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Bolt E, Giroud N. Neural encoding of linguistic speech cues is unaffected by cognitive decline, but decreases with increasing hearing impairment. Sci Rep 2024; 14:19105. [PMID: 39154048 PMCID: PMC11330478 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-69602-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2024] [Accepted: 08/07/2024] [Indexed: 08/19/2024] Open
Abstract
The multivariate temporal response function (mTRF) is an effective tool for investigating the neural encoding of acoustic and complex linguistic features in natural continuous speech. In this study, we investigated how neural representations of speech features derived from natural stimuli are related to early signs of cognitive decline in older adults, taking into account the effects of hearing. Participants without ( n = 25 ) and with ( n = 19 ) early signs of cognitive decline listened to an audiobook while their electroencephalography responses were recorded. Using the mTRF framework, we modeled the relationship between speech input and neural response via different acoustic, segmented and linguistic encoding models and examined the response functions in terms of encoding accuracy, signal power, peak amplitudes and latencies. Our results showed no significant effect of cognitive decline or hearing ability on the neural encoding of acoustic and linguistic speech features. However, we found a significant interaction between hearing ability and the word-level segmentation model, suggesting that hearing impairment specifically affects encoding accuracy for this model, while other features were not affected by hearing ability. These results suggest that while speech processing markers remain unaffected by cognitive decline and hearing loss per se, neural encoding of word-level segmented speech features in older adults is affected by hearing loss but not by cognitive decline. This study emphasises the effectiveness of mTRF analysis in studying the neural encoding of speech and argues for an extension of research to investigate its clinical impact on hearing loss and cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Bolt
- Computational Neuroscience of Speech and Hearing, Department of Computational Linguistics, University of Zurich, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland.
- International Max Planck Research School on the Life Course (IMPRS LIFE), University of Zurich, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Nathalie Giroud
- Computational Neuroscience of Speech and Hearing, Department of Computational Linguistics, University of Zurich, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland
- International Max Planck Research School on the Life Course (IMPRS LIFE), University of Zurich, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland
- Language and Medicine Centre Zurich, Competence Centre of Medical Faculty and Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Zurich, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland
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2
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Berthault E, Chen S, Falk S, Morillon B, Schön D. Auditory and motor priming of metric structure improves understanding of degraded speech. Cognition 2024; 248:105793. [PMID: 38636164 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105793] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2023] [Revised: 03/07/2024] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024]
Abstract
Speech comprehension is enhanced when preceded (or accompanied) by a congruent rhythmic prime reflecting the metrical sentence structure. Although these phenomena have been described for auditory and motor primes separately, their respective and synergistic contribution has not been addressed. In this experiment, participants performed a speech comprehension task on degraded speech signals that were preceded by a rhythmic prime that could be auditory, motor or audiomotor. Both auditory and audiomotor rhythmic primes facilitated speech comprehension speed. While the presence of a purely motor prime (unpaced tapping) did not globally benefit speech comprehension, comprehension accuracy scaled with the regularity of motor tapping. In order to investigate inter-individual variability, participants also performed a Spontaneous Speech Synchronization test. The strength of the estimated perception-production coupling correlated positively with overall speech comprehension scores. These findings are discussed in the framework of the dynamic attending and active sensing theories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma Berthault
- Aix Marseille Université, INSERM, INS, Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes, Marseille, France.
| | - Sophie Chen
- Aix Marseille Université, INSERM, INS, Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes, Marseille, France.
| | - Simone Falk
- Department of Linguistics and Translation, University of Montreal, Canada; International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research, Montreal, Canada.
| | - Benjamin Morillon
- Aix Marseille Université, INSERM, INS, Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes, Marseille, France.
| | - Daniele Schön
- Aix Marseille Université, INSERM, INS, Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes, Marseille, France.
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3
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Joshi N, Ng Y, Thakkar K, Duque D, Yin P, Fritz J, Elhilali M, Shamma S. Temporal Coherence Shapes Cortical Responses to Speech Mixtures in a Ferret Cocktail Party. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.05.21.595171. [PMID: 38915590 PMCID: PMC11195067 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.21.595171] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/26/2024]
Abstract
Segregation of complex sounds such as speech, music and animal vocalizations as they simultaneously emanate from multiple sources (referred to as the "cocktail party problem") is a remarkable ability that is common in humans and animals alike. The neural underpinnings of this process have been extensively studied behaviorally and physiologically in non-human animals primarily with simplified sounds (tones and noise sequences). In humans, segregation experiments utilizing more complex speech mixtures are common; but physiological experiments have relied on EEG/MEG/ECoG recordings that sample activity from thousands of neurons, often obscuring the detailed processes that give rise to the observed segregation. The present study combines the insights from animal single-unit physiology with segregation of speech-like mixtures. Ferrets were trained to attend to a female voice and detect a target word, both in presence or absence of a concurrent, equally salient male voice. Single neuron recordings were obtained from primary and secondary ferret auditory cortical fields, as well as frontal cortex. During task performance, representation of the female words became more enhanced relative to those of the (distractor) male in all cortical regions, especially in the higher auditory cortical field. Analysis of the temporal and spectral response characteristics during task performance reveals how speech segregation gradually emerges in the auditory cortex. A computational model evaluated on the same voice mixtures replicates and extends these results to different attentional targets (attention to female or male voices). These findings are consistent with the temporal coherence theory whereby attention to a target voice anchors neural activity in cortical networks hence binding together channels that are coherently temporally-modulated with the target, and ultimately forming a common auditory stream.
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Affiliation(s)
- Neha Joshi
- Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of Maryland College Park, MD
| | - Yu Ng
- Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of Maryland College Park, MD
| | - Karran Thakkar
- Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, The Johns Hopkins University, MD
| | - Daniel Duque
- Institute of Neuroscience of Castilla Y León, University of Salamanca
| | - Pingbo Yin
- Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland College Park, MD
| | | | - Mounya Elhilali
- Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, The Johns Hopkins University, MD
| | - Shihab Shamma
- Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of Maryland College Park, MD
- Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland College Park, MD
- Départment d'étude cognitives, école normale supérieure, PSL, Paris
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4
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Bolt E, Giroud N. Auditory Encoding of Natural Speech at Subcortical and Cortical Levels Is Not Indicative of Cognitive Decline. eNeuro 2024; 11:ENEURO.0545-23.2024. [PMID: 38658138 PMCID: PMC11082929 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0545-23.2024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2023] [Revised: 03/27/2024] [Accepted: 03/29/2024] [Indexed: 04/26/2024] Open
Abstract
More and more patients worldwide are diagnosed with dementia, which emphasizes the urgent need for early detection markers. In this study, we built on the auditory hypersensitivity theory of a previous study-which postulated that responses to auditory input in the subcortex as well as cortex are enhanced in cognitive decline-and examined auditory encoding of natural continuous speech at both neural levels for its indicative potential for cognitive decline. We recruited study participants aged 60 years and older, who were divided into two groups based on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, one group with low scores (n = 19, participants with signs of cognitive decline) and a control group (n = 25). Participants completed an audiometric assessment and then we recorded their electroencephalography while they listened to an audiobook and click sounds. We derived temporal response functions and evoked potentials from the data and examined response amplitudes for their potential to predict cognitive decline, controlling for hearing ability and age. Contrary to our expectations, no evidence of auditory hypersensitivity was observed in participants with signs of cognitive decline; response amplitudes were comparable in both cognitive groups. Moreover, the combination of response amplitudes showed no predictive value for cognitive decline. These results challenge the proposed hypothesis and emphasize the need for further research to identify reliable auditory markers for the early detection of cognitive decline.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Bolt
- Computational Neuroscience of Speech and Hearing, Department of Computational Linguistics, University of Zurich, Zurich 8050, Switzerland
- International Max Planck Research School on the Life Course (IMPRS LIFE), University of Zurich, Zurich 8050, Switzerland
| | - Nathalie Giroud
- Computational Neuroscience of Speech and Hearing, Department of Computational Linguistics, University of Zurich, Zurich 8050, Switzerland
- International Max Planck Research School on the Life Course (IMPRS LIFE), University of Zurich, Zurich 8050, Switzerland
- Language & Medicine Centre Zurich, Competence Centre of Medical Faculty and Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Zurich, Zurich 8050, Switzerland
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5
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Guerra G, Tierney A, Tijms J, Vaessen A, Bonte M, Dick F. Attentional modulation of neural sound tracking in children with and without dyslexia. Dev Sci 2024; 27:e13420. [PMID: 37350014 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13420] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2022] [Revised: 04/09/2023] [Accepted: 05/26/2023] [Indexed: 06/24/2023]
Abstract
Auditory selective attention forms an important foundation of children's learning by enabling the prioritisation and encoding of relevant stimuli. It may also influence reading development, which relies on metalinguistic skills including the awareness of the sound structure of spoken language. Reports of attentional impairments and speech perception difficulties in noisy environments in dyslexic readers are also suggestive of the putative contribution of auditory attention to reading development. To date, it is unclear whether non-speech selective attention and its underlying neural mechanisms are impaired in children with dyslexia and to which extent these deficits relate to individual reading and speech perception abilities in suboptimal listening conditions. In this EEG study, we assessed non-speech sustained auditory selective attention in 106 7-to-12-year-old children with and without dyslexia. Children attended to one of two tone streams, detecting occasional sequence repeats in the attended stream, and performed a speech-in-speech perception task. Results show that when children directed their attention to one stream, inter-trial-phase-coherence at the attended rate increased in fronto-central sites; this, in turn, was associated with better target detection. Behavioural and neural indices of attention did not systematically differ as a function of dyslexia diagnosis. However, behavioural indices of attention did explain individual differences in reading fluency and speech-in-speech perception abilities: both these skills were impaired in dyslexic readers. Taken together, our results show that children with dyslexia do not show group-level auditory attention deficits but these deficits may represent a risk for developing reading impairments and problems with speech perception in complex acoustic environments. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Non-speech sustained auditory selective attention modulates EEG phase coherence in children with/without dyslexia Children with dyslexia show difficulties in speech-in-speech perception Attention relates to dyslexic readers' speech-in-speech perception and reading skills Dyslexia diagnosis is not linked to behavioural/EEG indices of auditory attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giada Guerra
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, UK
- Maastricht Brain Imaging Center and Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Adam Tierney
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, UK
| | - Jurgen Tijms
- RID, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Rudolf Berlin Center, Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | | | - Milene Bonte
- Maastricht Brain Imaging Center and Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Frederic Dick
- Division of Psychology & Language Sciences, UCL, London, UK
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Pearson DV, Shen Y, McAuley JD, Kidd GR. Differential sensitivity to speech rhythms in young and older adults. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1160236. [PMID: 37251054 PMCID: PMC10213510 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1160236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2023] [Accepted: 04/19/2023] [Indexed: 05/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Sensitivity to the temporal properties of auditory patterns tends to be poorer in older listeners, and this has been hypothesized to be one factor contributing to their poorer speech understanding. This study examined sensitivity to speech rhythms in young and older normal-hearing subjects, using a task designed to measure the effect of speech rhythmic context on the detection of changes in the timing of word onsets in spoken sentences. A temporal-shift detection paradigm was used in which listeners were presented with an intact sentence followed by two versions of the sentence in which a portion of speech was replaced with a silent gap: one with correct gap timing (the same duration as the missing speech) and one with altered gap timing (shorter or longer than the duration of the missing speech), resulting in an early or late resumption of the sentence after the gap. The sentences were presented with either an intact rhythm or an altered rhythm preceding the silent gap. Listeners judged which sentence had the altered gap timing, and thresholds for the detection of deviations from the correct timing were calculated separately for shortened and lengthened gaps. Both young and older listeners demonstrated lower thresholds in the intact rhythm condition than in the altered rhythm conditions. However, shortened gaps led to lower thresholds than lengthened gaps for the young listeners, while older listeners were not sensitive to the direction of the change in timing. These results show that both young and older listeners rely on speech rhythms to generate temporal expectancies for upcoming speech events. However, the absence of lower thresholds for shortened gaps among the older listeners indicates a change in speech-timing expectancies with age. A further examination of individual differences within the older group revealed that those with better rhythm-discrimination abilities (from a separate study) tended to show the same heightened sensitivity to early events observed with the young listeners.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dylan V. Pearson
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States
| | - Yi Shen
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - J. Devin McAuley
- Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
| | - Gary R. Kidd
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States
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Shi L, Liu C, Peng X, Cao Y, Levy DA, Xue G. The neural representations underlying asymmetric cross-modal prediction of words. Hum Brain Mapp 2023; 44:2418-2435. [PMID: 36715307 PMCID: PMC10028649 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2022] [Revised: 12/20/2022] [Accepted: 01/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Cross-modal prediction serves a crucial adaptive role in the multisensory world, yet the neural mechanisms underlying this prediction are poorly understood. The present study addressed this important question by combining a novel audiovisual sequence memory task, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and multivariate neural representational analyses. Our behavioral results revealed a reliable asymmetric cross-modal predictive effect, with a stronger prediction from visual to auditory (VA) modality than auditory to visual (AV) modality. Mirroring the behavioral pattern, we found the superior parietal lobe (SPL) showed higher pattern similarity for VA than AV pairs, and the strength of the predictive coding in the SPL was positively correlated with the behavioral predictive effect in the VA condition. Representational connectivity analyses further revealed that the SPL mediated the neural pathway from the visual to the auditory cortex in the VA condition but was not involved in the auditory to visual cortex pathway in the AV condition. Direct neural pathways within the unimodal regions were found for the visual-to-visual and auditory-to-auditory predictions. Together, these results provide novel insights into the neural mechanisms underlying cross-modal sequence prediction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liang Shi
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Chuqi Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Xiaojing Peng
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Yifei Cao
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Daniel A Levy
- Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Herzliya, Israel
| | - Gui Xue
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, People's Republic of China
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8
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Rimmele JM, Sun Y, Michalareas G, Ghitza O, Poeppel D. Dynamics of Functional Networks for Syllable and Word-Level Processing. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2023; 4:120-144. [PMID: 37229144 PMCID: PMC10205074 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2021] [Accepted: 11/07/2022] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Speech comprehension requires the ability to temporally segment the acoustic input for higher-level linguistic analysis. Oscillation-based approaches suggest that low-frequency auditory cortex oscillations track syllable-sized acoustic information and therefore emphasize the relevance of syllabic-level acoustic processing for speech segmentation. How syllabic processing interacts with higher levels of speech processing, beyond segmentation, including the anatomical and neurophysiological characteristics of the networks involved, is debated. In two MEG experiments, we investigate lexical and sublexical word-level processing and the interactions with (acoustic) syllable processing using a frequency-tagging paradigm. Participants listened to disyllabic words presented at a rate of 4 syllables/s. Lexical content (native language), sublexical syllable-to-syllable transitions (foreign language), or mere syllabic information (pseudo-words) were presented. Two conjectures were evaluated: (i) syllable-to-syllable transitions contribute to word-level processing; and (ii) processing of words activates brain areas that interact with acoustic syllable processing. We show that syllable-to-syllable transition information compared to mere syllable information, activated a bilateral superior, middle temporal and inferior frontal network. Lexical content resulted, additionally, in increased neural activity. Evidence for an interaction of word- and acoustic syllable-level processing was inconclusive. Decreases in syllable tracking (cerebroacoustic coherence) in auditory cortex and increases in cross-frequency coupling between right superior and middle temporal and frontal areas were found when lexical content was present compared to all other conditions; however, not when conditions were compared separately. The data provide experimental insight into how subtle and sensitive syllable-to-syllable transition information for word-level processing is.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johanna M. Rimmele
- Departments of Neuroscience and Cognitive Neuropsychology, Max-Planck-Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Max Planck NYU Center for Language, Music and Emotion, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; New York, NY, USA
| | - Yue Sun
- Departments of Neuroscience and Cognitive Neuropsychology, Max-Planck-Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Georgios Michalareas
- Departments of Neuroscience and Cognitive Neuropsychology, Max-Planck-Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Oded Ghitza
- Departments of Neuroscience and Cognitive Neuropsychology, Max-Planck-Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- College of Biomedical Engineering & Hearing Research Center, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - David Poeppel
- Departments of Neuroscience and Cognitive Neuropsychology, Max-Planck-Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA
- Max Planck NYU Center for Language, Music and Emotion, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; New York, NY, USA
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute for Neuroscience, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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Pastore A, Tomassini A, Delis I, Dolfini E, Fadiga L, D'Ausilio A. Speech listening entails neural encoding of invisible articulatory features. Neuroimage 2022; 264:119724. [PMID: 36328272 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119724] [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: 06/10/2022] [Revised: 09/28/2022] [Accepted: 10/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Speech processing entails a complex interplay between bottom-up and top-down computations. The former is reflected in the neural entrainment to the quasi-rhythmic properties of speech acoustics while the latter is supposed to guide the selection of the most relevant input subspace. Top-down signals are believed to originate mainly from motor regions, yet similar activities have been shown to tune attentional cycles also for simpler, non-speech stimuli. Here we examined whether, during speech listening, the brain reconstructs articulatory patterns associated to speech production. We measured electroencephalographic (EEG) data while participants listened to sentences during the production of which articulatory kinematics of lips, jaws and tongue were also recorded (via Electro-Magnetic Articulography, EMA). We captured the patterns of articulatory coordination through Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and used Partial Information Decomposition (PID) to identify whether the speech envelope and each of the kinematic components provided unique, synergistic and/or redundant information regarding the EEG signals. Interestingly, tongue movements contain both unique as well as synergistic information with the envelope that are encoded in the listener's brain activity. This demonstrates that during speech listening the brain retrieves highly specific and unique motor information that is never accessible through vision, thus leveraging audio-motor maps that arise most likely from the acquisition of speech production during development.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Pastore
- Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Ferrara, Italy; Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, Università di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
| | - A Tomassini
- Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Ferrara, Italy
| | - I Delis
- School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - E Dolfini
- Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Ferrara, Italy; Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, Università di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
| | - L Fadiga
- Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Ferrara, Italy; Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, Università di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
| | - A D'Ausilio
- Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Ferrara, Italy; Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, Università di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
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10
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Dynamic auditory contributions to error detection revealed in the discrimination of Same and Different syllable pairs. Neuropsychologia 2022; 176:108388. [PMID: 36183800 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108388] [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: 03/23/2022] [Revised: 09/20/2022] [Accepted: 09/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
During speech production auditory regions operate in concert with the anterior dorsal stream to facilitate online error detection. As the dorsal stream also is known to activate in speech perception, the purpose of the current study was to probe the role of auditory regions in error detection during auditory discrimination tasks as stimuli are encoded and maintained in working memory. A priori assumptions are that sensory mismatch (i.e., error) occurs during the discrimination of Different (mismatched) but not Same (matched) syllable pairs. Independent component analysis was applied to raw EEG data recorded from 42 participants to identify bilateral auditory alpha rhythms, which were decomposed across time and frequency to reveal robust patterns of event related synchronization (ERS; inhibition) and desynchronization (ERD; processing) over the time course of discrimination events. Results were characterized by bilateral peri-stimulus alpha ERD transitioning to alpha ERS in the late trial epoch, with ERD interpreted as evidence of working memory encoding via Analysis by Synthesis and ERS considered evidence of speech-induced-suppression arising during covert articulatory rehearsal to facilitate working memory maintenance. The transition from ERD to ERS occurred later in the left hemisphere in Different trials than in Same trials, with ERD and ERS temporally overlapping during the early post-stimulus window. Results were interpreted to suggest that the sensory mismatch (i.e., error) arising from the comparison of the first and second syllable elicits further processing in the left hemisphere to support working memory encoding and maintenance. Results are consistent with auditory contributions to error detection during both encoding and maintenance stages of working memory, with encoding stage error detection associated with stimulus concordance and maintenance stage error detection associated with task-specific retention demands.
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11
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Encoding speech rate in challenging listening conditions: White noise and reverberation. Atten Percept Psychophys 2022; 84:2303-2318. [PMID: 35996057 PMCID: PMC9481500 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-022-02554-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Temporal contrasts in speech are perceived relative to the speech rate of the surrounding context. That is, following a fast context sentence, listeners interpret a given target sound as longer than following a slow context, and vice versa. This rate effect, often referred to as "rate-dependent speech perception," has been suggested to be the result of a robust, low-level perceptual process, typically examined in quiet laboratory settings. However, speech perception often occurs in more challenging listening conditions. Therefore, we asked whether rate-dependent perception would be (partially) compromised by signal degradation relative to a clear listening condition. Specifically, we tested effects of white noise and reverberation, with the latter specifically distorting temporal information. We hypothesized that signal degradation would reduce the precision of encoding the speech rate in the context and thereby reduce the rate effect relative to a clear context. This prediction was borne out for both types of degradation in Experiment 1, where the context sentences but not the subsequent target words were degraded. However, in Experiment 2, which compared rate effects when contexts and targets were coherent in terms of signal quality, no reduction of the rate effect was found. This suggests that, when confronted with coherently degraded signals, listeners adapt to challenging listening situations, eliminating the difference between rate-dependent perception in clear and degraded conditions. Overall, the present study contributes towards understanding the consequences of different types of listening environments on the functioning of low-level perceptual processes that listeners use during speech perception.
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12
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Kegler M, Weissbart H, Reichenbach T. The neural response at the fundamental frequency of speech is modulated by word-level acoustic and linguistic information. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:915744. [PMID: 35942153 PMCID: PMC9355803 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.915744] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2022] [Accepted: 07/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Spoken language comprehension requires rapid and continuous integration of information, from lower-level acoustic to higher-level linguistic features. Much of this processing occurs in the cerebral cortex. Its neural activity exhibits, for instance, correlates of predictive processing, emerging at delays of a few 100 ms. However, the auditory pathways are also characterized by extensive feedback loops from higher-level cortical areas to lower-level ones as well as to subcortical structures. Early neural activity can therefore be influenced by higher-level cognitive processes, but it remains unclear whether such feedback contributes to linguistic processing. Here, we investigated early speech-evoked neural activity that emerges at the fundamental frequency. We analyzed EEG recordings obtained when subjects listened to a story read by a single speaker. We identified a response tracking the speaker's fundamental frequency that occurred at a delay of 11 ms, while another response elicited by the high-frequency modulation of the envelope of higher harmonics exhibited a larger magnitude and longer latency of about 18 ms with an additional significant component at around 40 ms. Notably, while the earlier components of the response likely originate from the subcortical structures, the latter presumably involves contributions from cortical regions. Subsequently, we determined the magnitude of these early neural responses for each individual word in the story. We then quantified the context-independent frequency of each word and used a language model to compute context-dependent word surprisal and precision. The word surprisal represented how predictable a word is, given the previous context, and the word precision reflected the confidence about predicting the next word from the past context. We found that the word-level neural responses at the fundamental frequency were predominantly influenced by the acoustic features: the average fundamental frequency and its variability. Amongst the linguistic features, only context-independent word frequency showed a weak but significant modulation of the neural response to the high-frequency envelope modulation. Our results show that the early neural response at the fundamental frequency is already influenced by acoustic as well as linguistic information, suggesting top-down modulation of this neural response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mikolaj Kegler
- Department of Bioengineering, Centre for Neurotechnology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Hugo Weissbart
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Tobias Reichenbach
- Department of Bioengineering, Centre for Neurotechnology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
- Department Artificial Intelligence in Biomedical Engineering, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany
- *Correspondence: Tobias Reichenbach
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13
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It Takes Two: Interpersonal Neural Synchrony Is Increased after Musical Interaction. Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12030409. [PMID: 35326366 PMCID: PMC8946180 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12030409] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2021] [Revised: 03/11/2022] [Accepted: 03/13/2022] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Music’s deeply interpersonal nature suggests that music-derived neuroplasticity relates to interpersonal temporal dynamics, or synchrony. Interpersonal neural synchrony (INS) has been found to correlate with increased behavioral synchrony during social interactions and may represent mechanisms that support them. As social interactions often do not have clearly delineated boundaries, and many start and stop intermittently, we hypothesize that a neural signature of INS may be detectable following an interaction. The present study aimed to investigate this hypothesis using a pre-post paradigm, measuring interbrain phase coherence before and after a cooperative dyadic musical interaction. Ten dyads underwent synchronous electroencephalographic (EEG) recording during silent, non-interactive periods before and after a musical interaction in the form of a cooperative tapping game. Significant post-interaction increases in delta band INS were found in the post-condition and were positively correlated with the duration of the preceding interaction. These findings suggest a mechanism by which social interaction may be efficiently continued after interruption and hold the potential for measuring neuroplastic adaption in longitudinal studies. These findings also support the idea that INS during social interaction represents active mechanisms for maintaining synchrony rather than mere parallel processing of stimuli and motor activity.
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14
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Kliger Amrani A, Zion Golumbic E. Memory-Paced Tapping to Auditory Rhythms: Effects of Rate, Speech, and Motor Engagement. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2022; 65:923-939. [PMID: 35133867 DOI: 10.1044/2021_jslhr-21-00406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Humans have a near-automatic tendency to entrain their motor actions to rhythms in the environment. Entrainment has been hypothesized to play an important role in processing naturalistic stimuli, such as speech and music, which have intrinsically rhythmic properties. Here, we studied two facets of entraining one's rhythmic motor actions to an external stimulus: (a) synchronized finger tapping to auditory rhythmic stimuli and (b) memory-paced reproduction of a previously heard rhythm. METHOD Using modifications of the Synchronization-Continuation tapping paradigm, we studied how these two rhythmic behaviors were affected by different stimulus and task features. We tested synchronization and memory-paced tapping for a broad range of rates, from stimulus onset asynchrony of subsecond to suprasecond, both for strictly isochronous tone sequences and for rhythmic speech stimuli (counting from 1 to 10), which are more ecological yet less isochronous. We also asked what role motor engagement plays in forming a stable internal representation for rhythms and guiding memory-paced tapping. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Our results show that individuals can flexibly synchronize their motor actions to a very broad range of rhythms. However, this flexibility does not extend to memory-paced tapping, which is accurate only in a narrower range of rates, around ~1.5 Hz. This pattern suggests that intrinsic rhythmic defaults in the auditory and/or motor system influence the internal representation of rhythms, in the absence of an external pacemaker. Interestingly, memory-paced tapping for speech rhythms and simple tone sequences shared similar "optimal rates," although with reduced accuracy, suggesting that internal constraints on rhythmic entrainment generalize to more ecological stimuli. Last, we found that actively synchronizing to tones versus passively listening to them led to more accurate memory-paced tapping performance, which emphasizes the importance of action-perception interactions in forming stable entrainment to external rhythms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anat Kliger Amrani
- The Leslie and Susan Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Elana Zion Golumbic
- The Leslie and Susan Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
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15
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Soltanparast S, Toufan R, Talebian S, Pourbakht A. Regularity of background auditory scene and selective attention: a brain oscillatory study. Neurosci Lett 2022; 772:136465. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2022.136465] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2021] [Revised: 12/29/2021] [Accepted: 01/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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16
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Agmon G, Yahav PHS, Ben-Shachar M, Golumbic EZ. Attention to Speech: Mapping Distributed and Selective Attention Systems. Cereb Cortex 2021; 32:3763-3776. [PMID: 34875678 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab446] [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] [Received: 05/02/2021] [Revised: 11/02/2021] [Accepted: 11/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
When faced with situations where many people talk at once, individuals can employ different listening strategies to deal with the cacophony of speech sounds and to achieve different goals. In this fMRI study, we investigated how the pattern of neural activity is affected by the type of attention applied to speech in a simulated "cocktail party." Specifically, we compared brain activation patterns when listeners "attended selectively" to only one speaker and ignored all others, versus when they "distributed their attention" and followed several concurrent speakers. Conjunction analysis revealed a highly overlapping network of regions activated for both types of attention, including auditory association cortex (bilateral STG/STS) and frontoparietal regions related to speech processing and attention (bilateral IFG/insula, right MFG, left IPS). Activity within nodes of this network, though, was modulated by the type of attention required as well as the number of competing speakers. Auditory and speech-processing regions exhibited higher activity during distributed attention, whereas frontoparietal regions were activated more strongly during selective attention. These results suggest a common "attention to speech" network, which provides the computational infrastructure to deal effectively with multi-speaker input, but with sufficient flexibility to implement different prioritization strategies and to adapt to different listener goals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Galit Agmon
- Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel
| | - Paz Har-Shai Yahav
- Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel
| | - Michal Ben-Shachar
- Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel.,Department of English Literature and Linguistics, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel
| | - Elana Zion Golumbic
- Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel
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17
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Turoman N, Tivadar RI, Retsa C, Murray MM, Matusz PJ. Towards understanding how we pay attention in naturalistic visual search settings. Neuroimage 2021; 244:118556. [PMID: 34492292 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118556] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2020] [Revised: 08/31/2021] [Accepted: 09/03/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Research on attentional control has largely focused on single senses and the importance of behavioural goals in controlling attention. However, everyday situations are multisensory and contain regularities, both likely influencing attention. We investigated how visual attentional capture is simultaneously impacted by top-down goals, the multisensory nature of stimuli, and the contextual factors of stimuli's semantic relationship and temporal predictability. Participants performed a multisensory version of the Folk et al. (1992) spatial cueing paradigm, searching for a target of a predefined colour (e.g. a red bar) within an array preceded by a distractor. We manipulated: 1) stimuli's goal-relevance via distractor's colour (matching vs. mismatching the target), 2) stimuli's multisensory nature (colour distractors appearing alone vs. with tones), 3) the relationship between the distractor sound and colour (arbitrary vs. semantically congruent) and 4) the temporal predictability of distractor onset. Reaction-time spatial cueing served as a behavioural measure of attentional selection. We also recorded 129-channel event-related potentials (ERPs), analysing the distractor-elicited N2pc component both canonically and using a multivariate electrical neuroimaging framework. Behaviourally, arbitrary target-matching distractors captured attention more strongly than semantically congruent ones, with no evidence for context modulating multisensory enhancements of capture. Notably, electrical neuroimaging of surface-level EEG analyses revealed context-based influences on attention to both visual and multisensory distractors, in how strongly they activated the brain and type of activated brain networks. For both processes, the context-driven brain response modulations occurred long before the N2pc time-window, with topographic (network-based) modulations at ∼30 ms, followed by strength-based modulations at ∼100 ms post-distractor onset. Our results reveal that both stimulus meaning and predictability modulate attentional selection, and they interact while doing so. Meaning, in addition to temporal predictability, is thus a second source of contextual information facilitating goal-directed behaviour. More broadly, in everyday situations, attention is controlled by an interplay between one's goals, stimuli's perceptual salience, meaning and predictability. Our study calls for a revision of attentional control theories to account for the role of contextual and multisensory control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nora Turoman
- The LINE (Laboratory for Investigative Neurophysiology), Department of Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; MEDGIFT Lab, Institute of Information Systems, School of Management, HES-SO Valais-Wallis University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, Techno-Pôle 3, 3960 Sierre, Switzerland; Working Memory, Cognition and Development lab, Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Ruxandra I Tivadar
- The LINE (Laboratory for Investigative Neurophysiology), Department of Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Department of Ophthalmology, Fondation Asile des Aveugles, Lausanne, Switzerland; Cognitive Computational Neuroscience group, Institute of Computer Science, Faculty of Science, University of Bern, Switzerland
| | - Chrysa Retsa
- The LINE (Laboratory for Investigative Neurophysiology), Department of Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; CIBM Center for Biomedical Imaging, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Micah M Murray
- The LINE (Laboratory for Investigative Neurophysiology), Department of Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Department of Ophthalmology, Fondation Asile des Aveugles, Lausanne, Switzerland; CIBM Center for Biomedical Imaging, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Pawel J Matusz
- The LINE (Laboratory for Investigative Neurophysiology), Department of Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; MEDGIFT Lab, Institute of Information Systems, School of Management, HES-SO Valais-Wallis University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, Techno-Pôle 3, 3960 Sierre, Switzerland; Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
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18
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Gransier R, Wouters J. Neural auditory processing of parameterized speech envelopes. Hear Res 2021; 412:108374. [PMID: 34800800 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2021.108374] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2021] [Revised: 10/01/2021] [Accepted: 10/13/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Speech perception depends highly on the neural processing of the speech envelope. Several auditory processing deficits are hypothesized to result in a reduction in fidelity of the neural representation of the speech envelope across the auditory pathway. Furthermore, this reduction in fidelity is associated with supra-threshold speech processing deficits. Investigating the mechanisms that affect the neural encoding of the speech envelope can be of great value to gain insight in the different mechanisms that account for this reduced neural representation, and to develop stimulation strategies for hearing prosthesis that aim to restore it. In this perspective, we discuss the importance of neural assessment of phase-locking to the speech envelope from an audiological view and introduce the Temporal Envelope Speech Tracking (TEMPEST) stimulus framework which enables the electrophysiological assessment of envelope processing across the auditory pathway in a systematic and standardized way. We postulate that this framework can be used to gain insight in the salience of speech-like temporal envelopes in the neural code and to evaluate the effectiveness of stimulation strategies that aim to restore temporal processing across the auditory pathway with auditory prostheses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robin Gransier
- ExpORL, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
| | - Jan Wouters
- ExpORL, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
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19
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Janssen TW, Grammer JK, Bleichner MG, Bulgarelli C, Davidesco I, Dikker S, Jasińska KK, Siugzdaite R, Vassena E, Vatakis A, Zion‐Golumbic E, van Atteveldt N. Opportunities and Limitations of Mobile Neuroimaging Technologies in Educational Neuroscience. MIND, BRAIN AND EDUCATION : THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL MIND, BRAIN, AND EDUCATION SOCIETY 2021; 15:354-370. [PMID: 35875415 PMCID: PMC9292610 DOI: 10.1111/mbe.12302] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2020] [Revised: 06/18/2021] [Accepted: 09/01/2021] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
As the field of educational neuroscience continues to grow, questions have emerged regarding the ecological validity and applicability of this research to educational practice. Recent advances in mobile neuroimaging technologies have made it possible to conduct neuroscientific studies directly in naturalistic learning environments. We propose that embedding mobile neuroimaging research in a cycle (Matusz, Dikker, Huth, & Perrodin, 2019), involving lab-based, seminaturalistic, and fully naturalistic experiments, is well suited for addressing educational questions. With this review, we take a cautious approach, by discussing the valuable insights that can be gained from mobile neuroimaging technology, including electroencephalography and functional near-infrared spectroscopy, as well as the challenges posed by bringing neuroscientific methods into the classroom. Research paradigms used alongside mobile neuroimaging technology vary considerably. To illustrate this point, studies are discussed with increasingly naturalistic designs. We conclude with several ethical considerations that should be taken into account in this unique area of research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tieme W.P. Janssen
- Department of Clinical, Neuro‐ & Developmental Psychology, Vrije Universiteit
| | - Jennie K. Grammer
- Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, University of California Los Angeles
| | | | - Chiara Bulgarelli
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck University of London
| | - Ido Davidesco
- Department of Educational Psychology, University of Connecticut
| | | | - Kaja K. Jasińska
- Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, University of Toronto
| | | | - Eliana Vassena
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University
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20
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Jenson D. Audiovisual incongruence differentially impacts left and right hemisphere sensorimotor oscillations: Potential applications to production. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0258335. [PMID: 34618866 PMCID: PMC8496780 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/26/2020] [Accepted: 09/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Speech production gives rise to distinct auditory and somatosensory feedback signals which are dynamically integrated to enable online monitoring and error correction, though it remains unclear how the sensorimotor system supports the integration of these multimodal signals. Capitalizing on the parity of sensorimotor processes supporting perception and production, the current study employed the McGurk paradigm to induce multimodal sensory congruence/incongruence. EEG data from a cohort of 39 typical speakers were decomposed with independent component analysis to identify bilateral mu rhythms; indices of sensorimotor activity. Subsequent time-frequency analyses revealed bilateral patterns of event related desynchronization (ERD) across alpha and beta frequency ranges over the time course of perceptual events. Right mu activity was characterized by reduced ERD during all cases of audiovisual incongruence, while left mu activity was attenuated and protracted in McGurk trials eliciting sensory fusion. Results were interpreted to suggest distinct hemispheric contributions, with right hemisphere mu activity supporting a coarse incongruence detection process and left hemisphere mu activity reflecting a more granular level of analysis including phonological identification and incongruence resolution. Findings are also considered in regard to incongruence detection and resolution processes during production.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Jenson
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Washington State University, Spokane, Washington, United States of America
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21
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Klimovich-Gray A, Barrena A, Agirre E, Molinaro N. One Way or Another: Cortical Language Areas Flexibly Adapt Processing Strategies to Perceptual And Contextual Properties of Speech. Cereb Cortex 2021; 31:4092-4103. [PMID: 33825884 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab071] [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: 07/31/2020] [Revised: 02/24/2021] [Accepted: 02/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Cortical circuits rely on the temporal regularities of speech to optimize signal parsing for sound-to-meaning mapping. Bottom-up speech analysis is accelerated by top-down predictions about upcoming words. In everyday communications, however, listeners are regularly presented with challenging input-fluctuations of speech rate or semantic content. In this study, we asked how reducing speech temporal regularity affects its processing-parsing, phonological analysis, and ability to generate context-based predictions. To ensure that spoken sentences were natural and approximated semantic constraints of spontaneous speech we built a neural network to select stimuli from large corpora. We analyzed brain activity recorded with magnetoencephalography during sentence listening using evoked responses, speech-to-brain synchronization and representational similarity analysis. For normal speech theta band (6.5-8 Hz) speech-to-brain synchronization was increased and the left fronto-temporal areas generated stronger contextual predictions. The reverse was true for temporally irregular speech-weaker theta synchronization and reduced top-down effects. Interestingly, delta-band (0.5 Hz) speech tracking was greater when contextual/semantic predictions were lower or if speech was temporally jittered. We conclude that speech temporal regularity is relevant for (theta) syllabic tracking and robust semantic predictions while the joint support of temporal and contextual predictability reduces word and phrase-level cortical tracking (delta).
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ander Barrena
- Computer Science Faculty, University of the Basque Country, Donostia, 20018, San Sebastian, Spain
| | - Eneko Agirre
- Computer Science Faculty, University of the Basque Country, Donostia, 20018, San Sebastian, Spain
| | - Nicola Molinaro
- BCBL, Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, Donostia, 20009, San Sebastian, Spain.,Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, 48009, Bilbao, Spain
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22
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McAuley JD, Shen Y, Smith T, Kidd GR. Effects of speech-rhythm disruption on selective listening with a single background talker. Atten Percept Psychophys 2021; 83:2229-2240. [PMID: 33782913 PMCID: PMC10612531 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-021-02298-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Recent work by McAuley et al. (Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 82, 3222-3233, 2020) using the Coordinate Response Measure (CRM) paradigm with a multitalker background revealed that altering the natural rhythm of target speech amidst background speech worsens target recognition (a target-rhythm effect), while altering background speech rhythm improves target recognition (a background-rhythm effect). Here, we used a single-talker background to examine the role of specific properties of target and background sound patterns on selective listening without the complexity of multiple background stimuli. Experiment 1 manipulated the sex of the background talker, presented with a male target talker, to assess target and background-rhythm effects with and without a strong pitch cue to aid perceptual segregation. Experiment 2 used a vocoded single-talker background to examine target and background-rhythm effects with envelope-based speech rhythms preserved, but without semantic content or temporal fine structure. While a target-rhythm effect was present with all backgrounds, the background-rhythm effect was only observed for the same-sex background condition. Results provide additional support for a selective entrainment hypothesis, while also showing that the background-rhythm effect is not driven by envelope-based speech rhythm alone, and may be reduced or eliminated when pitch or other acoustic differences provide a strong basis for selective listening.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Devin McAuley
- Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA.
| | - Yi Shen
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Toni Smith
- Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA
| | - Gary R Kidd
- Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
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23
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Yuan P, Hu R, Zhang X, Wang Y, Jiang Y. Cortical entrainment to hierarchical contextual rhythms recomposes dynamic attending in visual perception. eLife 2021; 10:65118. [PMID: 34086558 PMCID: PMC8177885 DOI: 10.7554/elife.65118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2020] [Accepted: 05/12/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Temporal regularity is ubiquitous and essential to guiding attention and coordinating behavior within a dynamic environment. Previous researchers have modeled attention as an internal rhythm that may entrain to first-order regularity from rhythmic events to prioritize information selection at specific time points. Using the attentional blink paradigm, here we show that higher-order regularity based on rhythmic organization of contextual features (pitch, color, or motion) may serve as a temporal frame to recompose the dynamic profile of visual temporal attention. Critically, such attentional reframing effect is well predicted by cortical entrainment to the higher-order contextual structure at the delta band as well as its coupling with the stimulus-driven alpha power. These results suggest that the human brain involuntarily exploits multiscale regularities in rhythmic contexts to recompose dynamic attending in visual perception, and highlight neural entrainment as a central mechanism for optimizing our conscious experience of the world in the time dimension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peijun Yuan
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive 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.,Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China
| | - Ruichen Hu
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive 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.,Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China
| | - Xue Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive 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.,Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China
| | - Ying Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive 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.,Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China
| | - Yi Jiang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive 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.,Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China.,Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, Hefei, China
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24
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Delta/Theta band EEG activity shapes the rhythmic perceptual sampling of auditory scenes. Sci Rep 2021; 11:2370. [PMID: 33504860 PMCID: PMC7840678 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-82008-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2020] [Accepted: 01/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Many studies speak in favor of a rhythmic mode of listening, by which the encoding of acoustic information is structured by rhythmic neural processes at the time scale of about 1 to 4 Hz. Indeed, psychophysical data suggest that humans sample acoustic information in extended soundscapes not uniformly, but weigh the evidence at different moments for their perceptual decision at the time scale of about 2 Hz. We here test the critical prediction that such rhythmic perceptual sampling is directly related to the state of ongoing brain activity prior to the stimulus. Human participants judged the direction of frequency sweeps in 1.2 s long soundscapes while their EEG was recorded. We computed the perceptual weights attributed to different epochs within these soundscapes contingent on the phase or power of pre-stimulus EEG activity. This revealed a direct link between 4 Hz EEG phase and power prior to the stimulus and the phase of the rhythmic component of these perceptual weights. Hence, the temporal pattern by which the acoustic information is sampled over time for behavior is directly related to pre-stimulus brain activity in the delta/theta band. These results close a gap in the mechanistic picture linking ongoing delta band activity with their role in shaping the segmentation and perceptual influence of subsequent acoustic information.
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25
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Kershner JR. An Evolutionary Perspective of Dyslexia, Stress, and Brain Network Homeostasis. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 14:575546. [PMID: 33551772 PMCID: PMC7859477 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.575546] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2020] [Accepted: 12/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Evolution fuels interindividual variability in neuroplasticity, reflected in brain anatomy and functional connectivity of the expanding neocortical regions subserving reading ability. Such variability is orchestrated by an evolutionarily conserved, competitive balance between epigenetic, stress-induced, and cognitive-growth gene expression programs. An evolutionary developmental model of dyslexia, suggests that prenatal and childhood subclinical stress becomes a risk factor for dyslexia when physiological adaptations to stress promoting adaptive fitness, may attenuate neuroplasticity in the brain regions recruited for reading. Stress has the potential to blunt the cognitive-growth functions of the predominantly right hemisphere Ventral and Dorsal attention networks, which are primed with high entropic levels of synaptic plasticity, and are critical for acquiring beginning reading skills. The attentional networks, in collaboration with the stress-responsive Default Mode network, modulate the entrainment and processing of the low frequency auditory oscillations (1-8 Hz) and visuospatial orienting linked etiologically to dyslexia. Thus, dyslexia may result from positive, but costly adaptations to stress system dysregulation: protective measures that reset the stress/growth balance of processing to favor the Default Mode network, compromising development of the attentional networks. Such a normal-variability conceptualization of dyslexia is at odds with the frequent assumption that dyslexia results from a neurological abnormality. To put the normal-variability model in the broader perspective of the state of the field, a traditional evolutionary account of dyslexia is presented to stimulate discussion of the scientific merits of the two approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- John R. Kershner
- Department of Applied Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
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26
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Investigating the role of temporal processing in developmental dyslexia: Evidence for a specific deficit in rapid visual segmentation. Psychon Bull Rev 2021; 27:724-734. [PMID: 32495210 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-020-01752-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
The current study investigates the role of temporal processing in the visual domain in participants with developmental dyslexia (DD), the most common neurodevelopmental disorder, which is characterized by severe and specific difficulties in learning to read despite normal intelligence and adequate education. Specifically, our aim was to test whether DD is associated with a general impairment of temporal sensory processing or a specific deficit in temporal integration (which ensures stability of object identity and location) or segregation (which ensures sensitivity to changes in visual input). Participants with DD performed a task that measured both temporal integration and segregation using an identical sequence of two displays separated by a varying interstimulus interval (ISI) under two different task instructions. Results showed that participants with DD performed worse in the segregation task, with a shallower slope of the psychometric curve of percentage correct as a function of the ISI between the two target displays. Moreover, we found also a relationship between temporal segregation performance and text, words, and pseudowords reading speeds at the individual level. In contrast, no significant association between reading (dis)ability and temporal integration emerged. The current findings provide evidence for a difference in the fine temporal resolution of visual processing in DD and, considering the growing evidence about a link between visual temporal segregation and neural oscillations at specific frequencies, they support the idea that DD is characterized by an altered oscillatory sampling within the visual system.
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Coburn KL, Williams DL. Development of Neural Structure and Function in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Potential Implications for Learning Language. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY 2020; 29:1783-1797. [PMID: 32697616 DOI: 10.1044/2020_ajslp-19-00209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Purpose Neurodevelopmental processes that begin during gestation and continue throughout childhood typically support language development. Understanding these processes can help us to understand the disruptions to language that occur in neurodevelopmental conditions, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Method For this tutorial, we conducted a focused literature review on typical postnatal brain development and structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion tensor imaging, magnetoencephalography, and electroencephalography studies of the neurodevelopmental differences that occur in ASD. We then integrated this knowledge with the literature on evidence-based speech-language intervention practices for autistic children. Results In ASD, structural differences include altered patterns of cortical growth and myelination. Functional differences occur at all brain levels, from lateralization of cortical functions to the rhythmic activations of single neurons. Neuronal oscillations, in particular, could help explain disrupted language development by elucidating the timing differences that contribute to altered functional connectivity, complex information processing, and speech parsing. Findings related to implicit statistical learning, explicit task learning, multisensory integration, and reinforcement in ASD are also discussed. Conclusions Consideration of the neural differences in autistic children provides additional scientific support for current recommended language intervention practices. Recommendations consistent with these neurological findings include the use of short, simple utterances; repetition of syntactic structures using varied vocabulary; pause time; visual supports; and individualized sensory modifications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelly L Coburn
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
| | - Diane L Williams
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
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Mégevand P, Mercier MR, Groppe DM, Zion Golumbic E, Mesgarani N, Beauchamp MS, Schroeder CE, Mehta AD. Crossmodal Phase Reset and Evoked Responses Provide Complementary Mechanisms for the Influence of Visual Speech in Auditory Cortex. J Neurosci 2020; 40:8530-8542. [PMID: 33023923 PMCID: PMC7605423 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0555-20.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2020] [Revised: 07/27/2020] [Accepted: 08/31/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Natural conversation is multisensory: when we can see the speaker's face, visual speech cues improve our comprehension. The neuronal mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain unclear. The two main alternatives are visually mediated phase modulation of neuronal oscillations (excitability fluctuations) in auditory neurons and visual input-evoked responses in auditory neurons. Investigating this question using naturalistic audiovisual speech with intracranial recordings in humans of both sexes, we find evidence for both mechanisms. Remarkably, auditory cortical neurons track the temporal dynamics of purely visual speech using the phase of their slow oscillations and phase-related modulations in broadband high-frequency activity. Consistent with known perceptual enhancement effects, the visual phase reset amplifies the cortical representation of concomitant auditory speech. In contrast to this, and in line with earlier reports, visual input reduces the amplitude of evoked responses to concomitant auditory input. We interpret the combination of improved phase tracking and reduced response amplitude as evidence for more efficient and reliable stimulus processing in the presence of congruent auditory and visual speech inputs.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Watching the speaker can facilitate our understanding of what is being said. The mechanisms responsible for this influence of visual cues on the processing of speech remain incompletely understood. We studied these mechanisms by recording the electrical activity of the human brain through electrodes implanted surgically inside the brain. We found that visual inputs can operate by directly activating auditory cortical areas, and also indirectly by modulating the strength of cortical responses to auditory input. Our results help to understand the mechanisms by which the brain merges auditory and visual speech into a unitary perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pierre Mégevand
- Department of Neurosurgery, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Hempstead, New York 11549
- Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Manhasset, New York 11030
- Department of Basic Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Manuel R Mercier
- Department of Neurology, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York 10467
- Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461
- Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes, Aix Marseille University, INSERM, 13005 Marseille, France
| | - David M Groppe
- Department of Neurosurgery, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Hempstead, New York 11549
- Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Manhasset, New York 11030
- The Krembil Neuroscience Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario M5T 1M8, Canada
| | - Elana Zion Golumbic
- The Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel
| | - Nima Mesgarani
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027
| | - Michael S Beauchamp
- Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030
| | - Charles E Schroeder
- Nathan S. Kline Institute, Orangeburg, New York 10962
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032
| | - Ashesh D Mehta
- Department of Neurosurgery, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Hempstead, New York 11549
- Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Manhasset, New York 11030
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Wang L, Wu EX, Chen F. Robust EEG-Based Decoding of Auditory Attention With High-RMS-Level Speech Segments in Noisy Conditions. Front Hum Neurosci 2020; 14:557534. [PMID: 33132874 PMCID: PMC7576187 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.557534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2020] [Accepted: 09/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The attended speech stream can be detected robustly, even in adverse auditory scenarios with auditory attentional modulation, and can be decoded using electroencephalographic (EEG) data. Speech segmentation based on the relative root-mean-square (RMS) intensity can be used to estimate segmental contributions to perception in noisy conditions. High-RMS-level segments contain crucial information for speech perception. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the effect of high-RMS-level speech segments on auditory attention decoding performance under various signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions. Scalp EEG signals were recorded when subjects listened to the attended speech stream in the mixed speech narrated concurrently by two Mandarin speakers. The temporal response function was used to identify the attended speech from EEG responses of tracking to the temporal envelopes of intact speech and high-RMS-level speech segments alone, respectively. Auditory decoding performance was then analyzed under various SNR conditions by comparing EEG correlations to the attended and ignored speech streams. The accuracy of auditory attention decoding based on the temporal envelope with high-RMS-level speech segments was not inferior to that based on the temporal envelope of intact speech. Cortical activity correlated more strongly with attended than with ignored speech under different SNR conditions. These results suggest that EEG recordings corresponding to high-RMS-level speech segments carry crucial information for the identification and tracking of attended speech in the presence of background noise. This study also showed that with the modulation of auditory attention, attended speech can be decoded more robustly from neural activity than from behavioral measures under a wide range of SNR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lei Wang
- Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.,Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Ed X Wu
- Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Fei Chen
- Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China
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McAuley JD, Shen Y, Dec S, Kidd GR. Altering the rhythm of target and background talkers differentially affects speech understanding. Atten Percept Psychophys 2020; 82:3222-3233. [PMID: 32458224 PMCID: PMC10575213 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-020-02064-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Three experiments investigated listeners' ability to use speech rhythm to attend selectively to a single target talker presented in multi-talker babble (Experiments 1 and 2) and in speech-shaped noise (Experiment 3). Participants listened to spoken sentences of the form "Ready [Call sign] go to [Color] [Number] now" and reported the Color and Number spoken by a target talker (cued by the Call sign "Baron"). Experiment 1 altered the natural rhythm of the target talker and background talkers for two-talker and six-talker backgrounds. Experiment 2 considered parametric rhythm alterations over a wider range, altering the rhythm of either the target or the background talkers. Experiments 1 and 2 revealed that altering the rhythm of the target talker, while keeping the rhythm of the background intact, reduced listeners' ability to report the Color and Number spoken by the target talker. Conversely, altering the rhythm of the background talkers, while keeping the target rhythm intact, improved listeners ability to report the Color and Number spoken by the target talker. Experiment 3, which embedded the target talker in speech-shaped noise rather than multi-talker babble, similarly reduced recognition of the target sentence with increased alteration of the target rhythm. This pattern of results favors a dynamic-attending theory-based selective-entrainment hypothesis over a disparity-based segregation hypothesis and an increased salience hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Devin McAuley
- Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA.
| | - Yi Shen
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
| | - Sarah Dec
- Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA
| | - Gary R Kidd
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
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31
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Neocortical activity tracks the hierarchical linguistic structures of self-produced speech during reading aloud. Neuroimage 2020; 216:116788. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116788] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2019] [Revised: 02/19/2020] [Accepted: 03/20/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
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Makov S, Zion Golumbic E. Irrelevant Predictions: Distractor Rhythmicity Modulates Neural Encoding in Auditory Cortex. Cereb Cortex 2020; 30:5792-5805. [DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2019] [Revised: 04/10/2020] [Accepted: 05/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Dynamic attending theory suggests that predicting the timing of upcoming sounds can assist in focusing attention toward them. However, whether similar predictive processes are also applied to background noises and assist in guiding attention “away” from potential distractors, remains an open question. Here we address this question by manipulating the temporal predictability of distractor sounds in a dichotic listening selective attention task. We tested the influence of distractors’ temporal predictability on performance and on the neural encoding of sounds, by comparing the effects of Rhythmic versus Nonrhythmic distractors. Using magnetoencephalography we found that, indeed, the neural responses to both attended and distractor sounds were affected by distractors’ rhythmicity. Baseline activity preceding the onset of Rhythmic distractor sounds was enhanced relative to nonrhythmic distractor sounds, and sensory response to them was suppressed. Moreover, detection of nonmasked targets improved when distractors were Rhythmic, an effect accompanied by stronger lateralization of the neural responses to attended sounds to contralateral auditory cortex. These combined behavioral and neural results suggest that not only are temporal predictions formed for task-irrelevant sounds, but that these predictions bear functional significance for promoting selective attention and reducing distractibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shiri Makov
- Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel
| | - Elana Zion Golumbic
- Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel
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Kershner JR. Dyslexia as an adaptation to cortico-limbic stress system reactivity. Neurobiol Stress 2020; 12:100223. [PMID: 32435671 PMCID: PMC7231974 DOI: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2020.100223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2019] [Revised: 03/07/2020] [Accepted: 04/09/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
A new school of thought in evolutionary developmental biology, combined with research in the neurobiology of stress, suggest that early exposure to stressful circumstances may be a cause of dyslexia. A balance between epigenetic, stress-induced and cognitive-growth genetic programs modulates the brain's cellular, regional, and network homeostasis. This balance is essential for adaptability to the normative range of everyday stress. However, even mild chronic stress exposition may overactivate the hypothalmic-pituitary-adrenal stress axis, upsetting the homeostatic balance between these programs, and exposing the brain to harmful levels of stress hormones. A protective strategy to sustained disequilibrium precociously advances maturation at the cost of neuroplasticity, which blunts stress axis reactivity but also compromises learning potential in the prefrontal cortex and networks associated with dyslexia. Stress exceeding an individual's range of resilience: (1) reduces levels of TFEB and BDNF, gene regulatory factors prolonging maturation and neuroplasticity; (2) interferes with the insular cortex, amygdala and hippocampus in coordinating afferent visceral signals with cognitive performance; (3) over-recruits the brain's Default Mode network; and (4) amplifies release from the Locus coeruleus/norepinephrine system which impairs the entrainment of oscillations in the lower phonological frequencies of speech. Evidence supporting a stress-growth imbalance is preliminary, but holds promise for reconceptualizing the neurobiology of dyslexia and reducing its prevalence.
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Affiliation(s)
- John R. Kershner
- University of Toronto, Dept of Applied Psychology University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, Canada
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Vanheusden FJ, Kegler M, Ireland K, Georga C, Simpson DM, Reichenbach T, Bell SL. Hearing Aids Do Not Alter Cortical Entrainment to Speech at Audible Levels in Mild-to-Moderately Hearing-Impaired Subjects. Front Hum Neurosci 2020; 14:109. [PMID: 32317951 PMCID: PMC7147120 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.00109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2019] [Accepted: 03/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cortical entrainment to speech correlates with speech intelligibility and attention to a speech stream in noisy environments. However, there is a lack of data on whether cortical entrainment can help in evaluating hearing aid fittings for subjects with mild to moderate hearing loss. One particular problem that may arise is that hearing aids may alter the speech stimulus during (pre-)processing steps, which might alter cortical entrainment to the speech. Here, the effect of hearing aid processing on cortical entrainment to running speech in hearing impaired subjects was investigated. METHODOLOGY Seventeen native English-speaking subjects with mild-to-moderate hearing loss participated in the study. Hearing function and hearing aid fitting were evaluated using standard clinical procedures. Participants then listened to a 25-min audiobook under aided and unaided conditions at 70 dBA sound pressure level (SPL) in quiet conditions. EEG data were collected using a 32-channel system. Cortical entrainment to speech was evaluated using decoders reconstructing the speech envelope from the EEG data. Null decoders, obtained from EEG and the time-reversed speech envelope, were used to assess the chance level reconstructions. Entrainment in the delta- (1-4 Hz) and theta- (4-8 Hz) band, as well as wideband (1-20 Hz) EEG data was investigated. RESULTS Significant cortical responses could be detected for all but one subject in all three frequency bands under both aided and unaided conditions. However, no significant differences could be found between the two conditions in the number of responses detected, nor in the strength of cortical entrainment. The results show that the relatively small change in speech input provided by the hearing aid was not sufficient to elicit a detectable change in cortical entrainment. CONCLUSION For subjects with mild to moderate hearing loss, cortical entrainment to speech in quiet at an audible level is not affected by hearing aids. These results clear the pathway for exploring the potential to use cortical entrainment to running speech for evaluating hearing aid fitting at lower speech intensities (which could be inaudible when unaided), or using speech in noise conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederique J. Vanheusden
- Department of Engineering, School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom
- Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
| | - Mikolaj Kegler
- Department of Bioengineering and Centre for Neurotechnology, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, United Kingdom
| | - Katie Ireland
- Audiology Department, Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, Reading, United Kingdom
| | - Constantina Georga
- Audiology Department, Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, Reading, United Kingdom
| | - David M. Simpson
- Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
| | - Tobias Reichenbach
- Department of Bioengineering and Centre for Neurotechnology, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, United Kingdom
| | - Steven L. Bell
- Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
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35
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Müller JA, Kollmeier B, Debener S, Brand T. Influence of auditory attention on sentence recognition captured by the neural phase. Eur J Neurosci 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/ejn.13896] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jana Annina Müller
- Medizinische Physik Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg 26111 Oldenburg Germany
- Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg Oldenburg Germany
| | - Birger Kollmeier
- Medizinische Physik Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg 26111 Oldenburg Germany
- Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg Oldenburg Germany
| | - Stefan Debener
- Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg Oldenburg Germany
- Neuropsychology Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg Oldenburg Germany
| | - Thomas Brand
- Medizinische Physik Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg 26111 Oldenburg Germany
- Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg Oldenburg Germany
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36
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Bosker HR, Cooke M. Enhanced amplitude modulations contribute to the Lombard intelligibility benefit: Evidence from the Nijmegen Corpus of Lombard Speech. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2020; 147:721. [PMID: 32113258 DOI: 10.1121/10.0000646] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2019] [Accepted: 01/10/2020] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Speakers adjust their voice when talking in noise, which is known as Lombard speech. These acoustic adjustments facilitate speech comprehension in noise relative to plain speech (i.e., speech produced in quiet). However, exactly which characteristics of Lombard speech drive this intelligibility benefit in noise remains unclear. This study assessed the contribution of enhanced amplitude modulations to the Lombard speech intelligibility benefit by demonstrating that (1) native speakers of Dutch in the Nijmegen Corpus of Lombard Speech produce more pronounced amplitude modulations in noise vs in quiet; (2) more enhanced amplitude modulations correlate positively with intelligibility in a speech-in-noise perception experiment; (3) transplanting the amplitude modulations from Lombard speech onto plain speech leads to an intelligibility improvement, suggesting that enhanced amplitude modulations in Lombard speech contribute towards intelligibility in noise. Results are discussed in light of recent neurobiological models of speech perception with reference to neural oscillators phase-locking to the amplitude modulations in speech, guiding the processing of speech.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hans Rutger Bosker
- Psychology of Language department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Wundtlaan 1, P.O. Box 310, 6500 AH, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Martin Cooke
- Language and Speech Laboratory, Universidad del País Vasco, calle Justo Vélez de Elorriaga 1, Vitoria, 01006, Spain
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Jenson D, Thornton D, Harkrider AW, Saltuklaroglu T. Influences of cognitive load on sensorimotor contributions to working memory: An EEG investigation of mu rhythm activity during speech discrimination. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2019; 166:107098. [DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2019.107098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2019] [Revised: 09/11/2019] [Accepted: 10/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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Choi JY, Perrachione TK. Time and information in perceptual adaptation to speech. Cognition 2019; 192:103982. [PMID: 31229740 PMCID: PMC6732236 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2019.05.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2018] [Revised: 05/11/2019] [Accepted: 05/25/2019] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Perceptual adaptation to a talker enables listeners to efficiently resolve the many-to-many mapping between variable speech acoustics and abstract linguistic representations. However, models of speech perception have not delved into the variety or the quantity of information necessary for successful adaptation, nor how adaptation unfolds over time. In three experiments using speeded classification of spoken words, we explored how the quantity (duration), quality (phonetic detail), and temporal continuity of talker-specific context contribute to facilitating perceptual adaptation to speech. In single- and mixed-talker conditions, listeners identified phonetically-confusable target words in isolation or preceded by carrier phrases of varying lengths and phonetic content, spoken by the same talker as the target word. Word identification was always slower in mixed-talker conditions than single-talker ones. However, interference from talker variability decreased as the duration of preceding speech increased but was not affected by the amount of preceding talker-specific phonetic information. Furthermore, efficiency gains from adaptation depended on temporal continuity between preceding speech and the target word. These results suggest that perceptual adaptation to speech may be understood via models of auditory streaming, where perceptual continuity of an auditory object (e.g., a talker) facilitates allocation of attentional resources, resulting in more efficient perceptual processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ja Young Choi
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States; Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - Tyler K Perrachione
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States.
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Riecke L, Snipes S, van Bree S, Kaas A, Hausfeld L. Audio-tactile enhancement of cortical speech-envelope tracking. Neuroimage 2019; 202:116134. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2019] [Revised: 08/07/2019] [Accepted: 08/26/2019] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
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40
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García-Rosales F, Röhrig D, Weineck K, Röhm M, Lin YH, Cabral-Calderin Y, Kössl M, Hechavarria JC. Laminar specificity of oscillatory coherence in the auditory cortex. Brain Struct Funct 2019; 224:2907-2924. [PMID: 31456067 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-019-01944-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2019] [Accepted: 08/16/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Empirical evidence suggests that, in the auditory cortex (AC), the phase relationship between spikes and local-field potentials (LFPs) plays an important role in the processing of auditory stimuli. Nevertheless, unlike the case of other sensory systems, it remains largely unexplored in the auditory modality whether the properties of the cortical columnar microcircuit shape the dynamics of spike-LFP coherence in a layer-specific manner. In this study, we directly tackle this issue by addressing whether spike-LFP and LFP-stimulus phase synchronization are spatially distributed in the AC during sensory processing, by performing laminar recordings in the cortex of awake short-tailed bats (Carollia perspicillata) while animals listened to conspecific distress vocalizations. We show that, in the AC, spike-LFP and LFP-stimulus synchrony depend significantly on cortical depth, and that sensory stimulation alters the spatial and spectral patterns of spike-LFP phase-locking. We argue that such laminar distribution of coherence could have functional implications for the representation of naturalistic auditory stimuli at a cortical level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francisco García-Rosales
- Institut für Zellbiologie und Neurowissenschaft, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60438, Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
| | - Dennis Röhrig
- Institut für Zellbiologie und Neurowissenschaft, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60438, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
| | - Kristin Weineck
- Institut für Zellbiologie und Neurowissenschaft, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60438, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
| | - Mira Röhm
- Institut für Zellbiologie und Neurowissenschaft, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60438, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
| | - Yi-Hsuan Lin
- Institut für Zellbiologie und Neurowissenschaft, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60438, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
| | - Yuranny Cabral-Calderin
- Research Group Neural and Environmental Rhythms, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, 60322, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
| | - Manfred Kössl
- Institut für Zellbiologie und Neurowissenschaft, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60438, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
| | - Julio C Hechavarria
- Institut für Zellbiologie und Neurowissenschaft, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60438, Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
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Kershner JR. Neuroscience and education: Cerebral lateralization of networks and oscillations in dyslexia. Laterality 2019; 25:109-125. [PMID: 30987535 DOI: 10.1080/1357650x.2019.1606820] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Liaison between neuroscience and education has resulted in significant advances in our understanding of the neurobiological learning requirements of individuals with reading disability, the neuroplasticity of the developing brain, and the participation of the right hemisphere in reading. Research in neural network theory and cortical oscillations suggests that the hemispheres collaborate in high-level language processes. The right hemisphere specializes in coding low frequencies of the speech envelope and interhemispheric cognitive control, while the left is specialized for local high frequency, verbal computations. Studies in neural networks, and cortical oscillations which controlled for reading-level, converge in identifying an impaired right hemisphere circuitry of frontoparietal attention networks as a primary cause of dyslexia. Occurring in early development, such a dysfunction would have a cascading negative effect on phonemic processing in the left hemisphere dorsal reading network. Such integrative hemispheric cooperation suggests a more comprehensive approach to early reading instruction and interventions in dyslexia.
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Affiliation(s)
- John R Kershner
- Department of Applied Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
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Nogueira W, Cosatti G, Schierholz I, Egger M, Mirkovic B, Buchner A. Toward Decoding Selective Attention From Single-Trial EEG Data in Cochlear Implant Users. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 2019; 67:38-49. [PMID: 30932825 DOI: 10.1109/tbme.2019.2907638] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Previous results showed that it is possible to decode an attended speech source from EEG data via the reconstruction of the speech envelope in normal hearing (NH) listeners. However, so far it is unknown that how the performance of such a decoder is affected by the decrease in spectral resolution and the electrical artifacts introduced by a cochlear implant (CI) in users of these prostheses. NH listeners and bilateral CI users participated in the present study. Speeches from two audio books, one uttered by a male voice and one by a female voice, were presented to NH listeners and CI users. Participants were instructed to attend to one of the two speech streams presented dichotically while a 96-channel EEG was recorded. Speech envelope reconstruction from the EEG data was obtained by training decoders using a regularized least square estimation method. Decoding accuracy was defined as the percentage of accurately reconstructed trials for each subject. For NH listeners, the experiment was repeated using a vocoder to reduce spectral resolution and simulate speech perception with a CI in NH listeners. The results showed a decoding accuracy of 80.9 % using the original sound files in NH listeners. The performance dropped to 73.2 % in the vocoder condition and to 71.5 % in the group of CI users. In sum, although the accuracy drops when the spectral resolution becomes worse, the results show the feasibility to decode the attended sound source in NH listeners with a vocoder simulation, and even in CI users, albeit more training data are needed.
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Hambrook DA, Tata MS. The effects of distractor set-size on neural tracking of attended speech. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2019; 190:1-9. [PMID: 30616147 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2018.12.005] [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: 05/23/2018] [Revised: 11/19/2018] [Accepted: 12/19/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Attention is crucial to speech comprehension in real-world, noisy environments. Selective phase-tracking between low-frequency brain dynamics and the envelope of target speech is a proposed mechanism to reject competing distractors. Studies have supported this theory in the case of a single distractor, but have not considered how tracking is systematically affected by varying distractor set sizes. We recorded electroencephalography (EEG) during selective listening to both natural and vocoded speech as distractor set-size varied from two to six voices. Increasing set-size reduced performance and attenuated EEG tracking of target speech. Further, we found that intrusions of distractor speech into perception were not accompanied by sustained tracking of the distractor stream. Our results support the theory that tracking of speech dynamics is a mechanism for selective attention, and that the mechanism of distraction is not simple stimulus-driven capture of sustained entrainment of auditory mechanisms by the acoustics of distracting speech.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dillon A Hambrook
- The University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Drive, Lethbridge, Alberta T1K 3M4, Canada.
| | - Matthew S Tata
- The University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Drive, Lethbridge, Alberta T1K 3M4, Canada
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44
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Comparing the potential of MEG and EEG to uncover brain tracking of speech temporal envelope. Neuroimage 2019; 184:201-213. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.09.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2018] [Revised: 08/22/2018] [Accepted: 09/03/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
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Saltuklaroglu T, Bowers A, Harkrider AW, Casenhiser D, Reilly KJ, Jenson DE, Thornton D. EEG mu rhythms: Rich sources of sensorimotor information in speech processing. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2018; 187:41-61. [PMID: 30509381 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2018.09.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2017] [Revised: 09/27/2017] [Accepted: 09/23/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Tim Saltuklaroglu
- Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of Tennessee Health Sciences, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
| | - Andrew Bowers
- University of Arkansas, Epley Center for Health Professions, 606 N. Razorback Road, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA
| | - Ashley W Harkrider
- Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of Tennessee Health Sciences, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
| | - Devin Casenhiser
- Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of Tennessee Health Sciences, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
| | - Kevin J Reilly
- Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of Tennessee Health Sciences, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
| | - David E Jenson
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, Spokane, WA 99210-1495, USA
| | - David Thornton
- Department of Hearing, Speech, and Language Sciences, Gallaudet University, 800 Florida Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20002, USA
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Holt LL, Tierney AT, Guerra G, Laffere A, Dick F. Dimension-selective attention as a possible driver of dynamic, context-dependent re-weighting in speech processing. Hear Res 2018; 366:50-64. [PMID: 30131109 PMCID: PMC6107307 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2018.06.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2018] [Revised: 06/10/2018] [Accepted: 06/19/2018] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The contribution of acoustic dimensions to an auditory percept is dynamically adjusted and reweighted based on prior experience about how informative these dimensions are across the long-term and short-term environment. This is especially evident in speech perception, where listeners differentially weight information across multiple acoustic dimensions, and use this information selectively to update expectations about future sounds. The dynamic and selective adjustment of how acoustic input dimensions contribute to perception has made it tempting to conceive of this as a form of non-spatial auditory selective attention. Here, we review several human speech perception phenomena that might be consistent with auditory selective attention although, as of yet, the literature does not definitively support a mechanistic tie. We relate these human perceptual phenomena to illustrative nonhuman animal neurobiological findings that offer informative guideposts in how to test mechanistic connections. We next present a novel empirical approach that can serve as a methodological bridge from human research to animal neurobiological studies. Finally, we describe four preliminary results that demonstrate its utility in advancing understanding of human non-spatial dimension-based auditory selective attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lori L Holt
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA; Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA.
| | - Adam T Tierney
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, WC1E 7HX, UK; Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, London, WC1E 7HX, UK
| | - Giada Guerra
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, WC1E 7HX, UK; Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, London, WC1E 7HX, UK
| | - Aeron Laffere
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, WC1E 7HX, UK
| | - Frederic Dick
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, WC1E 7HX, UK; Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, London, WC1E 7HX, UK; Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, WC1H 0AP, UK
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Olguin A, Bekinschtein TA, Bozic M. Neural Encoding of Attended Continuous Speech under Different Types of Interference. J Cogn Neurosci 2018; 30:1606-1619. [PMID: 30004849 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01303] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
We examined how attention modulates the neural encoding of continuous speech under different types of interference. In an EEG experiment, participants attended to a narrative in English while ignoring a competing stream in the other ear. Four different types of interference were presented to the unattended ear: a different English narrative, a narrative in a language unknown to the listener (Spanish), a well-matched nonlinguistic acoustic interference (Musical Rain), and no interference. Neural encoding of attended and unattended signals was assessed by calculating cross-correlations between their respective envelopes and the EEG recordings. Findings revealed more robust neural encoding for the attended envelopes compared with the ignored ones. Critically, however, the type of the interfering stream significantly modulated this process, with the fully intelligible distractor (English) causing the strongest encoding of both attended and unattended streams and latest dissociation between them and nonintelligible distractors causing weaker encoding and early dissociation between attended and unattended streams. The results were consistent over the time course of the spoken narrative. These findings suggest that attended and unattended information can be differentiated at different depths of processing analysis, with the locus of selective attention determined by the nature of the competing stream. They provide strong support to flexible accounts of auditory selective attention.
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Rinne T, Muers RS, Salo E, Slater H, Petkov CI. Functional Imaging of Audio-Visual Selective Attention in Monkeys and Humans: How do Lapses in Monkey Performance Affect Cross-Species Correspondences? Cereb Cortex 2018; 27:3471-3484. [PMID: 28419201 PMCID: PMC5654311 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhx092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2016] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The cross-species correspondences and differences in how attention modulates brain responses in humans and animal models are poorly understood. We trained 2 monkeys to perform an audio–visual selective attention task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), rewarding them to attend to stimuli in one modality while ignoring those in the other. Monkey fMRI identified regions strongly modulated by auditory or visual attention. Surprisingly, auditory attention-related modulations were much more restricted in monkeys than humans performing the same tasks during fMRI. Further analyses ruled out trivial explanations, suggesting that labile selective-attention performance was associated with inhomogeneous modulations in wide cortical regions in the monkeys. The findings provide initial insights into how audio–visual selective attention modulates the primate brain, identify sources for “lost” attention effects in monkeys, and carry implications for modeling the neurobiology of human cognition with nonhuman animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teemu Rinne
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.,Advanced Magnetic Imaging Centre, Aalto University School of Science, Espoo, Finland
| | - Ross S Muers
- Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.,Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
| | - Emma Salo
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Heather Slater
- Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.,Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
| | - Christopher I Petkov
- Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.,Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
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Bosker HR, Cooke M. Talkers produce more pronounced amplitude modulations when speaking in noise. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2018; 143:EL121. [PMID: 29495684 DOI: 10.1121/1.5024404] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Speakers adjust their voice when talking in noise (known as Lombard speech), facilitating speech comprehension. Recent neurobiological models of speech perception emphasize the role of amplitude modulations in speech-in-noise comprehension, helping neural oscillators to "track" the attended speech. This study tested whether talkers produce more pronounced amplitude modulations in noise. Across four different corpora, modulation spectra showed greater power in amplitude modulations below 4 Hz in Lombard speech compared to matching plain speech. This suggests that noise-induced speech contains more pronounced amplitude modulations, potentially helping the listening brain to entrain to the attended talker, aiding comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hans Rutger Bosker
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, P.O. Box 310, 6500 AH, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Martin Cooke
- Language and Speech Laboratory, Universidad del País Vasco, Vitoria, 01006, Spain
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50
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Riecke L, Formisano E, Sorger B, Başkent D, Gaudrain E. Neural Entrainment to Speech Modulates Speech Intelligibility. Curr Biol 2017; 28:161-169.e5. [PMID: 29290557 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.11.033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 111] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2017] [Revised: 10/26/2017] [Accepted: 11/15/2017] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Speech is crucial for communication in everyday life. Speech-brain entrainment, the alignment of neural activity to the slow temporal fluctuations (envelope) of acoustic speech input, is a ubiquitous element of current theories of speech processing. Associations between speech-brain entrainment and acoustic speech signal, listening task, and speech intelligibility have been observed repeatedly. However, a methodological bottleneck has prevented so far clarifying whether speech-brain entrainment contributes functionally to (i.e., causes) speech intelligibility or is merely an epiphenomenon of it. To address this long-standing issue, we experimentally manipulated speech-brain entrainment without concomitant acoustic and task-related variations, using a brain stimulation approach that enables modulating listeners' neural activity with transcranial currents carrying speech-envelope information. Results from two experiments involving a cocktail-party-like scenario and a listening situation devoid of aural speech-amplitude envelope input reveal consistent effects on listeners' speech-recognition performance, demonstrating a causal role of speech-brain entrainment in speech intelligibility. Our findings imply that speech-brain entrainment is critical for auditory speech comprehension and suggest that transcranial stimulation with speech-envelope-shaped currents can be utilized to modulate speech comprehension in impaired listening conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lars Riecke
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, 6229 EV Maastricht, the Netherlands.
| | - Elia Formisano
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, 6229 EV Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Bettina Sorger
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, 6229 EV Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Deniz Başkent
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, 9700 RB Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - Etienne Gaudrain
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, 9700 RB Groningen, the Netherlands; CNRS UMR 5292, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Auditory Cognition and Psychoacoustics, Inserm UMRS 1028, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Université de Lyon, 69366 Lyon Cedex 07, France
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