding strength and accuracy among the groups, indicating that language experience and aging affect accuracy and magnitude of pitch information encoding ability at the subcortical level. Moreover, stronger effects of aging were seen in the magnitude of phase-locking in the native language speaker groups, while language background appears to have more impact on the accuracy of pitch tracking in older adult groups.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Dongxin Liu
- Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Institute of Otolaryngology, Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Ministry of Education, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Jiong Hu
- Department of Audiology, University of the Pacific, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Songjian Wang
- Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Institute of Otolaryngology, Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Ministry of Education, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Xinxing Fu
- Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Institute of Otolaryngology, Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Ministry of Education, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Yuan Wang
- Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Institute of Otolaryngology, Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Ministry of Education, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Esther Pugh
- Department of Otolaryngology, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | | | - Shuo Wang
- Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Institute of Otolaryngology, Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Ministry of Education, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Akama H, Yuan Y, Awazu S. Task-induced brain functional connectivity as a representation of schema for mediating unsupervised and supervised learning dynamics in language acquisition. Brain Behav 2021; 11:e02157. [PMID: 33951344 PMCID: PMC8213930 DOI: 10.1002/brb3.2157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2020] [Revised: 03/12/2021] [Accepted: 04/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Based on the schema theory advanced by Rumelhart and Norman, we shed light on the individual variability in brain dynamics induced by hybridization of learning methodologies, particularly alternating unsupervised learning and supervised learning in language acquisition. The concept of "schema" implies a latent knowledge structure that a learner holds and updates as intrinsic to his or her cognitive space for guiding the processing of newly arriving information. METHODS We replicated the cognitive experiment of Onnis and Thiessen on implicit statistical learning ability in language acquisition but included additional factors of prosodic variables and explicit supervised learning. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed to identify the functional network connections for schema updating by alternately using unsupervised and supervised artificial grammar learning tasks to segment potential words. RESULTS Regardless of the quality of task performance, the default mode network represented the first stage of spontaneous unsupervised learning, and the wrap-up accomplishment for successful subjects of the whole hybrid learning in concurrence with the task-related auditory language networks. Furthermore, subjects who could easily "tune" the schema for recording a high task precision rate resorted even at an early stage to a self-supervised learning, or "superlearning," as a set of different learning mechanisms that act in synergy to trigger widespread neuro-transformation with a focus on the cerebellum. CONCLUSIONS Investigation of the brain dynamics revealed by functional connectivity imaging analysis was able to differentiate the synchronized neural responses with respect to learning methods and the order effect that affects hybrid learning.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hiroyuki Akama
- Institute of Liberal Arts/Department of Life Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Yixin Yuan
- Marcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, USA.,Division of Autism & Related Disabilities, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Shunji Awazu
- Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Jissen Women's University, Tokyo, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Yuan D, Luo D, Kwok VPY, Zhou Y, Tian H, Yu Q, An J, Gao JH, Qiu S, Tan LH. Myeloarchitectonic Asymmetries of Language Regions in the Human Brain. Cereb Cortex 2021; 31:4169-4179. [PMID: 33825870 PMCID: PMC8328200 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2020] [Revised: 02/21/2021] [Accepted: 03/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
One prominent theory in neuroscience and psychology assumes that cortical regions for language are left hemisphere lateralized in the human brain. In the current study, we used a novel technique, quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (qMRI), to examine interhemispheric asymmetries in language regions in terms of macromolecular tissue volume (MTV) and quantitative longitudinal relaxation time (T1) maps in the living human brain. These two measures are known to reflect cortical myeloarchitecture from the microstructural perspective. One hundred and fifteen adults (55 male, 60 female) were examined for their myeloarchitectonic asymmetries of language regions. We found that the cortical myeloarchitecture of inferior frontal areas including the pars opercularis, pars triangularis, and pars orbitalis is left lateralized, while that of the middle temporal gyrus, Heschl’s gyrus, and planum temporale is right lateralized. Moreover, the leftward lateralization of myelination structure is significantly correlated with language skills measured by phonemic and speech tone awareness. This study reveals for the first time a mixed pattern of myeloarchitectonic asymmetries, which calls for a general theory to accommodate the full complexity of principles underlying human hemispheric specialization.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Di Yuan
- Guangdong-Hongkong-Macau Institute of CNS Regeneration and Ministry of Education CNS Regeneration Collaborative Joint Laboratory, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.,Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518060, China
| | - Daiyi Luo
- Guangdong-Hongkong-Macau Institute of CNS Regeneration and Ministry of Education CNS Regeneration Collaborative Joint Laboratory, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.,Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518060, China
| | - Veronica P Y Kwok
- Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518060, China
| | - Yulong Zhou
- Guangdong-Hongkong-Macau Institute of CNS Regeneration and Ministry of Education CNS Regeneration Collaborative Joint Laboratory, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.,Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518060, China
| | - Haoyue Tian
- Guangdong-Hongkong-Macau Institute of CNS Regeneration and Ministry of Education CNS Regeneration Collaborative Joint Laboratory, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.,Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518060, China
| | - Qianqian Yu
- Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518060, China
| | - Jie An
- Department of Radiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510400, China
| | - Jia-Hong Gao
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, China.,Center for MRI Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Shijun Qiu
- Department of Radiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510400, China
| | - Li Hai Tan
- Guangdong-Hongkong-Macau Institute of CNS Regeneration and Ministry of Education CNS Regeneration Collaborative Joint Laboratory, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.,Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518060, China
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Bourke JD, Todd J. Acoustics versus linguistics? Context is Part and Parcel to lateralized processing of the parts and parcels of speech. Laterality 2021; 26:725-765. [PMID: 33726624 DOI: 10.1080/1357650x.2021.1898415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
The purpose of this review is to provide an accessible exploration of key considerations of lateralization in speech and non-speech perception using clear and defined language. From these considerations, the primary arguments for each side of the linguistics versus acoustics debate are outlined and explored in context of emerging integrative theories. This theoretical approach entails a perspective that linguistic and acoustic features differentially contribute to leftward bias, depending on the given context. Such contextual factors include stimulus parameters and variables of stimulus presentation (e.g., noise/silence and monaural/binaural) and variances in individuals (sex, handedness, age, and behavioural ability). Discussion of these factors and their interaction is also aimed towards providing an outline of variables that require consideration when developing and reviewing methodology of acoustic and linguistic processing laterality studies. Thus, there are three primary aims in the present paper: (1) to provide the reader with key theoretical perspectives from the acoustics/linguistics debate and a synthesis of the two viewpoints, (2) to highlight key caveats for generalizing findings regarding predominant models of speech laterality, and (3) to provide a practical guide for methodological control using predominant behavioural measures (i.e., gap detection and dichotic listening tasks) and/or neurophysiological measures (i.e., mismatch negativity) of speech laterality.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jesse D Bourke
- School of Psychology, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
| | - Juanita Todd
- School of Psychology, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Asymmetry of Auditory-Motor Speech Processing is Determined by Language Experience. J Neurosci 2021; 41:1059-1067. [PMID: 33298537 PMCID: PMC7880293 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1977-20.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2020] [Revised: 10/24/2020] [Accepted: 11/12/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Speech processing relies on interactions between auditory and motor systems and is asymmetrically organized in the human brain. The left auditory system is specialized for processing of phonemes, whereas the right is specialized for processing of pitch changes in speech affecting prosody. In speakers of tonal languages, however, processing of pitch (i.e., tone) changes that alter word meaning is left-lateralized indicating that linguistic function and language experience shape speech processing asymmetries. Here, we investigated the asymmetry of motor contributions to auditory speech processing in male and female speakers of tonal and non-tonal languages. We temporarily disrupted the right or left speech motor cortex using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and measured the impact of these disruptions on auditory discrimination (mismatch negativity; MMN) responses to phoneme and tone changes in sequences of syllables using electroencephalography (EEG). We found that the effect of motor disruptions on processing of tone changes differed between language groups: disruption of the right speech motor cortex suppressed responses to tone changes in non-tonal language speakers, whereas disruption of the left speech motor cortex suppressed responses to tone changes in tonal language speakers. In non-tonal language speakers, the effects of disruption of left speech motor cortex on responses to tone changes were inconclusive. For phoneme changes, disruption of left but not right speech motor cortex suppressed responses in both language groups. We conclude that the contributions of the right and left speech motor cortex to auditory speech processing are determined by the functional roles of acoustic cues in the listener's native language.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The principles underlying hemispheric asymmetries of auditory speech processing remain debated. The asymmetry of processing of speech sounds is affected by low-level acoustic cues, but also by their linguistic function. By combining transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and electroencephalography (EEG), we investigated the asymmetry of motor contributions to auditory speech processing in tonal and non-tonal language speakers. We provide causal evidence that the functional role of the acoustic cues in the listener's native language affects the asymmetry of motor influences on auditory speech discrimination ability [indexed by mismatch negativity (MMN) responses]. Lateralized top-down motor influences can affect asymmetry of speech processing in the auditory system.
Collapse
|
11
|
Morett LM. The Influence of Tonal and Atonal Bilingualism on Children's Lexical and Non-Lexical Tone Perception. LANGUAGE AND SPEECH 2020; 63:221-241. [PMID: 30859898 DOI: 10.1177/0023830919834679] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
This study examined how bilingualism in an atonal language, in addition to a tonal language, influences lexical and non-lexical tone perception and word learning during childhood. Forty children aged 5;3-7;2, bilingual either in English and Mandarin or English and another atonal language, were tested on Mandarin lexical tone discrimination, level-pitch sine-wave tone discrimination, and learning of novel words differing minimally in Mandarin lexical tone. Mandarin-English bilingual children discriminated between and learned novel words differing minimally in Mandarin lexical tone more accurately than their atonal-English bilingual peers. However, Mandarin-English and atonal-English bilingual children discriminated between level-pitch sine-wave tones with similar accuracy. Moreover, atonal-English bilingual children showed a tendency to perceive differing Mandarin lexical and level-pitch sine-wave tones as identical, whereas their Mandarin-English peers showed no such tendency. These results indicate that bilingualism in a tonal language in addition to an atonal language-but not bilingualism in two atonal languages-allows for continued sensitivity to lexical tone beyond infancy. Moreover, they suggest that although tonal-atonal bilingualism does not enhance sensitivity to differences in pitch between sine-wave tones beyond infancy any more effectively than atonal-atonal bilingualism, it protects against the development of biases to perceive differing lexical and non-lexical tones as identical. Together, the results indicate that, beyond infancy, tonal-atonal bilinguals process lexical tones using different cognitive mechanisms than atonal-atonal bilinguals, but that both groups process level-pitch non-lexical tone using the same cognitive mechanisms.
Collapse
|
12
|
Kwok VPY, Matthews S, Yakpo K, Tan LH. Neural correlates and functional connectivity of lexical tone processing in reading. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2019; 196:104662. [PMID: 31352216 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2019.104662] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2019] [Revised: 07/16/2019] [Accepted: 07/17/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Lexical tone processing in speech is mediated by bilateral superior temporal and inferior prefrontal regions, but little is known concerning the neural circuitries of lexical tone phonology in reading. Using fMRI, we examined the neural systems for lexical tone in visual Chinese word recognition. We found that the extraction of lexical tone phonology in print was subserved by bilateral fronto-parietal regions. Seed-to-voxel analyses showed that functionally connected cortical regions involved right inferior frontal gyrus and SMA, right middle frontal gyrus and right inferior parietal lobule, and SMA and bilateral cingulate gyri. Our results indicate that in Chinese tone reading, a bilateral network of frontal, parietal, motor, and cingulate regions is engaged, without involvement of temporal regions crucial for tone identification in auditory domain. Although neural couplings for lexical tone processing are different in speech and reading to some degree, the motor cortex seems to be a key component independent of modality.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Veronica P Y Kwok
- Center for Brain Disorders and Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China
| | - Stephen Matthews
- Department of Linguistics, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
| | - Kofi Yakpo
- Department of Linguistics, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
| | - Li Hai Tan
- Center for Brain Disorders and Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China.
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Dimitrijevic A, Smith ML, Kadis DS, Moore DR. Neural indices of listening effort in noisy environments. Sci Rep 2019; 9:11278. [PMID: 31375712 PMCID: PMC6677804 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-47643-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2019] [Accepted: 07/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
|
14
|
Qi Z, Han M, Wang Y, de los Angeles C, Liu Q, Garel K, Chen ES, Whitfield-Gabrieli S, Gabrieli JD, Perrachione TK. Speech processing and plasticity in the right hemisphere predict variation in adult foreign language learning. Neuroimage 2019; 192:76-87. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.03.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2018] [Revised: 02/20/2019] [Accepted: 03/04/2019] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
|
15
|
Hu YX, He JR, Yang B, Huang X, Li YP, Zhou FQ, Xu XX, Zhong YL, Wang J, Wu XR. Abnormal resting-state functional network centrality in patients with high myopia: evidence from a voxel-wise degree centrality analysis. Int J Ophthalmol 2018; 11:1814-1820. [PMID: 30450313 DOI: 10.18240/ijo.2018.11.13] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2018] [Accepted: 09/10/2018] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
AIM To investigate the functional networks underlying the brain-activity changes of patients with high myopia using the voxel-wise degree centrality (DC) method. METHODS In total, 38 patients with high myopia (HM) (17 males and 21 females), whose binocular refractive diopter were -6.00 to -7.00 D, and 38 healthy controls (17 males and 21 females), closely matched in age, sex, and education levels, participated in the study. Spontaneous brain activities were evaluated using the voxel-wise DC method. The receiver operating characteristic curve was measured to distinguish patients with HM from healthy controls. Correlation analysis was used to explore the relationship between the observed mean DC values of the different brain areas and the behavioral performance. RESULTS Compared with healthy controls, HM patients had significantly decreased DC values in the right inferior frontal gyrus/insula, right middle frontal gyrus, and right supramarginal/inferior parietal lobule (P<0.05). In contrast, HM patients had significantly increased DC values in the right cerebellum posterior lobe, left precentral gyrus/postcentral gyrus, and right middle cingulate gyrus (P<0.05). However, no relationship was found between the observed mean DC values of the different brain areas and the behavioral performance (P>0.05). CONCLUSION HM is associated with abnormalities in many brain regions, which may indicate the neural mechanisms of HM. The altered DC values may be used as a useful biomarker for the brain activity changes in HM patients.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yu-Xiang Hu
- Department of Ophthalmology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
| | - Jun-Rong He
- Department of Quality Management Office, the Affiliated Ganzhou Hospital of Nanchang University, Ganzhou 341000, Jiangxi Province, China
| | - Bo Yang
- Department of Ophthalmology, Xinjiang People's Hospital, Urumqi 830000, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China
| | - Xin Huang
- Department of Ophthalmology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
| | - Yu-Ping Li
- Department of Ophthalmology, Dongxiang People's Hospital, Fuzhou 344000, Jiangxi Province, China
| | - Fu-Qing Zhou
- Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Jiangxi Province Medical Imaging Research Institute, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
| | - Xiao-Xuan Xu
- Department of Ophthalmology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
| | - Yu-Lin Zhong
- Department of Ophthalmology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
| | - Jun Wang
- Second Department of Respiratory Disease, Jiangxi Provincial People's Hospital, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
| | - Xiao-Rong Wu
- Department of Ophthalmology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Huang X, Zhou S, Su T, Ye L, Zhu PW, Shi WQ, Min YL, Yuan Q, Yang QC, Zhou FQ, Shao Y. Resting cerebral blood flow alterations specific to the comitant exophoria patients revealed by arterial spin labeling perfusion magnetic resonance imaging. Microvasc Res 2018; 120:67-73. [DOI: 10.1016/j.mvr.2018.06.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2018] [Revised: 06/28/2018] [Accepted: 06/29/2018] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
|
17
|
Liang B, Du Y. The Functional Neuroanatomy of Lexical Tone Perception: An Activation Likelihood Estimation Meta-Analysis. Front Neurosci 2018; 12:495. [PMID: 30087589 PMCID: PMC6066585 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00495] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2018] [Accepted: 07/02/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In tonal language such as Chinese, lexical tone serves as a phonemic feature in determining word meaning. Meanwhile, it is close to prosody in terms of suprasegmental pitch variations and larynx-based articulation. The important yet mixed nature of lexical tone has evoked considerable studies, but no consensus has been reached on its functional neuroanatomy. This meta-analysis aimed at uncovering the neural network of lexical tone perception in comparison with that of phoneme and prosody in a unified framework. Independent Activation Likelihood Estimation meta-analyses were conducted for different linguistic elements: lexical tone by native tonal language speakers, lexical tone by non-tonal language speakers, phoneme, word-level prosody, and sentence-level prosody. Results showed that lexical tone and prosody studies demonstrated more extensive activations in the right than the left auditory cortex, whereas the opposite pattern was found for phoneme studies. Only tonal language speakers consistently recruited the left anterior superior temporal gyrus (STG) for processing lexical tone, an area implicated in phoneme processing and word-form recognition. Moreover, an anterior-lateral to posterior-medial gradient of activation as a function of element timescale was revealed in the right STG, in which the activation for lexical tone lied between that for phoneme and that for prosody. Another topological pattern was shown on the left precentral gyrus (preCG), with the activation for lexical tone overlapped with that for prosody but ventral to that for phoneme. These findings provide evidence that the neural network for lexical tone perception is hybrid with those for phoneme and prosody. That is, resembling prosody, lexical tone perception, regardless of language experience, involved right auditory cortex, with activation localized between sites engaged by phonemic and prosodic processing, suggesting a hierarchical organization of representations in the right auditory cortex. For tonal language speakers, lexical tone additionally engaged the left STG lexical mapping network, consistent with the phonemic representation. Similarly, when processing lexical tone, only tonal language speakers engaged the left preCG site implicated in prosody perception, consistent with tonal language speakers having stronger articulatory representations for lexical tone in the laryngeal sensorimotor network. A dynamic dual-stream model for lexical tone perception was proposed and discussed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Baishen Liang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yi Du
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Zilles K, Amunts K. Cytoarchitectonic and receptorarchitectonic organization in Broca's region and surrounding cortex. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2018.02.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
|
19
|
Abstract
The variation of pitch in speech not only creates the intonation for affective communication but also signals different meaning of a word in tonal languages, like Chinese. Due to its subtle and brisk pitch contour distinction between tone categories, the underlying neural processing mechanism is largely unknown. Using direct recordings of the human brain, we found categorical neural responses to lexical tones over a distributed cooperative network that included not only the auditory areas in the temporal cortex but also motor areas in the frontal cortex. Strong causal links from the temporal cortex to the motor cortex were discovered, which provides new evidence of top-down influence and sensory–motor interaction during speech perception. In tonal languages such as Chinese, lexical tone with varying pitch contours serves as a key feature to provide contrast in word meaning. Similar to phoneme processing, behavioral studies have suggested that Chinese tone is categorically perceived. However, its underlying neural mechanism remains poorly understood. By conducting cortical surface recordings in surgical patients, we revealed a cooperative cortical network along with its dynamics responsible for this categorical perception. Based on an oddball paradigm, we found amplified neural dissimilarity between cross-category tone pairs, rather than between within-category tone pairs, over cortical sites covering both the ventral and dorsal streams of speech processing. The bilateral superior temporal gyrus (STG) and the middle temporal gyrus (MTG) exhibited increased response latencies and enlarged neural dissimilarity, suggesting a ventral hierarchy that gradually differentiates the acoustic features of lexical tones. In addition, the bilateral motor cortices were also found to be involved in categorical processing, interacting with both the STG and the MTG and exhibiting a response latency in between. Moreover, the motor cortex received enhanced Granger causal influence from the semantic hub, the anterior temporal lobe, in the right hemisphere. These unique data suggest that there exists a distributed cooperative cortical network supporting the categorical processing of lexical tone in tonal language speakers, not only encompassing a bilateral temporal hierarchy that is shared by categorical processing of phonemes but also involving intensive speech–motor interactions over the right hemisphere, which might be the unique machinery responsible for the reliable discrimination of tone identities.
Collapse
|
20
|
Kwok VPY, Dan G, Yakpo K, Matthews S, Fox PT, Li P, Tan LH. A Meta-Analytic Study of the Neural Systems for Auditory Processing of Lexical Tones. Front Hum Neurosci 2017; 11:375. [PMID: 28798670 PMCID: PMC5526909 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00375] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2016] [Accepted: 07/06/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The neural systems of lexical tone processing have been studied for many years. However, previous findings have been mixed with regard to the hemispheric specialization for the perception of linguistic pitch patterns in native speakers of tonal language. In this study, we performed two activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analyses, one on neuroimaging studies of auditory processing of lexical tones in tonal languages (17 studies), and the other on auditory processing of lexical information in non-tonal languages as a control analysis for comparison (15 studies). The lexical tone ALE analysis showed significant brain activations in bilateral inferior prefrontal regions, bilateral superior temporal regions and the right caudate, while the control ALE analysis showed significant cortical activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus and left temporo-parietal regions. However, we failed to obtain significant differences from the contrast analysis between two auditory conditions, which might be caused by the limited number of studies available for comparison. Although the current study lacks evidence to argue for a lexical tone specific activation pattern, our results provide clues and directions for future investigations on this topic, more sophisticated methods are needed to explore this question in more depth as well.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Veronica P Y Kwok
- Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of NeuroscienceShenzhen, China
| | - Guo Dan
- Neuroimaging Laboratory, School of Biomedical Engineering, Shenzhen University Health Science CenterShenzhen, China.,Guangdong Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Detection and Ultrasound ImagingShenzhen, China
| | - Kofi Yakpo
- Department of Linguistics, School of Humanities, University of Hong KongHong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Stephen Matthews
- Department of Linguistics, School of Humanities, University of Hong KongHong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Peter T Fox
- Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of NeuroscienceShenzhen, China.,Neuroimaging Laboratory, School of Biomedical Engineering, Shenzhen University Health Science CenterShenzhen, China.,Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at San AntonioSan Antonio, TX, United States.,South Texas Veterans Health Care SystemSan Antonio, TX, United States
| | - Ping Li
- Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of NeuroscienceShenzhen, China.,Department of Psychology, and Center for Brain, Behavior, and Cognition, Pennsylvania State UniversityUniversity Park, PA, United States
| | - Li-Hai Tan
- Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of NeuroscienceShenzhen, China.,Neuroimaging Laboratory, School of Biomedical Engineering, Shenzhen University Health Science CenterShenzhen, China.,Guangdong Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Detection and Ultrasound ImagingShenzhen, China
| |
Collapse
|
21
|
Cheng STT, Lam GYH, To CKS. Pitch Perception in Tone Language-Speaking Adults With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorders. Iperception 2017; 8:2041669517711200. [PMID: 28616150 PMCID: PMC5460721 DOI: 10.1177/2041669517711200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Enhanced low-level pitch perception has been universally reported in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This study examined whether tone language speakers with ASD exhibit this advantage. The pitch perception skill of 20 Cantonese-speaking adults with ASD was compared with that of 20 neurotypical individuals. Participants discriminated pairs of real syllable, pseudo-syllable (syllables that do not conform the phonotactic rules or are accidental gaps), and non-speech (syllables with attenuated high-frequency segmental content) stimuli contrasting pitch levels. The results revealed significantly higher discrimination ability in both groups for the non-speech stimuli than for the pseudo-syllables with one semitone difference. No significant group differences were noted. Different from previous findings, post hoc analysis found that enhanced pitch perception was observed in a subgroup of participants with ASD showing no history of delayed speech onset. The tone language experience may have modulated the pitch processing mechanism in the speakers in both ASD and non-ASD groups.
Collapse
|
22
|
|
23
|
Weiss Y, Katzir T, Bitan T. When transparency is opaque: Effects of diacritic marks and vowel letters on dyslexic Hebrew readers. Cortex 2016; 83:145-59. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2016.07.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2015] [Revised: 05/16/2016] [Accepted: 07/19/2016] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
|
24
|
Yang SY, Van Lancker Sidtis D. Production of Korean Idiomatic Utterances Following Left- and Right-Hemisphere Damage: Acoustic Studies. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2016; 59:267-280. [PMID: 26556625 DOI: 10.1044/2015_jslhr-l-15-0109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2015] [Accepted: 11/02/2015] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE This study investigates the effects of left- and right-hemisphere damage (LHD and RHD) on the production of idiomatic or literal expressions utilizing acoustic analyses. METHOD Twenty-one native speakers of Korean with LHD or RHD and in a healthy control (HC) group produced 6 ditropically ambiguous (idiomatic or literal) sentences in 2 different speech tasks: elicitation and repetition. Utterances were analyzed using durational and fundamental-frequency (F0) measures. Listeners' goodness ratings (how well each utterance represented its category: idiomatic or literal) were correlated with acoustic measures. RESULTS During the elicitation tasks, the LHD group differed significantly from the HC group in durational measures. Significant differences between the RHD and HC groups were seen in F0 measures. However, for the repetition tasks, the LHD and RHD groups produced utterances comparable to the HC group's performance. Using regression analysis, selected F0 cues were found to be significant predictors for goodness ratings by listeners. CONCLUSIONS Using elicitation, speakers in the LHD group were deficient in producing durational cues, whereas RHD negatively affected the production of F0 cues. Performance differed for elicitation and repetition, indicating a task effect. Listeners' goodness ratings were highly correlated with the production of certain acoustic cues. Both the acoustic and functional hypotheses of hemispheric specialization were supported for idiom production.
Collapse
|
25
|
Si X, Zhou W, Hong B. Neural distance amplification of lexical tone in human auditory cortex. ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY. IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY. ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2015; 2014:4001-4. [PMID: 25570869 DOI: 10.1109/embc.2014.6944501] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
In tonal languages, like Chinese, lexical tone serves as a key feature to provide contrast in word meaning. Behavior studies suggest that Mandarin Chinese tone is categorically perceived. However, the neural mechanism underlying Mandarin tone perception is still poorly understood. In this study, an Oddball paradigm was designed by selecting two standard-deviant stimulus pairs with same physical distance but different category labels, among the synthesized tones with continuously varying pitch contours. Using electrocorticography (ECoG) recording over human auditory cortex, high temporal and spatial resolution cortical neural signals were used for the first time to investigate the cortical processing of lexical tone. Here, we found different neural responses to the two standard-deviant tone pairs, and the difference increased from low to high level along the hierarchy of human auditory cortex. In the two dimensional neural space, cross-category neural distance of lexical tones is selectively amplified on those high level electrodes. These findings support a hierarchical and categorical model of Mandarin tone perception, and favor the using of high-level electrodes for a better performance of lexical tone discrimination in speech brain computer interface.
Collapse
|
26
|
Weiss Y, Katzir T, Bitan T. Many ways to read your vowels—Neural processing of diacritics and vowel letters in Hebrew. Neuroimage 2015; 121:10-9. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.07.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2014] [Revised: 06/25/2015] [Accepted: 07/08/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022] Open
|
27
|
Jia S, Tsang YK, Huang J, Chen HC. Processing Cantonese lexical tones: Evidence from oddball paradigms. Neuroscience 2015; 305:351-60. [PMID: 26265553 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2015.08.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2015] [Revised: 08/03/2015] [Accepted: 08/04/2015] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Two event-related potential (ERP) experiments were conducted to investigate whether Cantonese lexical tones are processed with general auditory perception mechanisms and/or a special speech module. Two tonal features (f0 direction and f0 height deviation) were manipulated to reflect acoustic processing, and the contrast between syllables and hums was used to reveal the involvement of a speech module. Experiment 1 adopted a passive oddball paradigm to study a relatively early stage of tonal processing. Mismatch negativity (MMN) and novelty P3 (P3a) were modulated by the interaction between tonal feature and stimulus type. Similar interactions were found for N2 and P3 in Experiment 2, where more in-depth tonal processing was examined with an active oddball paradigm. Moreover, detecting tonal deviants of syllables elicited N1 and P2 that were not found in hum detection. Together, these findings suggest that the processing of lexical tone relies on both acoustic and linguistic processes from the early stage. Another noteworthy finding is the absence of brain lateralization in both experiments, which challenges the use of a lateralization pattern as evidence for processing lexical tones through a special speech module.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- S Jia
- School of Psychology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, China
| | - Y-K Tsang
- Department of Education Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
| | - J Huang
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - H-C Chen
- Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong, China.
| |
Collapse
|
28
|
Music perception: information flow within the human auditory cortices. ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY 2015; 829:293-303. [PMID: 25358716 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-1782-2_15] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/16/2023]
Abstract
Information processing of all acoustic stimuli involves temporal lobe regions referred to as auditory cortices, which receive direct afferents from the auditory thalamus. However, the perception of music (as well as speech or spoken language) is a complex process that also involves secondary and association cortices that conform a large functional network. Using different analytical techniques and stimulation paradigms, several studies have shown that certain areas are particularly sensitive to specific acoustic characteristics inherent to music (e.g., rhythm). This chapter reviews the functional anatomy of the auditory cortices, and highlights specific experiments that suggest the existence of distinct cortical networks for the perception of music and speech.
Collapse
|
29
|
Liu F, Maggu AR, Lau JCY, Wong PCM. Brainstem encoding of speech and musical stimuli in congenital amusia: evidence from Cantonese speakers. Front Hum Neurosci 2015; 8:1029. [PMID: 25646077 PMCID: PMC4297920 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.01029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2014] [Accepted: 12/06/2014] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Congenital amusia is a neurodevelopmental disorder of musical processing that also impacts subtle aspects of speech processing. It remains debated at what stage(s) of auditory processing deficits in amusia arise. In this study, we investigated whether amusia originates from impaired subcortical encoding of speech (in quiet and noise) and musical sounds in the brainstem. Fourteen Cantonese-speaking amusics and 14 matched controls passively listened to six Cantonese lexical tones in quiet, two Cantonese tones in noise (signal-to-noise ratios at 0 and 20 dB), and two cello tones in quiet while their frequency-following responses (FFRs) to these tones were recorded. All participants also completed a behavioral lexical tone identification task. The results indicated normal brainstem encoding of pitch in speech (in quiet and noise) and musical stimuli in amusics relative to controls, as measured by FFR pitch strength, pitch error, and stimulus-to-response correlation. There was also no group difference in neural conduction time or FFR amplitudes. Both groups demonstrated better FFRs to speech (in quiet and noise) than to musical stimuli. However, a significant group difference was observed for tone identification, with amusics showing significantly lower accuracy than controls. Analysis of the tone confusion matrices suggested that amusics were more likely than controls to confuse between tones that shared similar acoustic features. Interestingly, this deficit in lexical tone identification was not coupled with brainstem abnormality for either speech or musical stimuli. Together, our results suggest that the amusic brainstem is not functioning abnormally, although higher-order linguistic pitch processing is impaired in amusia. This finding has significant implications for theories of central auditory processing, requiring further investigations into how different stages of auditory processing interact in the human brain.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Fang Liu
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong, China
| | - Akshay R Maggu
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong, China
| | - Joseph C Y Lau
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong, China
| | - Patrick C M Wong
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong, China ; The Chinese University of Hong Kong - Utrecht University Joint Center for Language, Mind and Brain Hong Kong, China ; Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University Evanston, IL, USA ; Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Chicago, IL, USA
| |
Collapse
|
30
|
Yue J, Bastiaanse R, Alter K. Cortical plasticity induced by rapid Hebbian learning of novel tonal word-forms: evidence from mismatch negativity. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2014; 139:10-22. [PMID: 25463813 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2014.09.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2014] [Revised: 08/25/2014] [Accepted: 09/21/2014] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Although several experiments reported rapid cortical plasticity induced by passive exposure to novel segmental patterns, few studies have devoted attention to the neural dynamics during the rapid learning of novel tonal word-forms in tonal languages, such as Chinese. In the current study, native speakers of Mandarin Chinese were exposed to acoustically matched real and novel segment-tone patterns. By recording their Mismatch Negativity (MMN) responses (an ERP indicator of long-term memory traces for spoken words), we found enhanced MMNs to the novel word-forms over the left-hemispheric region in the late exposure phase relative to the early exposure phase. In contrast, no significant changes were identified in MMN responses to the real word during familiarisation. Our results suggest a rapid Hebbian learning mechanism in the human neocortex which develops long-term memory traces for a novel segment-tone pattern by establishing new associations between the segmental and tonal representations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jinxing Yue
- International Doctorate in Experimental Approaches to Language And the Brain (IDEALAB), University of Potsdam, Germany; University of Groningen, The Netherlands; University of Trento, Italy; Newcastle University, UK; and Macquarie University, Australia; Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK; Center for Language and Cognition Groningen (CLCG), University of Groningen, Groningen, PO Box 716, 9700 AS, The Netherlands.
| | - Roelien Bastiaanse
- Center for Language and Cognition Groningen (CLCG), University of Groningen, Groningen, PO Box 716, 9700 AS, The Netherlands
| | - Kai Alter
- Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK
| |
Collapse
|
31
|
Abstract
Optimal periods during early development facilitate the formation of perceptual representations, laying the framework for future learning. A crucial question is whether such early representations are maintained in the brain over time without continued input. Using functional MRI, we show that internationally adopted (IA) children from China, exposed exclusively to French since adoption (mean age of adoption, 12.8 mo), maintained neural representations of their birth language despite functionally losing that language and having no conscious recollection of it. Their neural patterns during a Chinese lexical tone discrimination task matched those observed in Chinese/French bilinguals who have had continual exposure to Chinese since birth and differed from monolingual French speakers who had never been exposed to Chinese. They processed lexical tone as linguistically relevant, despite having no Chinese exposure for 12.6 y, on average, and no conscious recollection of that language. More specifically, IA participants recruited left superior temporal gyrus/planum temporale, matching the pattern observed in Chinese/French bilinguals. In contrast, French speakers who had never been exposed to Chinese did not recruit this region and instead activated right superior temporal gyrus. We show that neural representations are not overwritten and suggest a special status for language input obtained during the first year of development.
Collapse
|
32
|
Kwok VPY, Wang T, Chen S, Yakpo K, Zhu L, Fox PT, Tan LH. Neural signatures of lexical tone reading. Hum Brain Mapp 2014; 36:304-12. [PMID: 25196948 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.22629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2014] [Revised: 08/29/2014] [Accepted: 08/29/2014] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Research on how lexical tone is neuroanatomically represented in the human brain is central to our understanding of cortical regions subserving language. Past studies have exclusively focused on tone perception of the spoken language, and little is known as to the lexical tone processing in reading visual words and its associated brain mechanisms. In this study, we performed two experiments to identify neural substrates in Chinese tone reading. First, we used a tone judgment paradigm to investigate tone processing of visually presented Chinese characters. We found that, relative to baseline, tone perception of printed Chinese characters were mediated by strong brain activation in bilateral frontal regions, left inferior parietal lobule, left posterior middle/medial temporal gyrus, left inferior temporal region, bilateral visual systems, and cerebellum. Surprisingly, no activation was found in superior temporal regions, brain sites well known for speech tone processing. In activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis to combine results of relevant published studies, we attempted to elucidate whether the left temporal cortex activities identified in Experiment one is consistent with those found in previous studies of auditory lexical tone perception. ALE results showed that only the left superior temporal gyrus and putamen were critical in auditory lexical tone processing. These findings suggest that activation in the superior temporal cortex associated with lexical tone perception is modality-dependent.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Veronica P Y Kwok
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong; Department of Linguistics, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
33
|
Zhou Y, Yu F, Duong T. Multiparametric MRI characterization and prediction in autism spectrum disorder using graph theory and machine learning. PLoS One 2014; 9:e90405. [PMID: 24922325 PMCID: PMC4055499 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0090405] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2013] [Accepted: 11/20/2013] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
This study employed graph theory and machine learning analysis of multiparametric MRI data to improve characterization and prediction in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Data from 127 children with ASD (13.5±6.0 years) and 153 age- and gender-matched typically developing children (14.5±5.7 years) were selected from the multi-center Functional Connectome Project. Regional gray matter volume and cortical thickness increased, whereas white matter volume decreased in ASD compared to controls. Small-world network analysis of quantitative MRI data demonstrated decreased global efficiency based on gray matter cortical thickness but not with functional connectivity MRI (fcMRI) or volumetry. An integrative model of 22 quantitative imaging features was used for classification and prediction of phenotypic features that included the autism diagnostic observation schedule, the revised autism diagnostic interview, and intelligence quotient scores. Among the 22 imaging features, four (caudate volume, caudate-cortical functional connectivity and inferior frontal gyrus functional connectivity) were found to be highly informative, markedly improving classification and prediction accuracy when compared with the single imaging features. This approach could potentially serve as a biomarker in prognosis, diagnosis, and monitoring disease progression.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yongxia Zhou
- Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Fang Yu
- Research Imaging Institute, Departments of Ophthalmology, Radiology, Physiology, University of Texas Health Science Center, South Texas Veterans Health Care System, Department of Veterans Affairs, San Antonio, Texas, United States of America
| | - Timothy Duong
- Research Imaging Institute, Departments of Ophthalmology, Radiology, Physiology, University of Texas Health Science Center, South Texas Veterans Health Care System, Department of Veterans Affairs, San Antonio, Texas, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| |
Collapse
|
34
|
Shuai L, Gong T. Temporal relation between top-down and bottom-up processing in lexical tone perception. Front Behav Neurosci 2014; 8:97. [PMID: 24723863 PMCID: PMC3971173 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2013] [Accepted: 03/09/2014] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Speech perception entails both top-down processing that relies primarily on language experience and bottom-up processing that depends mainly on instant auditory input. Previous models of speech perception often claim that bottom-up processing occurs in an early time window, whereas top-down processing takes place in a late time window after stimulus onset. In this paper, we evaluated the temporal relation of both types of processing in lexical tone perception. We conducted a series of event-related potential (ERP) experiments that recruited Mandarin participants and adopted three experimental paradigms, namely dichotic listening, lexical decision with phonological priming, and semantic violation. By systematically analyzing the lateralization patterns of the early and late ERP components that are observed in these experiments, we discovered that: auditory processing of pitch variations in tones, as a bottom-up effect, elicited greater right hemisphere activation; in contrast, linguistic processing of lexical tones, as a top-down effect, elicited greater left hemisphere activation. We also found that both types of processing co-occurred in both the early (around 200 ms) and late (around 300–500 ms) time windows, which supported a parallel model of lexical tone perception. Unlike the previous view that language processing is special and performed by dedicated neural circuitry, our study have elucidated that language processing can be decomposed into general cognitive functions (e.g., sensory and memory) and share neural resources with these functions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lan Shuai
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Tao Gong
- Department of Linguistics, University of Hong Kong Hong Kong, China
| |
Collapse
|
35
|
Yang WX, Feng J, Huang WT, Zhang CX, Nan Y. Perceptual pitch deficits coexist with pitch production difficulties in music but not Mandarin speech. Front Psychol 2014; 4:1024. [PMID: 24474944 PMCID: PMC3893622 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.01024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2013] [Accepted: 12/31/2013] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Congenital amusia is a musical disorder that mainly affects pitch perception. Among Mandarin speakers, some amusics also have difficulties in processing lexical tones (tone agnosics). To examine to what extent these perceptual deficits may be related to pitch production impairments in music and Mandarin speech, eight amusics, eight tone agnosics, and 12 age- and IQ-matched normal native Mandarin speakers were asked to imitate music note sequences and Mandarin words of comparable lengths. The results indicated that both the amusics and tone agnosics underperformed the controls on musical pitch production. However, tone agnosics performed no worse than the amusics, suggesting that lexical tone perception deficits may not aggravate musical pitch production difficulties. Moreover, these three groups were all able to imitate lexical tones with perfect intelligibility. Taken together, the current study shows that perceptual musical pitch and lexical tone deficits might coexist with musical pitch production difficulties. But at the same time these perceptual pitch deficits might not affect lexical tone production or the intelligibility of the speech words that were produced. The perception-production relationship for pitch among individuals with perceptual pitch deficits may be, therefore, domain-dependent.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Wu-Xia Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; International Data Group/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China
| | - Jie Feng
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; International Data Group/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China
| | - Wan-Ting Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; International Data Group/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China
| | - Cheng-Xiang Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; International Data Group/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China
| | - Yun Nan
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; International Data Group/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China
| |
Collapse
|
36
|
Gu F, Zhang C, Hu A, Zhao G. Left hemisphere lateralization for lexical and acoustic pitch processing in Cantonese speakers as revealed by mismatch negativity. Neuroimage 2013; 83:637-45. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.02.080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2012] [Revised: 02/18/2013] [Accepted: 02/25/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022] Open
|
37
|
Zacà D, Jarso S, Pillai JJ. Role of semantic paradigms for optimization of language mapping in clinical FMRI studies. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 2013; 34:1966-71. [PMID: 23788599 DOI: 10.3174/ajnr.a3628] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The optimal paradigm choice for language mapping in clinical fMRI studies is challenging due to the variability in activation among different paradigms, the contribution to activation of cognitive processes other than language, and the difficulties in monitoring patient performance. In this study, we compared language localization and lateralization between 2 commonly used clinical language paradigms and 3 newly designed dual-choice semantic paradigms to define a streamlined and adequate language-mapping protocol. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twelve healthy volunteers performed 5 language paradigms: Silent Word Generation, Sentence Completion, Visual Antonym Pair, Auditory Antonym Pair, and Noun-Verb Association. Group analysis was performed to assess statistically significant differences in fMRI percentage signal change and lateralization index among these paradigms in 5 ROIs: inferior frontal gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus for expressive language activation, middle temporal gyrus, and superior temporal gyrus for receptive language activation. RESULTS In the expressive ROIs, Silent Word Generation was the most robust and best lateralizing paradigm (greater percentage signal change and lateralization index than semantic paradigms at P < .01 and P < .05 levels, respectively). In the receptive region of interest, Sentence Completion and Noun-Verb Association were the most robust activators (greater percentage signal change than other paradigms, P < .01). All except Auditory Antonym Pair were good lateralizing tasks (the lateralization index was significantly lower than other paradigms, P < .05). CONCLUSIONS The combination of Silent Word Generation and ≥1 visual semantic paradigm, such as Sentence Completion and Noun-Verb Association, is adequate to determine language localization and lateralization; Noun-Verb Association has the additional advantage of objective monitoring of patient performance.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- D Zacà
- Division of Neuroradiology, Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
38
|
Wang XD, Wang M, Chen L. Hemispheric lateralization for early auditory processing of lexical tones: dependence on pitch level and pitch contour. Neuropsychologia 2013; 51:2238-44. [PMID: 23911775 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.07.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2012] [Revised: 07/20/2013] [Accepted: 07/24/2013] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
In Mandarin Chinese, a tonal language, pitch level and pitch contour are two dimensions of lexical tones according to their acoustic features (i.e., pitch patterns). A change in pitch level features a step change whereas that in pitch contour features a continuous variation in voice pitch. Currently, relatively little is known about the hemispheric lateralization for the processing of each dimension. To address this issue, we made whole-head electrical recordings of mismatch negativity in native Chinese speakers in response to the contrast of Chinese lexical tones in each dimension. We found that pre-attentive auditory processing of pitch level was obviously lateralized to the right hemisphere whereas there is a tendency for that of pitch contour to be lateralized to the left. We also found that the brain responded faster to pitch level than to pitch contour at a pre-attentive stage. These results indicate that the hemispheric lateralization for early auditory processing of lexical tones depends on the pitch level and pitch contour, and suggest an underlying inter-hemispheric interactive mechanism for the processing.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xiao-Dong Wang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Diseases, School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China; School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 637332 Singapore, Singapore
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
39
|
Xu G, Zhang L, Shu H, Wang X, Li P. Access to lexical meaning in pitch-flattened Chinese sentences: an fMRI study. Neuropsychologia 2012; 51:550-6. [PMID: 23262075 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.12.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2012] [Revised: 12/06/2012] [Accepted: 12/11/2012] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Chinese is a tonal language in which variation in pitch is used to distinguish word meanings. Thus, in order to understand a word, listeners have to extract the pitch patterns in addition to its phonemes. Can the correct word meaning still be accessed in sentence contexts if pitch patterns of words are altered? If so, how is this accomplished? The present study attempts to address such questions with event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Native speakers of Mandarin Chinese listened to normal and pitch-flattened (monotone) speech inside the scanner. The behavioral results indicated that they rated monotone sentences as intelligible as normal sentences, and performed equally well in a dictation test on the two types of sentences. The fMRI results showed that both types of sentences elicited similar activation in the left insular, middle and inferior temporal gyri, but the monotone sentences elicited greater activation in the left planum temporale (PT) compared with normal sentences. These results demonstrate that lexical meaning can still be accessed in pitch-flattened Chinese sentences, and that this process is realized by automatic recovery of the phonological representations of lexical tones from the altered tonal patterns. Our findings suggest that the details of spoken pitch patterns are not essential for adequate lexical-semantic processing during sentence comprehension even in tonal languages like Mandarin Chinese, given that listeners can automatically use additional neural and cognitive resources to recover distorted tonal patterns in sentences.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Guoqing Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
40
|
Gu F, Li J, Wang X, Hou Q, Huang Y, Chen L. Memory traces for tonal language words revealed by auditory event-related potentials. Psychophysiology 2012; 49:1353-60. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2012.01447.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2012] [Accepted: 06/20/2012] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
|
41
|
Brennan C, Cao F, Pedroarena-Leal N, McNorgan C, Booth JR. Reading acquisition reorganizes the phonological awareness network only in alphabetic writing systems. Hum Brain Mapp 2012; 34:3354-68. [PMID: 22815229 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.22147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2011] [Revised: 05/23/2012] [Accepted: 05/24/2012] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
It is unknown how experience with different types of orthographies influences the neural basis of oral language processing. In order to determine the effects of alphabetic and nonalphabetic writing systems, the current study examined the influence of learning to read on oral language in English and Chinese speakers. Children (8-12 years olds) and adults made rhyming judgments to pairs of spoken words during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Developmental increases were seen only for English speakers in the left hemisphere phonological network (superior temporal gyrus (STG), inferior parietal lobule, and inferior frontal gyrus). The increase in the STG was more pronounced for words with conflicting orthography (e.g. pint-mint; jazz-has) even though access to orthography was irrelevant to the task. Moreover, higher reading skill was correlated with greater activation in the STG only for English speaking children. The effects suggest that learning to read reorganizes the phonological awareness network only for alphabetic and not logographic writing systems because of differences in the principles for mapping between orthographic and phonological representations. The reorganization of the auditory cortex may result in better phonological awareness skills in alphabetic readers.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Christine Brennan
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
| | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
42
|
Price CJ. A review and synthesis of the first 20 years of PET and fMRI studies of heard speech, spoken language and reading. Neuroimage 2012; 62:816-47. [PMID: 22584224 PMCID: PMC3398395 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.04.062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1296] [Impact Index Per Article: 108.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2011] [Revised: 04/25/2012] [Accepted: 04/30/2012] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
The anatomy of language has been investigated with PET or fMRI for more than 20 years. Here I attempt to provide an overview of the brain areas associated with heard speech, speech production and reading. The conclusions of many hundreds of studies were considered, grouped according to the type of processing, and reported in the order that they were published. Many findings have been replicated time and time again leading to some consistent and undisputable conclusions. These are summarised in an anatomical model that indicates the location of the language areas and the most consistent functions that have been assigned to them. The implications for cognitive models of language processing are also considered. In particular, a distinction can be made between processes that are localized to specific structures (e.g. sensory and motor processing) and processes where specialisation arises in the distributed pattern of activation over many different areas that each participate in multiple functions. For example, phonological processing of heard speech is supported by the functional integration of auditory processing and articulation; and orthographic processing is supported by the functional integration of visual processing, articulation and semantics. Future studies will undoubtedly be able to improve the spatial precision with which functional regions can be dissociated but the greatest challenge will be to understand how different brain regions interact with one another in their attempts to comprehend and produce language.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Cathy J Price
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, UCL, London WC1N 3BG, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
43
|
REN GQ, HAN YC, ZHOU YL, REN YT. Early Cortical Processing of Mandarin Intonation. ACTA PSYCHOLOGICA SINICA 2012. [DOI: 10.3724/sp.j.1041.2011.00241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
|
44
|
Merrill J, Sammler D, Bangert M, Goldhahn D, Lohmann G, Turner R, Friederici AD. Perception of words and pitch patterns in song and speech. Front Psychol 2012; 3:76. [PMID: 22457659 PMCID: PMC3307374 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2011] [Accepted: 03/01/2012] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
This functional magnetic resonance imaging study examines shared and distinct cortical areas involved in the auditory perception of song and speech at the level of their underlying constituents: words and pitch patterns. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to isolate the neural correlates of the word- and pitch-based discrimination between song and speech, corrected for rhythmic differences in both. Therefore, six conditions, arranged in a subtractive hierarchy were created: sung sentences including words, pitch and rhythm; hummed speech prosody and song melody containing only pitch patterns and rhythm; and as a control the pure musical or speech rhythm. Systematic contrasts between these balanced conditions following their hierarchical organization showed a great overlap between song and speech at all levels in the bilateral temporal lobe, but suggested a differential role of the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and intraparietal sulcus (IPS) in processing song and speech. While the left IFG coded for spoken words and showed predominance over the right IFG in prosodic pitch processing, an opposite lateralization was found for pitch in song. The IPS showed sensitivity to discrete pitch relations in song as opposed to the gliding pitch in speech. Finally, the superior temporal gyrus and premotor cortex coded for general differences between words and pitch patterns, irrespective of whether they were sung or spoken. Thus, song and speech share many features which are reflected in a fundamental similarity of brain areas involved in their perception. However, fine-grained acoustic differences on word and pitch level are reflected in the IPS and the lateralized activity of the IFG.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Julia Merrill
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences Leipzig, Germany
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
45
|
Zhang Q, Zhu X. The temporal and spatial features of segmental and suprasegmental encoding during implicit picture naming: An event-related potential study. Neuropsychologia 2011; 49:3813-25. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.09.040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2011] [Revised: 09/23/2011] [Accepted: 09/27/2011] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
|
46
|
Simner J, Hung WY, Shillcock R. Synaesthesia in a logographic language: The colouring of Chinese characters and Pinyin/Bopomo spellings. Conscious Cogn 2011; 20:1376-92. [PMID: 21684180 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2011.05.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2010] [Revised: 05/05/2011] [Accepted: 05/06/2011] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
|
47
|
Tillmann B, Burnham D, Nguyen S, Grimault N, Gosselin N, Peretz I. Congenital Amusia (or Tone-Deafness) Interferes with Pitch Processing in Tone Languages. Front Psychol 2011; 2:120. [PMID: 21734894 PMCID: PMC3119887 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2011] [Accepted: 05/27/2011] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Congenital amusia is a neurogenetic disorder that affects music processing and that is ascribed to a deficit in pitch processing. We investigated whether this deficit extended to pitch processing in speech, notably the pitch changes used to contrast lexical tones in tonal languages. Congenital amusics and matched controls, all non-tonal language speakers, were tested for lexical tone discrimination in Mandarin Chinese (Experiment 1) and in Thai (Experiment 2). Tones were presented in pairs and participants were required to make same/different judgments. Experiment 2 additionally included musical analogs of Thai tones for comparison. Performance of congenital amusics was inferior to that of controls for all materials, suggesting a domain-general pitch-processing deficit. The pitch deficit of amusia is thus not limited to music, but may compromise the ability to process and learn tonal languages. Combined with acoustic analyses of the tone material, the present findings provide new insights into the nature of the pitch-processing deficit exhibited by amusics.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Tillmann
- CNRS, UMR5292; INSERM, U1028; Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Auditory Cognition and Psychoacoustics Team Lyon, France
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
48
|
Cortical language mapping using electrical cortical stimulation for Mandarin-speaking patients with epilepsy: a report of six case studies. Epilepsy Behav 2010; 19:343-7. [PMID: 20797912 DOI: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2010.07.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2010] [Revised: 07/10/2010] [Accepted: 07/21/2010] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The goal of this study was to summarize the results of language cortex mapping using electrical cortical stimulation with modified language tasks for Mandarin-speaking patients with epilepsy. METHODS Electrical currents were delivered through implanted subdural electrodes to six Mandarin-speaking patients before epilepsy surgery. The current intensities inducing any language disturbance during comprehension, repetition, and speech tasks were recorded, and individual cortical mapping was completed to guide subsequent resection, with the distance between mapped language sites and resected zones kept at a minimum of 0.5 cm. Language function was reassessed and followed up after surgery. RESULTS Language cortices were successfully identified in three patients, but demonstrated great variability in distribution. There seemed to be no difference in the intensity threshold that induced language interference. None of the six patients exhibited language deficits postsurgery. CONCLUSIONS Electrical cortical stimulation with modified language tasks is valid for identification of cortices underlying Mandarin processing. The great variability in language cortex distribution enhances the necessity of individual language cortical mapping in epilepsy surgery.
Collapse
|
49
|
Zhang L, Shu H, Zhou F, Wang X, Li P. Common and distinct neural substrates for the perception of speech rhythm and intonation. Hum Brain Mapp 2010; 31:1106-16. [PMID: 20063360 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.20922] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
The present study examines the neural substrates for the perception of speech rhythm and intonation. Subjects listened passively to synthesized speech stimuli that contained no semantic and phonological information, in three conditions: (1) continuous speech stimuli with fixed syllable duration and fundamental frequency in the standard condition, (2) stimuli with varying vocalic durations of syllables in the speech rhythm condition, and (3) stimuli with varying fundamental frequency in the intonation condition. Compared to the standard condition, speech rhythm activated the right middle superior temporal gyrus (mSTG), whereas intonation activated the bilateral superior temporal gyrus and sulcus (STG/STS) and the right posterior STS. Conjunction analysis further revealed that rhythm and intonation activated a common area in the right mSTG but compared to speech rhythm, intonation elicited additional activations in the right anterior STS. Findings from the current study reveal that the right mSTG plays an important role in prosodic processing. Implications of our findings are discussed with respect to neurocognitive theories of auditory processing.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Linjun Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
50
|
Categorical perception of lexical tones in Chinese revealed by mismatch negativity. Neuroscience 2010; 170:223-31. [PMID: 20633613 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2010.06.077] [Citation(s) in RCA: 106] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2009] [Revised: 06/22/2010] [Accepted: 06/28/2010] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The present study investigated the neurophysiological correlates of categorical perception of Chinese lexical tones in Mandarin Chinese. Relative to standard stimuli, both within- and across-category deviants elicited mismatch negativity (MMN) in bilateral frontal-central recording sites. The MMN elicited in the right sites was marginally larger than in the left sites, which reflects the role of the right hemisphere in acoustic processing. At the same time, relative to within-category deviants, the across-category deviants elicited larger MMN in the left recording sites, reflecting the long-term phonemic traces of lexical tones. These results provide strong neurophysiological evidence in support of categorical perception of lexical tones in Chinese. More important, they demonstrate that acoustic and phonological information is processed in parallel within the MMN time window for the perception of lexical tones. Finally, homologous nonspeech stimuli elicited similar MMN patterns, indicating that lexical tone knowledge influences the perception of nonspeech signals.
Collapse
|