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Har-Shai Yahav P, Sharaabi A, Zion Golumbic E. The effect of voice familiarity on attention to speech in a cocktail party scenario. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhad475. [PMID: 38142293 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad475] [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: 09/04/2023] [Revised: 11/20/2023] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 12/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Selective attention to one speaker in multi-talker environments can be affected by the acoustic and semantic properties of speech. One highly ecological feature of speech that has the potential to assist in selective attention is voice familiarity. Here, we tested how voice familiarity interacts with selective attention by measuring the neural speech-tracking response to both target and non-target speech in a dichotic listening "Cocktail Party" paradigm. We measured Magnetoencephalography from n = 33 participants, presented with concurrent narratives in two different voices, and instructed to pay attention to one ear ("target") and ignore the other ("non-target"). Participants were familiarized with one of the voices during the week prior to the experiment, rendering this voice familiar to them. Using multivariate speech-tracking analysis we estimated the neural responses to both stimuli and replicate their well-established modulation by selective attention. Importantly, speech-tracking was also affected by voice familiarity, showing enhanced response for target speech and reduced response for non-target speech in the contra-lateral hemisphere, when these were in a familiar vs. an unfamiliar voice. These findings offer valuable insight into how voice familiarity, and by extension, auditory-semantics, interact with goal-driven attention, and facilitate perceptual organization and speech processing in noisy environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paz Har-Shai Yahav
- The Gonda Center for Multidisciplinary Brain Research, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel
| | - Aviya Sharaabi
- The Gonda Center for Multidisciplinary Brain Research, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel
| | - Elana Zion Golumbic
- The Gonda Center for Multidisciplinary Brain Research, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel
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Kaufman M, Zion Golumbic E. Listening to two speakers: Capacity and tradeoffs in neural speech tracking during Selective and Distributed Attention. Neuroimage 2023; 270:119984. [PMID: 36854352 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.119984] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2022] [Revised: 02/06/2023] [Accepted: 02/24/2023] [Indexed: 02/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Speech comprehension is severely compromised when several people talk at once, due to limited perceptual and cognitive resources. In such circumstances, top-down attention mechanisms can actively prioritize processing of task-relevant speech. However, behavioral and neural evidence suggest that this selection is not exclusive, and the system may have sufficient capacity to process additional speech input as well. Here we used a data-driven approach to contrast two opposing hypotheses regarding the system's capacity to co-represent competing speech: Can the brain represent two speakers equally or is the system fundamentally limited, resulting in tradeoffs between them? Neural activity was measured using magnetoencephalography (MEG) as human participants heard concurrent speech narratives and engaged in two tasks: Selective Attention, where only one speaker was task-relevant and Distributed Attention, where both speakers were equally relevant. Analysis of neural speech-tracking revealed that both tasks engaged a similar network of brain regions involved in auditory processing, attentional control and speech processing. Interestingly, during both Selective and Distributed Attention the neural representation of competing speech showed a bias towards one speaker. This is in line with proposed 'bottlenecks' for co-representation of concurrent speech and suggests that good performance on distributed attention tasks may be achieved by toggling attention between speakers over time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maya Kaufman
- The Gonda Center for Multidisciplinary Brain Research, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Elana Zion Golumbic
- The Gonda Center for Multidisciplinary Brain Research, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
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3
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Pinto D, Kaufman M, Brown A, Zion Golumbic E. An ecological investigation of the capacity to follow simultaneous speech and preferential detection of ones’ own name. Cereb Cortex 2022; 33:5361-5374. [PMID: 36331339 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac424] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2022] [Revised: 09/11/2022] [Accepted: 09/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Many situations require focusing attention on one speaker, while monitoring the environment for potentially important information. Some have proposed that dividing attention among 2 speakers involves behavioral trade-offs, due to limited cognitive resources. However the severity of these trade-offs, particularly under ecologically-valid circumstances, is not well understood. We investigated the capacity to process simultaneous speech using a dual-task paradigm simulating task-demands and stimuli encountered in real-life. Participants listened to conversational narratives (Narrative Stream) and monitored a stream of announcements (Barista Stream), to detect when their order was called. We measured participants’ performance, neural activity, and skin conductance as they engaged in this dual-task. Participants achieved extremely high dual-task accuracy, with no apparent behavioral trade-offs. Moreover, robust neural and physiological responses were observed for target-stimuli in the Barista Stream, alongside significant neural speech-tracking of the Narrative Stream. These results suggest that humans have substantial capacity to process simultaneous speech and do not suffer from insufficient processing resources, at least for this highly ecological task-combination and level of perceptual load. Results also confirmed the ecological validity of the advantage for detecting ones’ own name at the behavioral, neural, and physiological level, highlighting the contribution of personal relevance when processing simultaneous speech.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danna Pinto
- The Gonda Multidisciplinary Center for Brain Research, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 5290002, Israel
| | - Maya Kaufman
- The Gonda Multidisciplinary Center for Brain Research, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 5290002, Israel
| | - Adi Brown
- The Gonda Multidisciplinary Center for Brain Research, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 5290002, Israel
| | - Elana Zion Golumbic
- The Gonda Multidisciplinary Center for Brain Research, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 5290002, Israel
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Grant AM, Kousaie S, Coulter K, Gilbert AC, Baum SR, Gracco V, Titone D, Klein D, Phillips NA. Age of Acquisition Modulates Alpha Power During Bilingual Speech Comprehension in Noise. Front Psychol 2022; 13:865857. [PMID: 35548507 PMCID: PMC9083356 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.865857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 03/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Research on bilingualism has grown exponentially in recent years. However, the comprehension of speech in noise, given the ubiquity of both bilingualism and noisy environments, has seen only limited focus. Electroencephalogram (EEG) studies in monolinguals show an increase in alpha power when listening to speech in noise, which, in the theoretical context where alpha power indexes attentional control, is thought to reflect an increase in attentional demands. In the current study, English/French bilinguals with similar second language (L2) proficiency and who varied in terms of age of L2 acquisition (AoA) from 0 (simultaneous bilinguals) to 15 years completed a speech perception in noise task. Participants were required to identify the final word of high and low semantically constrained auditory sentences such as "Stir your coffee with a spoon" vs. "Bob could have known about the spoon" in both of their languages and in both noise (multi-talker babble) and quiet during electrophysiological recording. We examined the effects of language, AoA, semantic constraint, and listening condition on participants' induced alpha power during speech comprehension. Our results show an increase in alpha power when participants were listening in their L2, suggesting that listening in an L2 requires additional attentional control compared to the first language, particularly early in processing during word identification. Additionally, despite similar proficiency across participants, our results suggest that under difficult processing demands, AoA modulates the amount of attention required to process the second language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela M Grant
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Research in Human Development, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Shanna Kousaie
- Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.,Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Kristina Coulter
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Research in Human Development, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Annie C Gilbert
- Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Shari R Baum
- Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Vincent Gracco
- School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - Debra Titone
- Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Department of Psychology, McGill University Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Denise Klein
- Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Natalie A Phillips
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Research in Human Development, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Bloomfield Centre for Research in Aging, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research and Jewish General Hospital, McGill University Memory Clinic, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, QC, Canada
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Listening effort during speech perception enhances auditory and lexical processing for non-native listeners and accents. Cognition 2018; 179:163-170. [PMID: 29957515 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2018.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2016] [Revised: 05/31/2018] [Accepted: 06/04/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Speech communication in a non-native language (L2) can feel effortful, and the present study suggests that this effort affects both auditory and lexical processing. EEG recordings (electroencephalography) were made from native English (L1) and Korean listeners while they listened to English sentences spoken with two accents (English and Korean) in the presence of a distracting talker. Neural entrainment (i.e., phase locking between the EEG recording and the speech amplitude envelope) was measured for target and distractor talkers. L2 listeners had relatively greater entrainment for target talkers than did L1 listeners, likely because their difficulty with L2 speech recognition caused them to focus more attention on the speech signal. N400 was measured for the final word in each sentence, and L2 listeners had greater lexical processing in high-predictability sentences than did L1 listeners. L1 listeners had greater target-talker entrainment when listening to the more difficult L2 accent than their own L1 accent, and similarly had larger N400 responses for the L2 accent. It thus appears that the increased effort of L2 listeners, as well as L1 listeners understanding L2 speech, modulates their auditory and lexical processing during speech recognition. This may provide a mechanism to compensate for their perceptual challenges under adverse conditions.
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