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Krizman J, Bonacina S, Colegrove D, Otto-Meyer R, Nicol T, Kraus N. Athleticism and sex impact neural processing of sound. Sci Rep 2022; 12:15181. [PMID: 36071146 PMCID: PMC9452578 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-19216-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2022] [Accepted: 08/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Biology and experience both influence the auditory brain. Sex is one biological factor with pervasive effects on auditory processing. Females process sounds faster and more robustly than males. These differences are linked to hormone differences between the sexes. Athleticism is an experiential factor known to reduce ongoing neural noise, but whether it influences how sounds are processed by the brain is unknown. Furthermore, it is unknown whether sports participation influences auditory processing differently in males and females, given the well-documented sex differences in auditory processing seen in the general population. We hypothesized that athleticism enhances auditory processing and that these enhancements are greater in females. To test these hypotheses, we measured auditory processing in collegiate Division I male and female student-athletes and their non-athlete peers (total n = 1012) using the frequency-following response (FFR). The FFR is a neurophysiological response to sound that reflects the processing of discrete sound features. We measured across-trial consistency of the response in addition to fundamental frequency (F0) and harmonic encoding. We found that athletes had enhanced encoding of the harmonics, which was greatest in the female athletes, and that athletes had more consistent responses than non-athletes. In contrast, F0 encoding was reduced in athletes. The harmonic-encoding advantage in female athletes aligns with previous work linking harmonic encoding strength to female hormone levels and studies showing estrogen as mediating athlete sex differences in other sensory domains. Lastly, persistent deficits in auditory processing from previous concussive and repetitive subconcussive head trauma may underlie the reduced F0 encoding in athletes, as poor F0 encoding is a hallmark of concussion injury.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Krizman
- Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
| | - Silvia Bonacina
- Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
| | - Danielle Colegrove
- Department of Sports Medicine, Northwestern Medicine, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA
| | - Rembrandt Otto-Meyer
- Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
| | - Trent Nicol
- Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
| | - Nina Kraus
- Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, .
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA.
- Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA.
- Department of Otolaryngology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA.
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Marotta A, Braga M, Tarperi C, Skroce K, Fiorio M. Attentional bias to emotions after prolonged endurance exercise is modulated by age. Cogn Emot 2021; 36:273-283. [PMID: 34854355 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2021.2007856] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Physical exercise has an impact in biasing attention to positive or negative emotional stimuli. While attentional shift to emotions varies with age, evidence is lacking on the effect of prolonged endurance exercise on age-related attentional bias to emotions. This study aims at filling this knowledge gap, by applying a dot-probe task to measure attentional bias to emotions before and after a half-marathon in healthy participants of different ages (age range 21-65 years). State anxiety, positive and negative affect were also assessed. Younger adults showed attentional bias towards anger and away from sadness after the race, supporting the hypothesis of the congruency between the high-arousing task and the associated emotion (anger) in the modulation of attention. Conversely, older adults showed a bias away from anger, likely representing an attempt to maintain an optimal emotional level after the competition. This study sheds new light on how age impacts on emotional mechanisms involved in prolonged endurance exercise and suggests that regulatory processes in response to stress may be involved differently, depending on age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela Marotta
- Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Miriam Braga
- Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.,Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Cantor Tarperi
- Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.,Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Kristina Skroce
- Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.,Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croazia
| | - Mirta Fiorio
- Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
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