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Rinke P, Schmidt T, Beier K, Kaul R, Scharinger M. Rapid pre-attentive processing of a famous speaker: Electrophysiological effects of Angela Merkel's voice. Neuropsychologia 2022; 173:108312. [PMID: 35781011 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108312] [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: 10/15/2021] [Revised: 06/27/2022] [Accepted: 06/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
The recognition of human speakers by their voices is a remarkable cognitive ability. Previous research has established a voice area in the right temporal cortex involved in the integration of speaker-specific acoustic features. This integration appears to occur rapidly, especially in case of familiar voices. However, the exact time course of this process is less well understood. To this end, we here investigated the automatic change detection response of the human brain while listening to the famous voice of German chancellor Angela Merkel, embedded in the context of acoustically matched voices. A classic passive oddball paradigm contrasted short word stimuli uttered by Merkel with word stimuli uttered by two unfamiliar female speakers. Electrophysiological voice processing indices from 21 participants were quantified as mismatch negativities (MMNs) and P3a differences. Cortical sources were approximated by variable resolution electromagnetic tomography. The results showed amplitude and latency effects for both MMN and P3a: The famous (familiar) voice elicited a smaller but earlier MMN than the unfamiliar voices. The P3a, by contrast, was both larger and later for the familiar than for the unfamiliar voices. Familiar-voice MMNs originated from right-hemispheric regions in temporal cortex, overlapping with the temporal voice area, while unfamiliar-voice MMNs stemmed from left superior temporal gyrus. These results suggest that the processing of a very famous voice relies on pre-attentive right temporal processing within the first 150 ms of the acoustic signal. The findings further our understanding of the neural dynamics underlying familiar voice processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paula Rinke
- Research Group Phonetics, Institute of German Linguistics, Philipps-University Marburg, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain & Behavior, Universities of Marburg & Gießen, Germany
| | - Tatjana Schmidt
- Center for Mind, Brain & Behavior, Universities of Marburg & Gießen, Germany; Faculté de biologie et de médecine, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Kjartan Beier
- Research Group Phonetics, Institute of German Linguistics, Philipps-University Marburg, Germany
| | - Ramona Kaul
- Research Group Phonetics, Institute of German Linguistics, Philipps-University Marburg, Germany
| | - Mathias Scharinger
- Research Group Phonetics, Institute of German Linguistics, Philipps-University Marburg, Germany; Research Center »Deutscher Sprachatlas«, Philipps-University Marburg, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain & Behavior, Universities of Marburg & Gießen, Germany.
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2
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Di Dona G, Scaltritti M, Sulpizio S. Formant-invariant voice and pitch representations are pre-attentively formed from constantly varying speech and non-speech stimuli. Eur J Neurosci 2022; 56:4086-4106. [PMID: 35673798 PMCID: PMC9545905 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15730] [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] [Received: 03/02/2022] [Revised: 05/23/2022] [Accepted: 05/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The present study investigated whether listeners can form abstract voice representations while ignoring constantly changing phonological information and if they can use the resulting information to facilitate voice change detection. Further, the study aimed at understanding whether the use of abstraction is restricted to the speech domain or can be deployed also in non‐speech contexts. We ran an electroencephalogram (EEG) experiment including one passive and one active oddball task, each featuring a speech and a rotated speech condition. In the speech condition, participants heard constantly changing vowels uttered by a male speaker (standard stimuli) which were infrequently replaced by vowels uttered by a female speaker with higher pitch (deviant stimuli). In the rotated speech condition, participants heard rotated vowels, in which the natural formant structure of speech was disrupted. In the passive task, the mismatch negativity was elicited after the presentation of the deviant voice in both conditions, indicating that listeners could successfully group together different stimuli into a formant‐invariant voice representation. In the active task, participants showed shorter reaction times (RTs), higher accuracy and a larger P3b in the speech condition with respect to the rotated speech condition. Results showed that whereas at a pre‐attentive level the cognitive system can track pitch regularities while presumably ignoring constantly changing formant information both in speech and in rotated speech, at an attentive level the use of such information is facilitated for speech. This facilitation was also testified by a stronger synchronisation in the theta band (4–7 Hz), potentially pointing towards differences in encoding/retrieval processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giuseppe Di Dona
- Dipartimento di Psicologia e Scienze Cognitive, Università degli Studi di Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Michele Scaltritti
- Dipartimento di Psicologia e Scienze Cognitive, Università degli Studi di Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Simone Sulpizio
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy.,Milan Center for Neuroscience (NeuroMi), Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy
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3
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Lei Z, Ma S, Li H, Yang Z. The Impact of Different Types of Auditory Warnings on Working Memory. Front Psychol 2022; 13:780657. [PMID: 35282225 PMCID: PMC8916232 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.780657] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2021] [Accepted: 01/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Auditory warnings have been shown to interfere with verbal working memory. However, the impact of different types of auditory warnings on working memory tasks must be further researched. This study investigated how different kinds of auditory warnings interfered with verbal and spatial working memory. Experiment 1 tested the potential interference of auditory warnings with verbal working memory. Experiment 2 tested the potential interference of auditory warnings with spatial working memory. Both experiments used a 3 × 3 mixed design: auditory warning type (auditory icons, earcons, or spearcons) was between groups, and task condition (no-warning, identify-warning, or ignore-warning) was within groups. In Experiment 1, earcons and spearcons but not auditory icons worsened the performance on the verbal serial recall task in the identify-warning condition, compared with that in the no-warning or ignore-warning conditions. In Experiment 2, only identifying earcons worsened the performance on the location recall task compared with performance without auditory warnings or when auditory warnings were ignored. Results are discussed from the perspective of working memory resource interference, and their practical application in the selection and design of auditory warning signals is involved.
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4
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Iannotti GR, Orepic P, Brunet D, Koenig T, Alcoba-Banqueri S, Garin DFA, Schaller K, Blanke O, Michel CM. EEG Spatiotemporal Patterns Underlying Self-other Voice Discrimination. Cereb Cortex 2021; 32:1978-1992. [PMID: 34649280 PMCID: PMC9070353 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab329] [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: 03/01/2021] [Revised: 08/02/2021] [Accepted: 08/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
There is growing evidence showing that the representation of the human “self” recruits special systems across different functions and modalities. Compared to self-face and self-body representations, few studies have investigated neural underpinnings specific to self-voice. Moreover, self-voice stimuli in those studies were consistently presented through air and lacking bone conduction, rendering the sound of self-voice stimuli different to the self-voice heard during natural speech. Here, we combined psychophysics, voice-morphing technology, and high-density EEG in order to identify the spatiotemporal patterns underlying self-other voice discrimination (SOVD) in a population of 26 healthy participants, both with air- and bone-conducted stimuli. We identified a self-voice-specific EEG topographic map occurring around 345 ms post-stimulus and activating a network involving insula, cingulate cortex, and medial temporal lobe structures. Occurrence of this map was modulated both with SOVD task performance and bone conduction. Specifically, the better participants performed at SOVD task, the less frequently they activated this network. In addition, the same network was recruited less frequently with bone conduction, which, accordingly, increased the SOVD task performance. This work could have an important clinical impact. Indeed, it reveals neural correlates of SOVD impairments, believed to account for auditory-verbal hallucinations, a common and highly distressing psychiatric symptom.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giannina Rita Iannotti
- Functional Brain Mapping Lab, Department of Fundamental Neurosciences, University of Geneva, 1202, Switzerland.,Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospitals of Geneva and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, 1205, Switzerland
| | - Pavo Orepic
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), 1202, Switzerland
| | - Denis Brunet
- Functional Brain Mapping Lab, Department of Fundamental Neurosciences, University of Geneva, 1202, Switzerland.,CIBM Center for Biomedical Imaging, Lausanne and Geneva, 1015, Switzerland
| | - Thomas Koenig
- Translational Research Center, University Hospital of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Bern 3000, Switzerland
| | - Sixto Alcoba-Banqueri
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), 1202, Switzerland
| | - Dorian F A Garin
- Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospitals of Geneva and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, 1205, Switzerland
| | - Karl Schaller
- Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospitals of Geneva and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, 1205, Switzerland
| | - Olaf Blanke
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), 1202, Switzerland
| | - Christoph M Michel
- Functional Brain Mapping Lab, Department of Fundamental Neurosciences, University of Geneva, 1202, Switzerland.,CIBM Center for Biomedical Imaging, Lausanne and Geneva, 1015, Switzerland
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5
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Invitto S, Keshmiri S, Mazzatenta A, Grasso A, Romano D, Bona F, Shiomi M, Sumioka H, Ishiguro H. Perception of Social Odor and Gender-Related Differences Investigated Through the Use of Transfer Entropy and Embodied Medium. Front Syst Neurosci 2021; 15:650528. [PMID: 34177474 PMCID: PMC8232750 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2021.650528] [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] [Received: 01/07/2021] [Accepted: 05/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The perception of putative pheromones or social odors (PPSO) in humans is a widely debated topic because the published results seem ambiguous. Our research aimed to evaluate how cross-modal processing of PPSO and gender voice can affect the behavioral and psychophysiological states of the subject during a listening task with a bodily contact medium, and how these effects could be gender related. Before the experimental session, three embodied media, were exposed to volatilized estratetraenol (Estr), 5α-androst-16-en-3 α-ol (Andr), and Vaseline oil. The experimental session consisted in listening to a story that were transmitted, with a male or female voice, by the communicative medium via a Bluetooth system during a listening task, recorded through 64-active channel electroencephalography (EEG). The sense of co-presence and social presence, elicited by the medium, showed how the established relationship with the medium was gender dependent and modulated by the PPSO. In particular, Andr induced greater responses related to co-presence. The gender of the participants was related to the co-presence desire, where women imagined higher medium co-presence than men. EEG findings seemed to be more responsive to the PPSO–gender voice interaction, than behavioral results. The mismatch between female PPSO and male voice elicited the greatest cortical flow of information. In the case of the Andr–male voice condition, the trained model appeared to assign more relevance to the flow of information to the right frontotemporal regions (involved in odor recognition memory and social behavior). The Estr–male voice condition showed activation of the bilateral frontoparietal network, which is linked to cognitive control, cognitive flexibility, and auditory consciousness. The model appears to distinguish the dissonance condition linked to Andr matched with a female voice: it highlights a flow of information to the right occipital lobe and to the frontal pole. The PPSO could influence the co-presence judgements and EEG response. The results seem suggest that could be an implicit pattern linked to PPSO-related gender differences and gender voice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Invitto
- INSPIRE-Laboratory of Cognitive and Psychophysiological Olfactory Processes, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy
| | - Soheil Keshmiri
- The Thomas N. Sato BioMEC-X Laboratories, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Andrea Mazzatenta
- Neurophysiology, Olfaction and Chemoreception Laboratory, Physiology and Physiopathology Section, Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences Department, 'G. d'Annunzio' University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Alberto Grasso
- INSPIRE-Laboratory of Cognitive and Psychophysiological Olfactory Processes, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy
| | - Daniele Romano
- Department of Psychology and NeuroMi, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.,Department of History, Society and Human Studies, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy
| | - Fabio Bona
- INSPIRE-Laboratory of Cognitive and Psychophysiological Olfactory Processes, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy
| | - Masahiro Shiomi
- Interaction Science Laboratories, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Hidenobu Sumioka
- Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Hiroshi Ishiguro
- Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, Kyoto, Japan.,Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
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6
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Adam-Darque A, Pittet MP, Grouiller F, Rihs TA, Leuchter RHV, Lazeyras F, Michel CM, Hüppi PS. Neural Correlates of Voice Perception in Newborns and the Influence of Preterm Birth. Cereb Cortex 2020; 30:5717-5730. [PMID: 32518940 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2020] [Revised: 05/01/2020] [Accepted: 05/01/2020] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Maternal voice is a highly relevant stimulus for newborns. Adult voice processing occurs in specific brain regions. Voice-specific brain areas in newborns and the relevance of an early vocal exposure on these networks have not been defined. This study investigates voice perception in newborns and the impact of prematurity on the cerebral processes. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and high-density electroencephalography (EEG) were used to explore the brain responses to maternal and stranger female voices in full-term newborns and preterm infants at term-equivalent age (TEA). fMRI results and the EEG oddball paradigm showed enhanced processing for voices in preterms at TEA than in full-term infants. Preterm infants showed additional cortical regions involved in voice processing in fMRI and a late mismatch response for maternal voice, considered as a first trace of a recognition process based on memory representation. Full-term newborns showed increased cerebral activity to the stranger voice. Results from fMRI, oddball, and standard auditory EEG paradigms highlighted important change detection responses to novelty after birth. These findings suggest that the main components of the adult voice-processing networks emerge early in development. Moreover, an early postnatal exposure to voices in premature infants might enhance their capacity to process voices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra Adam-Darque
- Division of Development and Growth, Department of Pediatrics, Geneva University Hospitals, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland.,Laboratory of Cognitive Neurorehabilitation, Division of Neurorehabilitation, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Geneva University Hospitals, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Marie P Pittet
- Division of Development and Growth, Department of Pediatrics, Geneva University Hospitals, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Frédéric Grouiller
- Department of Radiology and Medical Informatics, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland.,Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Tonia A Rihs
- Functional Brain Mapping Laboratory, Department of Neurosciences, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Russia Ha-Vinh Leuchter
- Division of Development and Growth, Department of Pediatrics, Geneva University Hospitals, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - François Lazeyras
- Department of Radiology and Medical Informatics, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Christoph M Michel
- Functional Brain Mapping Laboratory, Department of Neurosciences, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Petra S Hüppi
- Division of Development and Growth, Department of Pediatrics, Geneva University Hospitals, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland
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7
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He S, Chai Y, He J, Guo Y, Näätänen R. Differences in Pre-Attentive Processes of Sound Intensity Change Between High- and Low-Sensation Seekers. J PSYCHOPHYSIOL 2017. [DOI: 10.1027/0269-8803/a000168] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Abstract. High-sensation seekers are prone to search for changing stimuli. Pre-attentive processes reveal the earliest cortical change detection in response to external stimulus changes. This study recorded the mismatch negativity (MMN) to intensity increments and decrements in a repetitive tone in high- and low-sensation seekers. It was found that the MMN amplitude for intensity-decrement deviants was larger in high- than low-sensation seekers. However, with regard to deviant-increment stimulation, the difference between the two groups was not significant. Consequently, the sensitivity of high-sensitivity seekers to pre-attentively detect a decrease in sound intensity is higher than that of low-sensation seekers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siqi He
- Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior of Ministry of Education, School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, PR China
| | - Yao Chai
- Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior of Ministry of Education, School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, PR China
| | - Jinbo He
- Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior of Ministry of Education, School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, PR China
- Center of Sports Psychology, Wuhan Institute of Physical Education, Wuhan, PR China
| | - Yongyu Guo
- Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior of Ministry of Education, School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, PR China
| | - Risto Näätänen
- Department of Psychology, University of Tartu, Estonia
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN), University of Aarhus, Denmark
- Institute of Behavioral Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland
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8
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The effects of stimulus complexity on the preattentive processing of self-generated and nonself voices: An ERP study. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2015; 16:106-23. [PMID: 26415897 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-015-0376-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The ability to differentiate one's own voice from the voice of somebody else plays a critical role in successful verbal self-monitoring processes and in communication. However, most of the existing studies have only focused on the sensory correlates of self-generated voice processing, whereas the effects of attentional demands and stimulus complexity on self-generated voice processing remain largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the effects of stimulus complexity on the preattentive processing of self and nonself voice stimuli. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 17 healthy males who watched a silent movie while ignoring prerecorded self-generated (SGV) and nonself (NSV) voice stimuli, consisting of a vocalization (vocalization category condition: VCC) or of a disyllabic word (word category condition: WCC). All voice stimuli were presented as standard and deviant events in four distinct oddball sequences. The mismatch negativity (MMN) ERP component peaked earlier for NSV than for SGV stimuli. Moreover, when compared with SGV stimuli, the P3a amplitude was increased for NSV stimuli in the VCC only, whereas in the WCC no significant differences were found between the two voice types. These findings suggest differences in the time course of automatic detection of a change in voice identity. In addition, they suggest that stimulus complexity modulates the magnitude of the orienting response to SGV and NSV stimuli, extending previous findings on self-voice processing.
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9
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Scharinger M, Idsardi WJ. Sparseness of vowel category structure: Evidence from English dialect comparison. LINGUA. INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF GENERAL LINGUISTICS. REVUE INTERNATIONALE DE LINGUISTIQUE GENERALE 2014; 140:35-51. [PMID: 24653528 PMCID: PMC3956075 DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2013.11.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
Current models of speech perception tend to emphasize either fine-grained acoustic properties or coarse-grained abstract characteristics of speech sounds. We argue for a particular kind of 'sparse' vowel representations and provide new evidence that these representations account for the successful access of the corresponding categories. In an auditory semantic priming experiment, American English listeners made lexical decisions on targets (e.g. load) preceded by semantically related primes (e.g. pack). Changes of the prime vowel that crossed a vowel-category boundary (e.g. peck) were not treated as a tolerable variation, as assessed by a lack of priming, although the phonetic categories of the two different vowels considerably overlap in American English. Compared to the outcome of the same experiment with New Zealand English listeners, where such prime variations were tolerated, our experiment supports the view that phonological representations are important in guiding the mapping process from the acoustic signal to an abstract mental representation. Our findings are discussed with regard to current models of speech perception and recent findings from brain imaging research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathias Scharinger
- Max-Planck-Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Linguistics, University of Maryland, USA
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10
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Zhang F, Benson C, Fu QJ. Cortical encoding of pitch contour changes in cochlear implant users: a mismatch negativity study. Audiol Neurootol 2013; 18:275-88. [PMID: 23920129 DOI: 10.1159/000351802] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2012] [Accepted: 04/26/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
A better understanding of melodic pitch perception in cochlear implants (CIs) may guide signal processing and/or rehabilitation techniques to improve music perception and appreciation in CI patients. In this study, the mismatch negativity (MMN) in response to infrequent changes in 5-tone pitch contours was obtained in CI users and normal-hearing (NH) listeners. Melodic contour identification (MCI) was also measured. Results showed that MCI performance was poorer in CI than in NH subjects; the MMNs were missing in all CI subjects for the 1-semitone contours. The MMNs with the 5-semitone contours were observed in a smaller proportion of CI than NH subjects. Results suggest that encoding of pitch contour changes in CI users appears to be degraded, most likely due to the limited pitch cues provided by the CI and deafness-related compromise of brain substrates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fawen Zhang
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
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11
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12
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Mai X, Xu L, Li M, Shao J, Zhao Z, deRegnier RA, Nelson CA, Lozoff B. Auditory recognition memory in 2-month-old infants as assessed by event-related potentials. Dev Neuropsychol 2012; 37:400-14. [PMID: 22799760 DOI: 10.1080/87565641.2011.650807] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies of auditory recognition memory in sleeping newborns reported 2 event-related potential (ERP) components, P2 and negative slow wave (NSW), reflecting voice discrimination and detection of novelty, respectively. In the present study, using high-density recording arrays, ERPs were acquired from 26 2-month-old awake infants as they were presented with a familiar and unfamiliar voice (i.e., mother and stranger) with equal probability. In addition to P2 and NSW, we observed a positive slow wave (PSW) over the right temporo-parietal scalp, indicating memory updating. Our study suggests that infants appear to have the capacity to encode novel stimuli as early as 2 months of age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoqin Mai
- Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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13
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Capilla A, Belin P, Gross J. The early spatio-temporal correlates and task independence of cerebral voice processing studied with MEG. Cereb Cortex 2012; 23:1388-95. [PMID: 22610392 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhs119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have repeatedly provided evidence for temporal voice areas (TVAs) with particular sensitivity to human voices along bilateral mid/anterior superior temporal sulci and superior temporal gyri (STS/STG). In contrast, electrophysiological studies of the spatio-temporal correlates of cerebral voice processing have yielded contradictory results, finding the earliest correlates either at ∼300-400 ms, or earlier at ∼200 ms ("fronto-temporal positivity to voice", FTPV). These contradictory results are likely the consequence of different stimulus sets and attentional demands. Here, we recorded magnetoencephalography activity while participants listened to diverse types of vocal and non-vocal sounds and performed different tasks varying in attentional demands. Our results confirm the existence of an early voice-preferential magnetic response (FTPVm, the magnetic counterpart of the FTPV) peaking at about 220 ms and distinguishing between vocal and non-vocal sounds as early as 150 ms after stimulus onset. The sources underlying the FTPVm were localized along bilateral mid-STS/STG, largely overlapping with the TVAs. The FTPVm was consistently observed across different stimulus subcategories, including speech and non-speech vocal sounds, and across different tasks. These results demonstrate the early, largely automatic recruitment of focal, voice-selective cerebral mechanisms with a time-course comparable to that of face processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Almudena Capilla
- Department of Biological and Health Psychology, Autonoma University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
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14
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Graux J, Gomot M, Roux S, Bonnet-Brilhault F, Camus V, Bruneau N. My Voice or Yours? An Electrophysiological Study. Brain Topogr 2012; 26:72-82. [DOI: 10.1007/s10548-012-0233-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2012] [Accepted: 04/27/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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15
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Categorization of extremely brief auditory stimuli: domain-specific or domain-general processes? PLoS One 2011; 6:e27024. [PMID: 22046436 PMCID: PMC3203171 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0027024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2011] [Accepted: 10/09/2011] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The present study investigated the minimum amount of auditory stimulation that allows differentiation of spoken voices, instrumental music, and environmental sounds. Three new findings were reported. 1) All stimuli were categorized above chance level with 50 ms-segments. 2) When a peak-level normalization was applied, music and voices started to be accurately categorized with 20 ms-segments. When the root-mean-square (RMS) energy of the stimuli was equalized, voice stimuli were better recognized than music and environmental sounds. 3) Further psychoacoustical analyses suggest that the categorization of extremely brief auditory stimuli depends on the variability of their spectral envelope in the used set. These last two findings challenge the interpretation of the voice superiority effect reported in previously published studies and propose a more parsimonious interpretation in terms of an emerging property of auditory categorization processes.
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16
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Scharinger M, Monahan PJ, Idsardi WJ. You had me at "Hello": Rapid extraction of dialect information from spoken words. Neuroimage 2011; 56:2329-38. [PMID: 21511041 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2010] [Revised: 03/22/2011] [Accepted: 04/04/2011] [Indexed: 10/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Research on the neuronal underpinnings of speaker identity recognition has identified voice-selective areas in the human brain with evolutionary homologues in non-human primates who have comparable areas for processing species-specific calls. Most studies have focused on estimating the extent and location of these areas. In contrast, relatively few experiments have investigated the time-course of speaker identity, and in particular, dialect processing and identification by electro- or neuromagnetic means. We show here that dialect extraction occurs speaker-independently, pre-attentively and categorically. We used Standard American English and African-American English exemplars of 'Hello' in a magnetoencephalographic (MEG) Mismatch Negativity (MMN) experiment. The MMN as an automatic change detection response of the brain reflected dialect differences that were not entirely reducible to acoustic differences between the pronunciations of 'Hello'. Source analyses of the M100, an auditory evoked response to the vowels suggested additional processing in voice-selective areas whenever a dialect change was detected. These findings are not only relevant for the cognitive neuroscience of language, but also for the social sciences concerned with dialect and race perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathias Scharinger
- Department of Linguistics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
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Charest I, Pernet CR, Rousselet GA, Quiñones I, Latinus M, Fillion-Bilodeau S, Chartrand JP, Belin P. Electrophysiological evidence for an early processing of human voices. BMC Neurosci 2009; 10:127. [PMID: 19843323 PMCID: PMC2770575 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2202-10-127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 84] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2009] [Accepted: 10/20/2009] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Previous electrophysiological studies have identified a "voice specific response" (VSR) peaking around 320 ms after stimulus onset, a latency markedly longer than the 70 ms needed to discriminate living from non-living sound sources and the 150 ms to 200 ms needed for the processing of voice paralinguistic qualities. In the present study, we investigated whether an early electrophysiological difference between voice and non-voice stimuli could be observed. RESULTS ERPs were recorded from 32 healthy volunteers who listened to 200 ms long stimuli from three sound categories - voices, bird songs and environmental sounds - whilst performing a pure-tone detection task. ERP analyses revealed voice/non-voice amplitude differences emerging as early as 164 ms post stimulus onset and peaking around 200 ms on fronto-temporal (positivity) and occipital (negativity) electrodes. CONCLUSION Our electrophysiological results suggest a rapid brain discrimination of sounds of voice, termed the "fronto-temporal positivity to voices" (FTPV), at latencies comparable to the well-known face-preferential N170.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian Charest
- Centre for Cognitive NeuroImaging (CCNi) & Department of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
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Bonte M, Valente G, Formisano E. Dynamic and task-dependent encoding of speech and voice by phase reorganization of cortical oscillations. J Neurosci 2009; 29:1699-706. [PMID: 19211877 PMCID: PMC6666288 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.3694-08.2009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2008] [Revised: 01/05/2009] [Accepted: 01/07/2009] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Speech and vocal sounds are at the core of human communication. Cortical processing of these sounds critically depends on behavioral demands. However, the neurocomputational mechanisms enabling this adaptive processing remain elusive. Here we examine the task-dependent reorganization of electroencephalographic responses to natural speech sounds (vowels /a/, /i/, /u/) spoken by three speakers (two female, one male) while listeners perform a one-back task on either vowel or speaker identity. We show that dynamic changes of sound-evoked responses and phase patterns of cortical oscillations in the alpha band (8-12 Hz) closely reflect the abstraction and analysis of the sounds along the task-relevant dimension. Vowel categorization leads to a significant temporal realignment of responses to the same vowel, e.g., /a/, independent of who pronounced this vowel, whereas speaker categorization leads to a significant temporal realignment of responses to the same speaker, e.g., speaker 1, independent of which vowel she/he pronounced. This transient and goal-dependent realignment of neuronal responses to physically different external events provides a robust cortical coding mechanism for forming and processing abstract representations of auditory (speech) input.
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Affiliation(s)
- Milene Bonte
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands.
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Holeckova I, Fischer C, Morlet D, Delpuech C, Costes N, Mauguière F. Subject's own name as a novel in a MMN design: a combined ERP and PET study. Brain Res 2007; 1189:152-65. [PMID: 18053971 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2007.10.091] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2007] [Revised: 09/19/2007] [Accepted: 10/27/2007] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
With a view to elaborating a clinical tool to assess cognitive functions in brain-damaged patients, we had previously displayed characteristic patterns of ERPs (32 electrodes) in awake healthy persons in response to their own name (SON) presented as a novel in a passive oddball paradigm. In the present combined ERP and PET study, in an attempt to identify brain correlates of duration MMN and response to SON uttered by a familiar (FV) or an unknown voice (NFV), we used a block design protocol as close as possible to the aforementioned SON protocol. ERP data showed robust duration MMN and novelty P3 in response to SON similar to our previous results. The PET technique did not allow true MMN generators to be disclosed, but blocks with duration deviants elicited an increase of activation in the right temporal pole as compared with the control condition with no deviants, supporting the hypothesis of right hemispheric dominance in early sound discrimination. For SON contrasts, robust cerebral blood flow activation present over temporal, frontal and parietal cortices, in the hippocampus and in the precuneus could be associated with speech, novelty and self-recognition processing. Familiar and unfamiliar voices activated the prefrontal cortex differently, suggesting different retrieval processes, although corresponding ERP responses could not be differentiated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irena Holeckova
- Hospices Civils de Lyon, Neurological Hospital, Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Lyon, France
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The mismatch negativity (MMN) in basic research of central auditory processing: a review. Clin Neurophysiol 2007; 118:2544-90. [PMID: 17931964 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2007.04.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1683] [Impact Index Per Article: 99.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2006] [Revised: 04/18/2007] [Accepted: 04/28/2007] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
In the present article, the basic research using the mismatch negativity (MMN) and analogous results obtained by using the magnetoencephalography (MEG) and other brain-imaging technologies is reviewed. This response is elicited by any discriminable change in auditory stimulation but recent studies extended the notion of the MMN even to higher-order cognitive processes such as those involving grammar and semantic meaning. Moreover, MMN data also show the presence of automatic intelligent processes such as stimulus anticipation at the level of auditory cortex. In addition, the MMN enables one to establish the brain processes underlying the initiation of attention switch to, conscious perception of, sound change in an unattended stimulus stream.
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Beauchemin M, De Beaumont L, Vannasing P, Turcotte A, Arcand C, Belin P, Lassonde M. Electrophysiological markers of voice familiarity. Eur J Neurosci 2006; 23:3081-6. [PMID: 16819998 DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2006.04856.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Our ability to discriminate and recognize human voices is amongst the most important functions of the human auditory system. The current study sought to determine whether electrophysiological markers could be used as objective measures of voice familiarity, by looking at the electrophysiological responses [mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a] when the infrequent stimulus presented is a familiar voice as opposed to an unfamiliar voice. Results indicate that the MMN elicited by a familiar voice is greater than that elicited by an unfamiliar voice at FCz. The familiar voice also produced a greater P3a wave than that triggered by the unfamiliar voice at Fz. As both the MMN and the P3a were elicited as participants were instructed not to pay attention to incoming stimulation, these findings suggest that voice recognition is a particularly potent preattentive process whose neural representations can be objectively described through electrophysiological assessments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maude Beauchemin
- Centre de Recherche, Hôpital Ste-Justine, 3175, Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Montréal QC, Canada H3T 1C5
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Knösche TR, Maess B, Nakamura A, Friederici AD. Human communication investigated with magnetoencephalography: speech, music, and gestures. INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF NEUROBIOLOGY 2005; 68:79-120. [PMID: 16443011 DOI: 10.1016/s0074-7742(05)68004-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Thomas R Knösche
- Max-Planck-Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
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Pettigrew CM, Murdoch BE, Ponton CW, Finnigan S, Alku P, Kei J, Sockalingam R, Chenery HJ. Automatic Auditory Processing of English Words as Indexed by the Mismatch Negativity, Using a Multiple Deviant Paradigm. Ear Hear 2004; 25:284-301. [PMID: 15179119 DOI: 10.1097/01.aud.0000130800.88987.03] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate mismatch negativity (MMN) responses to a variety of speech stimuli (/de:/, /ge:/, /deI/ "day", and /geI/ "gay") in a multiple deviant paradigm. It was hypothesized that all speech stimulus contrasts in the multiple deviant paradigm, including the fine acoustic speech contrast [d/g], would elicit robust MMN responses and that consonant vowel (CV) real word deviants (e.g., "day" and "gay") would elicit larger MMN responses than CV nonword deviants (e.g., "de" and "ge") within and across experimental contrasts. DESIGN Ten healthy, right-handed, native English-speaking adults (23.4 +/- 2.27 yr) with normal hearing were presented with 12 blocks of stimuli, using a multiple deviant oddball paradigm. Each of the four speech stimuli were presented as standards (p = 0.7) in three blocks, with the remaining stimuli acting as deviants (p = 0.1 each). Subjects were also presented with the same stimuli in a behavioral discrimination task. RESULTS MMN responses to the fine acoustic speech contrast [d/g] (e.g., "de" versus "ge", "day" versus "gay") did not reach significance. However, a significant and larger MMN response was obtained at an earlier latency to the real word deviants among nonword standards with the same initial consonant (i.e., de-->day, ge-->gay) when compared with the responses to nonword deviants among word standards (day-->de, gay-->ge). CONCLUSIONS The results showed that MMN responses could be elicited by speech stimuli with large, single acoustic deviances, within a multiple deviant paradigm design. This result has positive clinical implications for the testing of subjects who may only tolerate short testing sessions (e.g., pathological populations) in that responses to a wider range of speech stimuli may be recorded without necessarily having to increase session length. The results also demonstrated that MMN responses were elicited by large, single acoustic deviances but not fine acoustic deviances within the speech stimuli. The poor results for the fine acoustic deviances support previous studies that have used single contrast paradigms and found that when carefully controlled methodological designs and strict methods of analysis are applied, robust responses to fine-grained CV syllable contrasts may be difficult to obtain. The enhanced MMN observed in response to the real word deviants among nonword standards may provide further evidence for the presence of long-term neural traces for words in the brain, however possible contextual effects limit the interpretation of these data. Further research is needed to investigate the ability of the MMN response to accurately reflect speech sounds with fine acoustic contrasts, as well as the ability of the MMN to reflect neural traces for words in the brain, before it can be reliably used as a clinical tool in the investigation of spoken word processing in pathological populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catharine M Pettigrew
- Division of Speech Pathology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
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Lattner S, Maess B, Wang Y, Schauer M, Alter K, Friederici AD. Dissociation of human and computer voices in the brain: evidence for a preattentive gestalt-like perception. Hum Brain Mapp 2003; 20:13-21. [PMID: 12953302 PMCID: PMC6871997 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.10118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
We investigated the early ("preattentive") cortical processing of voice information, using the so-called "mismatch response". This brain potential allows inferences to be made about the sensory short-term store. Most importantly, the mismatch potential also provides information about the organization of long-term memory traces in the auditory system. Such traces have reliably been reported for phonemes. However, it is unclear whether they also exist for human voice information. To explore this issue, 10 healthy subjects were presented with a single word stimulus uttered by voices of different prototypicality (natural, manipulated, synthetic) in a mismatch experiment (stimulus duration 380 msec, onset-to-onset interval 900 msec). The event-related magnetic fields were recorded by a 148-channel whole-head magnetometer and a source current density modeling of the magnetic field data was performed using a minimum-norm estimate. Each deviating voice signal in a series of standard-voice stimuli evoked a mismatch response that was localized in temporal brain regions bilaterally. Increased mismatch related magnetic flux was observed in response to decreased prototypicality of a presented voice signal, but did not correspond to the acoustic similarity of standard voice and deviant voices. We, therefore, conclude that the mismatch activation predominantly reflects the ecological validity of the voice signals. We further demonstrate that the findings cannot be explained by mere acoustic feature processing, but rather point towards a holistic mapping of the incoming voice signal onto long-term representations in the auditory memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sonja Lattner
- Max‐Planck‐Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Burkhard Maess
- Max‐Planck‐Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Yunhua Wang
- Max‐Planck‐Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Michael Schauer
- Max‐Planck‐Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Kai Alter
- Max‐Planck‐Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Leipzig, Germany
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Obleser J, Elbert T, Lahiri A, Eulitz C. Cortical representation of vowels reflects acoustic dissimilarity determined by formant frequencies. BRAIN RESEARCH. COGNITIVE BRAIN RESEARCH 2003; 15:207-13. [PMID: 12527095 DOI: 10.1016/s0926-6410(02)00193-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
We studied neuromagnetic correlates of the processing of German vowels [a], [e] and [i]. The aim was (i) to show an influence of acoustic/phonetic features on timing and mapping of the N100 m component and (ii) to demonstrate the retest reliability of these parameters. To assess the spatial configuration of the N100 m generators, Euclidean distances between vowel sources were computed. Latency, amplitude, and source locations of the N100 m component differed between vowels. The acoustically most dissimilar vowels [a] and [i] showed more distant source locations than the more similar vowels [e] and [i]. This pattern of results was reliably found in a second experimental session after at least 5 days. The results suggest the preservation of spectral dissimilarities as mapped in a F(1)-F(2) vowel space in a cortical representation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonas Obleser
- University of Konstanz, Department of Clinical Psychology, P.O. Box D25, 78457 Konstanz, Germany.
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Knösche TR, Lattner S, Maess B, Schauer M, Friederici AD. Early parallel processing of auditory word and voice information. Neuroimage 2002; 17:1493-503. [PMID: 12414288 DOI: 10.1006/nimg.2002.1262] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The present study investigates the relationship of linguistic (phonetic) and extralinguistic (voice) information in preattentive auditory processing. We provide neurophysiological data, which show for the first time that both kinds of information are processed in parallel at an early preattentive stage. In order to establish the temporal and spatial organization of the underlying neuronal processes, we studied the conjunction of voice and word deviations in a mismatch negativity experiment, whereby the listener's brain responses were collected using magnetoencephalography. The stimuli consisted of single spoken words, whereby the deviants manifested a change of the word, of the voice, or both word and voice simultaneously (combined). First, we identified the N100m (overlain by mismatch field, MMF) and localized its generators, analyzing N100 m/MMF latency, dipole localization, and dipole strength. While the responses evoked by deviant stimuli were more anterior than the standard, localization differences between the deviants could not be shown. The dipole strength was larger for deviants than the standard stimulus, but again, no differences between the deviants could be established. There was no difference in the hemispheric lateralization of the responses. However, a difference between the deviants was observed in the latencies. The N100 m/MMF revealed a significantly shorter and less variant latency for the combined stimulus compared to all other experimental conditions. The data suggest an integral parallel processing model, which describes the early extraction of phonetic and voice information from the speech signal as parallel and contingent processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas R Knösche
- Max Planck Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Leipzig, Germany
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Mathiak K, Hertrich I, Lutzenberger W, Ackermann H. The influence of critical bands on neuromagnetic fields evoked by speech stimuli in humans. Neurosci Lett 2002; 329:29-32. [PMID: 12161255 DOI: 10.1016/s0304-3940(02)00572-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
The various classes of speech sounds differ in their configuration of acoustic features. Vowels are characterized by specific local maxima of spectral energy distribution (formants). Using whole-head magnetoencephalography, the impact of variation of the first (F1) and second formant (F2) on the evoked N1m component (100 ms latency) was studied based on an oddball design. F1 changes yielded N1m enhancements in parallel to the spectral distance between standard and deviant stimuli. By contrast, F2 shifts gave rise to a non-linear relationship: the N1m effect flattened out above a range of two Barks. This frequency domain accords to critical band characteristics of the peripheral and central auditory system. The differences of early neuronal encoding of both formants relate to the predominant role of F2 for the encoding of stop consonants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Klaus Mathiak
- Department of Neurology, Universität Tübingen, Otfried-Müller-Strasse 47, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
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