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Hoarau C, Pralus A, Moulin A, Bedoin N, Ginzburg J, Fornoni L, Aguera PE, Tillmann B, Caclin A. Deficits in congenital amusia: Pitch, music, speech, and beyond. Neuropsychologia 2024; 202:108960. [PMID: 39032629 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.108960] [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: 01/19/2024] [Revised: 07/17/2024] [Accepted: 07/17/2024] [Indexed: 07/23/2024]
Abstract
Congenital amusia is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits of music perception and production, which are related to altered pitch processing. The present study used a wide variety of tasks to test potential patterns of processing impairment in individuals with congenital amusia (N = 18) in comparison to matched controls (N = 19), notably classical pitch processing tests (i.e., pitch change detection, pitch direction of change identification, and pitch short-term memory tasks) together with tasks assessing other aspects of pitch-related auditory cognition, such as emotion recognition in speech, sound segregation in tone sequences, and speech-in-noise perception. Additional behavioral measures were also collected, including text reading/copying tests, visual control tasks, and a subjective assessment of hearing abilities. As expected, amusics' performance was impaired for the three pitch-specific tasks compared to controls. This deficit of pitch perception had a self-perceived impact on amusics' quality of hearing. Moreover, participants with amusia were impaired in emotion recognition in vowels compared to controls, but no group difference was observed for emotion recognition in sentences, replicating previous data. Despite pitch processing deficits, participants with amusia did not differ from controls in sound segregation and speech-in-noise perception. Text reading and visual control tests did not reveal any impairments in participants with amusia compared to controls. However, the copying test revealed more numerous eye-movements and a smaller memory span. These results allow us to refine the pattern of pitch processing and memory deficits in congenital amusia, thus contributing further to understand pitch-related auditory cognition. Together with previous reports suggesting a comorbidity between congenital amusia and dyslexia, the findings call for further investigation of language-related abilities in this disorder even in the absence of neurodevelopmental language disorder diagnosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caliani Hoarau
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, INSERM, CNRS, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, F-69500, Bron, France; Humans Matter, Lyon, France.
| | - Agathe Pralus
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, INSERM, CNRS, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, F-69500, Bron, France; Humans Matter, Lyon, France
| | - Annie Moulin
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, INSERM, CNRS, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, F-69500, Bron, France
| | - Nathalie Bedoin
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, INSERM, CNRS, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, F-69500, Bron, France; Université Lumière Lyon 2, Lyon, France
| | - Jérémie Ginzburg
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, INSERM, CNRS, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, F-69500, Bron, France
| | - Lesly Fornoni
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, INSERM, CNRS, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, F-69500, Bron, France
| | - Pierre-Emmanuel Aguera
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, INSERM, CNRS, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, F-69500, Bron, France
| | - Barbara Tillmann
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, INSERM, CNRS, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, F-69500, Bron, France; Laboratory for Research on Learning and Development, Université de Bourgogne, LEAD-CNRS UMR5022, Dijon, France
| | - Anne Caclin
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, INSERM, CNRS, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, F-69500, Bron, France
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Borderie A, Caclin A, Lachaux JP, Perrone-Bertollotti M, Hoyer RS, Kahane P, Catenoix H, Tillmann B, Albouy P. Cross-frequency coupling in cortico-hippocampal networks supports the maintenance of sequential auditory information in short-term memory. PLoS Biol 2024; 22:e3002512. [PMID: 38442128 PMCID: PMC10914261 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/07/2024] Open
Abstract
It has been suggested that cross-frequency coupling in cortico-hippocampal networks enables the maintenance of multiple visuo-spatial items in working memory. However, whether this mechanism acts as a global neural code for memory retention across sensory modalities remains to be demonstrated. Intracranial EEG data were recorded while drug-resistant patients with epilepsy performed a delayed matched-to-sample task with tone sequences. We manipulated task difficulty by varying the memory load and the duration of the silent retention period between the to-be-compared sequences. We show that the strength of theta-gamma phase amplitude coupling in the superior temporal sulcus, the inferior frontal gyrus, the inferior temporal gyrus, and the hippocampus (i) supports the short-term retention of auditory sequences; (ii) decodes correct and incorrect memory trials as revealed by machine learning analysis; and (iii) is positively correlated with individual short-term memory performance. Specifically, we show that successful task performance is associated with consistent phase coupling in these regions across participants, with gamma bursts restricted to specific theta phase ranges corresponding to higher levels of neural excitability. These findings highlight the role of cortico-hippocampal activity in auditory short-term memory and expand our knowledge about the role of cross-frequency coupling as a global biological mechanism for information processing, integration, and memory in the human brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arthur Borderie
- CERVO Brain Research Center, School of Psychology, Laval University, Québec, Canada
- International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), CRBLM, Montreal, Canada
| | - Anne Caclin
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, Bron, France
| | - Jean-Philippe Lachaux
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, Bron, France
| | | | - Roxane S. Hoyer
- CERVO Brain Research Center, School of Psychology, Laval University, Québec, Canada
| | - Philippe Kahane
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inserm, U1216, CHU Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble Institut Neurosciences, Grenoble, France
| | - Hélène Catenoix
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, Bron, France
- Department of Functional Neurology and Epileptology, Lyon Civil Hospices, member of the ERN EpiCARE, and Lyon 1 University, Lyon, France
| | - Barbara Tillmann
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, Bron, France
- Laboratory for Research on Learning and Development, LEAD–CNRS UMR5022, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France
| | - Philippe Albouy
- CERVO Brain Research Center, School of Psychology, Laval University, Québec, Canada
- International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), CRBLM, Montreal, Canada
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, Bron, France
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Couvignou M, Tillmann B, Caclin A, Kolinsky R. Do developmental dyslexia and congenital amusia share underlying impairments? Child Neuropsychol 2023; 29:1294-1340. [PMID: 36606656 DOI: 10.1080/09297049.2022.2162031] [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: 03/04/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Developmental dyslexia and congenital amusia have common characteristics. Yet, their possible association in some individuals has been addressed only scarcely. Recently, two converging studies reported a sizable comorbidity rate between these two neurodevelopmental disorders (Couvignou et al., Cognitive Neuropsychology 2019; Couvignou & Kolinsky, Neuropsychologia 2021). However, the reason for their association remains unclear. Here, we investigate the hypothesis of shared underlying impairments between dyslexia and amusia. Fifteen dyslexic children with amusia (DYS+A), 15 dyslexic children without amusia (DYS-A), and two groups of 25 typically developing children matched on either chronological age (CA) or reading level (RL) were assessed with a behavioral battery aiming to investigate phonological and pitch processing capacities at auditory memory, perceptual awareness, and attentional levels. Overall, our results suggest that poor auditory serial-order memory increases susceptibility to comorbidity between dyslexia and amusia and may play a role in the development of the comorbid phenotype. In contrast, the impairments observed in the DYS+A children for auditory item memory, perceptual awareness, and attention might be a consequence of their reduced reading experience combined with weaker musical skills. Comparing DYS+A and DYS-A children suggests that the latter are more resourceful and/or have more effective compensatory strategies, or that their phenotype results from a different developmental trajectory. We will discuss the relevance of these findings for delving into the etiology of these two developmental disorders and address their implications for future research and practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manon Couvignou
- Unité de Recherche en Neurosciences Cognitives (Unescog), Center for Research in Cognition & Neurosciences (CRCN), Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Barbara Tillmann
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, CNRS, UMR 5292, INSERM, U1028, Lyon, France
- University Lyon 1, Lyon, France
| | - Anne Caclin
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, CNRS, UMR 5292, INSERM, U1028, Lyon, France
- University Lyon 1, Lyon, France
| | - Régine Kolinsky
- Unité de Recherche en Neurosciences Cognitives (Unescog), Center for Research in Cognition & Neurosciences (CRCN), Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
- Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique-FNRS (FRS-FNRS), Brussels, Belgium
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Tillmann B, Graves JE, Talamini F, Lévêque Y, Fornoni L, Hoarau C, Pralus A, Ginzburg J, Albouy P, Caclin A. Auditory cortex and beyond: Deficits in congenital amusia. Hear Res 2023; 437:108855. [PMID: 37572645 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2023.108855] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2023] [Revised: 06/14/2023] [Accepted: 07/21/2023] [Indexed: 08/14/2023]
Abstract
Congenital amusia is a neuro-developmental disorder of music perception and production, with the observed deficits contrasting with the sophisticated music processing reported for the general population. Musical deficits within amusia have been hypothesized to arise from altered pitch processing, with impairments in pitch discrimination and, notably, short-term memory. We here review research investigating its behavioral and neural correlates, in particular the impairments at encoding, retention, and recollection of pitch information, as well as how these impairments extend to the processing of pitch cues in speech and emotion. The impairments have been related to altered brain responses in a distributed fronto-temporal network, which can be observed also at rest. Neuroimaging studies revealed changes in connectivity patterns within this network and beyond, shedding light on the brain dynamics underlying auditory cognition. Interestingly, some studies revealed spared implicit pitch processing in congenital amusia, showing the power of implicit cognition in the music domain. Building on these findings, together with audiovisual integration and other beneficial mechanisms, we outline perspectives for training and rehabilitation and the future directions of this research domain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Tillmann
- CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, UMR5292, U1028, F-69500, Bron, France; Laboratory for Research on Learning and Development, Université de Bourgogne, LEAD - CNRS UMR5022, Dijon, France; LEAD-CNRS UMR5022; Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté; Pôle AAFE; 11 Esplanade Erasme; 21000 Dijon, France.
| | - Jackson E Graves
- Laboratoire des systèmes perceptifs, Département d'études cognitives, École normale supérieure, PSL University, Paris 75005, France
| | | | - Yohana Lévêque
- CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, UMR5292, U1028, F-69500, Bron, France
| | - Lesly Fornoni
- CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, UMR5292, U1028, F-69500, Bron, France
| | - Caliani Hoarau
- CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, UMR5292, U1028, F-69500, Bron, France
| | - Agathe Pralus
- CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, UMR5292, U1028, F-69500, Bron, France
| | - Jérémie Ginzburg
- CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, UMR5292, U1028, F-69500, Bron, France
| | - Philippe Albouy
- CERVO Brain Research Center, School of Psychology, Laval University, Québec, G1J 2G3; International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), CRBLM, Montreal QC, H2V 2J2, Canada
| | - Anne Caclin
- CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, UMR5292, U1028, F-69500, Bron, France.
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Akça M, Vuoskoski JK, Laeng B, Bishop L. Recognition of brief sounds in rapid serial auditory presentation. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0284396. [PMID: 37053212 PMCID: PMC10101377 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0284396] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2021] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 04/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Two experiments were conducted to test the role of participant factors (i.e., musical sophistication, working memory capacity) and stimulus factors (i.e., sound duration, timbre) on auditory recognition using a rapid serial auditory presentation paradigm. Participants listened to a rapid stream of very brief sounds ranging from 30 to 150 milliseconds and were tested on their ability to distinguish the presence from the absence of a target sound selected from various sound sources placed amongst the distracters. Experiment 1a established that brief exposure to stimuli (60 to 150 milliseconds) does not necessarily correspond to impaired recognition. In Experiment 1b we found evidence that 30 milliseconds of exposure to the stimuli significantly impairs recognition of single auditory targets, but the recognition for voice and sine tone targets impaired the least, suggesting that the lower limit required for successful recognition could be lower than 30 milliseconds for voice and sine tone targets. Critically, the effect of sound duration on recognition completely disappeared when differences in musical sophistication were controlled for. Participants' working memory capacities did not seem to predict their recognition performances. Our behavioral results extend the studies oriented to understand the processing of brief timbres under temporal constraint by suggesting that the musical sophistication may play a larger role than previously thought. These results can also provide a working hypothesis for future research, namely, that underlying neural mechanisms for the processing of various sound sources may have different temporal constraints.
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Affiliation(s)
- Merve Akça
- RITMO Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Musicology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Jonna Katariina Vuoskoski
- RITMO Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Musicology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Bruno Laeng
- RITMO Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Laura Bishop
- RITMO Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Musicology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
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Shared cognitive resources between memory and attention during sound-sequence encoding. Atten Percept Psychophys 2022; 84:739-759. [PMID: 35106682 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-021-02390-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
You are on the phone, walking down a street. This daily situation calls for selective attention, allowing you to ignore surrounding irrelevant sounds, while trying to encode in memory the relevant information from the phone. Attention and memory are indeed two cognitive functions that are interacting constantly. However, their interaction is not yet well characterized during sound-sequence encoding. We independently manipulated both selective attention and working memory in a delayed-matching-to-sample of two tone-series, played successively in one ear. During the first melody presentation (memory encoding), weakly or highly distracting melodies were played in the other ear. Detection of the difference between the two comparison melodies could be easy or difficult, requiring low- or high-precision encoding, i.e., low or high memory load. Sixteen non-musician and 16 musician participants performed this new task. As expected, both groups of participants were less accurate in the difficult memory task and in difficult-to-ignore distractor conditions. Importantly, an interaction between memory-task difficulty and distractor difficulty was found in both groups. Non-musicians presented less difference between easy and difficult-to-ignore distractors in the difficult than in the easy memory task. On the contrary, musicians, with better performance than non-musicians, showed a greater difference between easy and difficult-to-ignore distractors in the difficult than in the easy memory task. In a second experiment including trials without a distractor, we could show that these effects are in line with the cognitive load theory. Taken together, these results speak for shared cognitive resources between working memory and attention during sound-sequence encoding.
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Listeners with congenital amusia are sensitive to context uncertainty in melodic sequences. Neuropsychologia 2021; 158:107911. [PMID: 34102187 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107911] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2020] [Revised: 05/26/2021] [Accepted: 06/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
In typical listeners, the perceptual salience of a surprising auditory event depends on the uncertainty of its context. For example, in melodies, pitch deviants are more easily detected and generate larger neural responses when the context is highly predictable than when it is less so. However, it is not known whether amusic listeners with abnormal pitch processing are sensitive to the degree of uncertainty of pitch sequences and, if so, whether they are to a different extent than typical non-musician listeners. To answer this question, we manipulated the uncertainty of short melodies while participants with and without congenital amusia underwent EEG recordings in a passive listening task. Uncertainty was manipulated by presenting melodies with different levels of complexity and familiarity, under the assumption that simpler and more familiar patterns would enhance pitch predictability. We recorded mismatch negativity (MMN) responses to pitch, intensity, timbre, location, and rhythm deviants as a measure of auditory surprise. In both participant groups, we observed reduced MMN amplitudes and longer peak latencies for all sound features with increasing levels of complexity, and putative familiarity effects only for intensity deviants. No significant group-by-complexity or group-by-familiarity interactions were detected. However, in contrast to previous studies, pitch MMN responses in amusics were disrupted in high complexity and unfamiliar melodies. The present results thus indicate that amusics are sensitive to the uncertainty of melodic sequences and that preattentive auditory change detection is greatly spared in this population across sound features and levels of predictability. However, our findings also hint at pitch-specific impairments in this population when uncertainty is high, thus suggesting that pitch processing under high uncertainty conditions requires an intact frontotemporal loop.
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Rapid Assessment of Non-Verbal Auditory Perception in Normal-Hearing Participants and Cochlear Implant Users. J Clin Med 2021; 10:jcm10102093. [PMID: 34068067 PMCID: PMC8152499 DOI: 10.3390/jcm10102093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2021] [Revised: 04/26/2021] [Accepted: 05/06/2021] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
In the case of hearing loss, cochlear implants (CI) allow for the restoration of hearing. Despite the advantages of CIs for speech perception, CI users still complain about their poor perception of their auditory environment. Aiming to assess non-verbal auditory perception in CI users, we developed five listening tests. These tests measure pitch change detection, pitch direction identification, pitch short-term memory, auditory stream segregation, and emotional prosody recognition, along with perceived intensity ratings. In order to test the potential benefit of visual cues for pitch processing, the three pitch tests included half of the trials with visual indications to perform the task. We tested 10 normal-hearing (NH) participants with material being presented as original and vocoded sounds, and 10 post-lingually deaf CI users. With the vocoded sounds, the NH participants had reduced scores for the detection of small pitch differences, and reduced emotion recognition and streaming abilities compared to the original sounds. Similarly, the CI users had deficits for small differences in the pitch change detection task and emotion recognition, as well as a decreased streaming capacity. Overall, this assessment allows for the rapid detection of specific patterns of non-verbal auditory perception deficits. The current findings also open new perspectives about how to enhance pitch perception capacities using visual cues.
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Liao X, Sun J, Jin Z, Wu D, Liu J. Cortical Morphological Changes in Congenital Amusia: Surface-Based Analyses. Front Psychiatry 2021; 12:721720. [PMID: 35095585 PMCID: PMC8794692 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.721720] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2021] [Accepted: 12/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Congenital amusia (CA) is a rare disorder characterized by deficits in pitch perception, and many structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have been conducted to better understand its neural bases. However, a structural magnetic resonance imaging analysis using a surface-based morphology method to identify regions with cortical features abnormalities at the vertex-based level has not yet been performed. Methods: Fifteen participants with CA and 13 healthy controls underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging. A surface-based morphology method was used to identify anatomical abnormalities. Then, the surface parameters' mean value of the identified clusters with statistically significant between-group differences were extracted and compared. Finally, Pearson's correlation analysis was used to assess the correlation between the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA) scores and surface parameters. Results: The CA group had significantly lower MBEA scores than the healthy controls (p = 0.000). The CA group exhibited a significant higher fractal dimension in the right caudal middle frontal gyrus and a lower sulcal depth in the right pars triangularis gyrus (p < 0.05; false discovery rate-corrected at the cluster level) compared to healthy controls. There were negative correlations between the mean fractal dimension values in the right caudal middle frontal gyrus and MBEA score, including the mean MBEA score (r = -0.5398, p = 0.0030), scale score (r = -0.5712, p = 0.0015), contour score (r = -0.4662, p = 0.0124), interval score (r = -0.4564, p = 0.0146), rhythmic score (r = -0.5133, p = 0.0052), meter score (r = -0.3937, p = 0.0382), and memory score (r = -0.3879, p = 0.0414). There was a significant positive correlation between the mean sulcal depth in the right pars triangularis gyrus and the MBEA score, including the mean score (r = 0.5130, p = 0.0052), scale score (r = 0.5328, p = 0.0035), interval score (r = 0.4059, p = 0.0321), rhythmic score (r = 0.5733, p = 0.0014), meter score (r = 0.5061, p = 0.0060), and memory score (r = 0.4001, p = 0.0349). Conclusion: Individuals with CA exhibit cortical morphological changes in the right hemisphere. These findings may indicate that the neural basis of speech perception and memory impairments in individuals with CA is associated with abnormalities in the right pars triangularis gyrus and middle frontal gyrus, and that these cortical abnormalities may be a neural marker of CA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuan Liao
- Department of Radiology, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Junjie Sun
- Department of Radiology, The Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Zhishuai Jin
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - DaXing Wu
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Jun Liu
- Department of Radiology, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China.,Clinical Research Center for Medical Imaging in Hunan Province, Changsha, China.,Department of Radiology Quality Control Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China
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Sun JJ, Pan XQ, Yang R, Jin ZS, Li YH, Liu J, Wu DX. Changes in sensorimotor regions of the cerebral cortex in congenital amusia: a case-control study. Neural Regen Res 2021; 16:531-536. [PMID: 32985483 PMCID: PMC7996008 DOI: 10.4103/1673-5374.293154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Perceiving pitch is a central function of the human auditory system; congenital amusia is a disorder of pitch perception. The underlying neural mechanisms of congenital amusia have been actively discussed. However, little attention has been paid to the changes in the motor rain within congenital amusia. In this case-control study, 17 participants with congenital amusia and 14 healthy controls underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while resting with their eyes closed. A voxel-based degree centrality method was used to identify abnormal functional network centrality by comparing degree centrality values between the congenital amusia group and the healthy control group. We found decreased degree centrality values in the right primary sensorimotor areas in participants with congenital amusia relative to controls, indicating potentially decreased centrality of the corresponding brain regions in the auditory-sensory motor feedback network. We found a significant positive correlation between the degree centrality values and the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia scores. In conclusion, our study identified novel, hitherto undiscussed candidate brain regions that may partly contribute to or be modulated by congenital amusia. Our evidence supports the view that sensorimotor coupling plays an important role in memory and musical discrimination. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, China (No. WDX20180101GZ01) on February 9, 2019.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jun-Jie Sun
- Department of Radiology, the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha; Department of Radiology, the Affiliated Zhuzhou Hospital of Xiangya College of Medicine, Central South University, Zhuzhou, Hunan Province, China
| | - Xue-Qun Pan
- Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communication, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Ru Yang
- Department of Radiology, the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China
| | - Zhi-Shuai Jin
- Medical Psychological Center, the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China
| | - Yi-Hui Li
- Department of Radiology, the Affiliated Zhuzhou Hospital of Xiangya College of Medicine, Central South University, Zhuzhou, Hunan Province, China
| | - Jun Liu
- Department of Radiology, the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China
| | - Da-Xing Wu
- Medical Psychological Center, the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China
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Fisher K, Towler J, Rossion B, Eimer M. Neural responses in a fast periodic visual stimulation paradigm reveal domain-general visual discrimination deficits in developmental prosopagnosia. Cortex 2020; 133:76-102. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.09.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2020] [Revised: 08/01/2020] [Accepted: 09/01/2020] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
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12
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Graves JE, Pralus A, Fornoni L, Oxenham AJ, Caclin A, Tillmann B. Short- and long-term memory for pitch and non-pitch contours: Insights from congenital amusia. Brain Cogn 2019; 136:103614. [PMID: 31546175 PMCID: PMC6953621 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2019.103614] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2019] [Revised: 09/11/2019] [Accepted: 09/13/2019] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Congenital amusia is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in music perception, including discriminating and remembering melodies and melodic contours. As non-amusic listeners can perceive contours in dimensions other than pitch, such as loudness and brightness, our present study investigated whether amusics' pitch contour deficits also extend to these other auditory dimensions. Amusic and control participants performed an identification task for ten familiar melodies and a short-term memory task requiring the discrimination of changes in the contour of novel four-tone melodies. For both tasks, melodic contour was defined by pitch, brightness, or loudness. Amusic participants showed some ability to extract contours in all three dimensions. For familiar melodies, amusic participants showed impairment in all conditions, perhaps reflecting the fact that the long-term memory representations of the familiar melodies were defined in pitch. In the contour discrimination task with novel melodies, amusic participants exhibited less impairment for loudness-based melodies than for pitch- or brightness-based melodies, suggesting some specificity of the deficit for spectral changes, if not for pitch alone. The results suggest pitch and brightness may not be processed by the same mechanisms as loudness, and that short-term memory for loudness contours may be spared to some degree in congenital amusia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jackson E Graves
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL), CNRS, UMR 5292, Inserm U1028, Université Lyon 1, Lyon, France; Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Laboratoire des systèmes perceptifs, Département d'études cognitives, École normale supérieure, PSL University, CNRS, 75005 Paris, France.
| | - Agathe Pralus
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL), CNRS, UMR 5292, Inserm U1028, Université Lyon 1, Lyon, France
| | - Lesly Fornoni
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL), CNRS, UMR 5292, Inserm U1028, Université Lyon 1, Lyon, France
| | - Andrew J Oxenham
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Anne Caclin
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL), CNRS, UMR 5292, Inserm U1028, Université Lyon 1, Lyon, France
| | - Barbara Tillmann
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL), CNRS, UMR 5292, Inserm U1028, Université Lyon 1, Lyon, France
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13
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Pralus A, Fornoni L, Bouet R, Gomot M, Bhatara A, Tillmann B, Caclin A. Emotional prosody in congenital amusia: Impaired and spared processes. Neuropsychologia 2019; 134:107234. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107234] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2018] [Revised: 08/12/2019] [Accepted: 10/16/2019] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
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14
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Zhou L, Liu F, Jiang J, Jiang C. Impaired emotional processing of chords in congenital amusia: Electrophysiological and behavioral evidence. Brain Cogn 2019; 135:103577. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2019.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2017] [Revised: 06/04/2019] [Accepted: 06/04/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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15
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Couvignou M, Peretz I, Ramus F. Comorbidity and cognitive overlap between developmental dyslexia and congenital amusia. Cogn Neuropsychol 2019; 36:1-17. [DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2019.1578205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Manon Couvignou
- Unité de Recherche en Neurosciences Cognitives, Center for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences, Faculté des Sciences Psychologiques et de l'Éducation, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
- Department of Psychology, International Laboratory of Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada
- Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, Département d’Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, EHESS, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Isabelle Peretz
- Department of Psychology, International Laboratory of Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada
| | - Franck Ramus
- Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, Département d’Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, EHESS, CNRS, Paris, France
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16
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Albouy P, Peretz I, Bermudez P, Zatorre RJ, Tillmann B, Caclin A. Specialized neural dynamics for verbal and tonal memory: fMRI evidence in congenital amusia. Hum Brain Mapp 2018; 40:855-867. [PMID: 30381866 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24416] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2018] [Revised: 09/24/2018] [Accepted: 09/26/2018] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavioral and neuropsychological studies have suggested that tonal and verbal short-term memory are supported by specialized neural networks. To date however, neuroimaging investigations have failed to confirm this hypothesis. In this study, we investigated the hypothesis of distinct neural resources for tonal and verbal memory by comparing typical nonmusician listeners to individuals with congenital amusia, who exhibit pitch memory impairments with preserved verbal memory. During fMRI, amusics and matched controls performed delayed-match-to-sample tasks with tones and words and perceptual control tasks with the same stimuli. For tonal maintenance, amusics showed decreased activity in the right auditory cortex, inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and dorso-lateral-prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Moreover, they exhibited reduced right-lateralized functional connectivity between the auditory cortex and the IFG during tonal encoding and between the IFG and the DLPFC during tonal maintenance. In contrasts, amusics showed no difference compared with the controls for verbal memory, with activation in the left IFG and left fronto-temporal connectivity. Critically, we observed a group-by-material interaction in right fronto-temporal regions: while amusics recruited these regions less strongly for tonal memory than verbal memory, control participants showed the reversed pattern (tonal > verbal). By benefitting from the rare condition of amusia, our findings suggest specialized cortical systems for tonal and verbal short-term memory in the human brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philippe Albouy
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Auditory Cognition and Psychoacoustics Team, CNRS, UMR5292, INSERM, U1028, Lyon, France.,Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Brain Dynamics and Cognition Team, CNRS, UMR5292, INSERM, U1028, Lyon, France.,University Lyon 1, Lyon, France.,Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.,International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Isabelle Peretz
- International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Patrick Bermudez
- Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.,International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Robert J Zatorre
- Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.,International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Barbara Tillmann
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Auditory Cognition and Psychoacoustics Team, CNRS, UMR5292, INSERM, U1028, Lyon, France.,University Lyon 1, Lyon, France
| | - Anne Caclin
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Brain Dynamics and Cognition Team, CNRS, UMR5292, INSERM, U1028, Lyon, France.,University Lyon 1, Lyon, France
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17
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Hsieh IH, Chen SC, Liu JW. Binaural localization of musical pitch using interaural time differences in congenital amusia. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0204397. [PMID: 30240453 PMCID: PMC6150538 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0204397] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2017] [Accepted: 09/08/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Naturally occurring sounds are routinely periodic. The ability to phase-lock to such periodicity facilitates pitch perception and interaural time differences (ITDs) determination in binaural localization. We examined whether deficient pitch processing in individuals with congenital amusia (tone deafness) is accompanied by impaired ability to lateralize musical pitch at auditory periphery and memorize the location of pitch at the working memory level. If common mechanisms subserve processing of temporal-fine-structure based pitch and ITDs, then deficient processing of one feature should impair performance on the other. Thus, we measured ITD discrimination thresholds using an adaptive-tracking procedure for lateralizing musical tone pairs separated by different semitone intervals. Amusic individuals exhibited normal ITD thresholds comparable to those of matched controls, which were not affected by concurrent pitch changes. For working memory tasks, the amusic group performed significantly worse than matched controls in probed pitch recall, irrespective of the complexity level of concurrent variations along the ITD dimension of the melodic sequence. Interestingly, despite normal peripheral ITD thresholds, amusic individuals performed worse than controls in recalling probed locations of tones within a sequence of musical notes originating from different ITD-simulated locations. Findings suggest that individuals with congenital amusia are unimpaired in temporal fine-structure encoding to determine the location of musical pitch based on binaural ITD information at the auditory periphery. However, working memory for a sequence of sounds' ITD-dependent spatial location is here shown to be impaired and dissociated from the pitch feature of sounds at the working memory level.
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Affiliation(s)
- I-Hui Hsieh
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, Jhongli County, Taoyuan City, Taiwan
| | - Ssc-Chen Chen
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, Jhongli County, Taoyuan City, Taiwan
| | - Jia-Wei Liu
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, Jhongli County, Taoyuan City, Taiwan
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18
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Ding Y, Gray K, Forrence A, Wang X, Huang J. A behavioral study on tonal working memory in musicians and non-musicians. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0201765. [PMID: 30071003 PMCID: PMC6084024 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0201765] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2018] [Accepted: 07/20/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Tonal working memory (WM) refers to the maintenance and the online manipulation of tonal information and has been suggested to involve different mechanisms than verbal WM. Previous research has suggested that verbal WM performance is determined by the duration instead of the number of verbal materials. We investigated in the present study to what degree that the number and the duration of notes in a sequence influence the tonal WM in participants with or without professional musical training. The forward tonal discrimination task in Experiment 1 tested the maintenance of the tonal information and the backward N-back tonal task in Experiment 2 probed the running memory span of tonal information. Results show that the number of notes, but not the duration of notes in a tone sequence significantly affects tonal WM performance for both musicians and non-musicians. In addition, within a minimum musical context, musicians outperformed non-musicians in the N-back tonal task but not the forward tone sequence discrimination task. These findings indicate that the capacity of tonal WM is determined by the number of notes but not the duration of notes in a sequence to be memorized, suggesting a different mechanism underlying tonal WM from verbal WM. Furthermore, the present study demonstrated that N-back tonal task is a quantitative and sensitive measure of the effect of musical training on tonal WM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue Ding
- Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence and Department of Biomedical
Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, P.R. China
| | - Kathleen Gray
- Peabody Institute, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United
States of America
| | - Alexander Forrence
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore, MD, United States of America
| | - Xiaoqin Wang
- Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence and Department of Biomedical
Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, P.R. China
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore, MD, United States of America
| | - Juan Huang
- Peabody Institute, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United
States of America
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore, MD, United States of America
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19
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Caclin A, Tillmann B. Musical and verbal short-term memory: insights from neurodevelopmental and neurological disorders. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2018; 1423:155-165. [PMID: 29744897 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.13733] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2017] [Revised: 03/17/2018] [Accepted: 03/22/2018] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Auditory short-term memory (STM) is a fundamental ability to make sense of auditory information as it unfolds over time. Whether separate STM systems exist for different types of auditory information (music and speech, in particular) is a matter of debate. The present paper reviews studies that have investigated both musical and verbal STM in healthy individuals and in participants with neurodevelopmental and neurological disorders. Overall, the results are in favor of only partly shared networks for musical and verbal STM. Evidence for a distinction in STM for the two materials stems from (1) behavioral studies in healthy participants, in particular from the comparison between nonmusicians and musicians; (2) behavioral studies in congenital amusia, where a selective pitch STM deficit is observed; and (3) studies in brain-damaged patients with cases of double dissociation. In this review we highlight the need for future studies comparing STM for the same perceptual dimension (e.g., pitch) in different materials (e.g., music and speech), as well as for studies aiming at a more insightful characterization of shared and distinct mechanisms for speech and music in the different components of STM, namely encoding, retention, and retrieval.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne Caclin
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL), Brain Dynamics and Cognition Team (DYCOG) and Auditory Cognition and Psychoacoustics Team, INSERM, U1028, CNRS, UMR5292, Lyon, France
- Université Lyon 1, Lyon, France
| | - Barbara Tillmann
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL), Brain Dynamics and Cognition Team (DYCOG) and Auditory Cognition and Psychoacoustics Team, INSERM, U1028, CNRS, UMR5292, Lyon, France
- Université Lyon 1, Lyon, France
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20
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Albouy P, Baillet S, Zatorre RJ. Driving working memory with frequency-tuned noninvasive brain stimulation. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2018; 1423:126-137. [PMID: 29707781 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.13664] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2017] [Revised: 02/05/2018] [Accepted: 02/13/2018] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Frequency-tuned noninvasive brain stimulation is a recent approach in cognitive neuroscience that involves matching the frequency of transcranially applied electromagnetic fields to that of specific oscillatory components of the underlying neurophysiology. The objective of this method is to modulate ongoing/intrinsic brain oscillations, which correspond to rhythmic fluctuations of neural excitability, to causally change behavior. We review the impact of frequency-tuned noninvasive brain stimulation on the research field of human working memory. We argue that this is a powerful method to probe and understand the mechanisms of memory functions, targeting specifically task-related oscillatory dynamics, neuronal representations, and brain networks. We report the main behavioral and neurophysiological outcomes published to date, in particular, how functionally relevant oscillatory signatures in signal power and interregional connectivity yield causal changes of working memory abilities. We also present recent developments of the technique that aim to modulate cross-frequency coupling in polyrhythmic neural activity. Overall, the method has led to significant advances in our understanding of the mechanisms of systems neuroscience, and the role of brain oscillations in cognition and behavior. We also emphasize the translational impact of noninvasive brain stimulation techniques in the development of therapeutic approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philippe Albouy
- Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
- International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Montreal, Canada
| | - Sylvain Baillet
- Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
| | - Robert J Zatorre
- Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
- International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Montreal, Canada
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21
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Van Hedger SC, Heald SL, Nusbaum HC. Long-term pitch memory for music recordings is related to auditory working memory precision. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2018; 71:879-891. [PMID: 28856955 DOI: 10.1080/17470218.2017.1307427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Most individuals have reliable long-term memories for the pitch of familiar music recordings. This pitch memory (1) appears to be normally distributed in the population, (2) does not depend on explicit musical training and (3) only seems to be weakly related to differences in listening frequency estimates. The present experiment was designed to assess whether individual differences in auditory working memory could explain variance in long-term pitch memory for music recordings. In Experiment 1, participants first completed a musical note adjustment task that has been previously used to assess working memory of musical pitch. Afterward, participants were asked to judge the pitch of well-known music recordings, which either had or had not been shifted in pitch. We found that performance on the pitch working memory task was significantly related to performance in the pitch memory task using well-known recordings, even when controlling for overall musical experience and familiarity with each recording. In Experiment 2, we replicated these findings in a separate group of participants while additionally controlling for fluid intelligence and non-pitch-based components of auditory working memory. In Experiment 3, we demonstrated that participants could not accurately judge the pitch of unfamiliar recordings, suggesting that our method of pitch shifting did not result in unwanted acoustic cues that could have aided participants in Experiments 1 and 2. These results, taken together, suggest that the ability to maintain pitch information in working memory might lead to more accurate long-term pitch memory.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Shannon Lm Heald
- Department of Psychology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Howard C Nusbaum
- Department of Psychology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
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22
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Wang J, Zhang C, Wan S, Peng G. Is Congenital Amusia a Disconnection Syndrome? A Study Combining Tract- and Network-Based Analysis. Front Hum Neurosci 2017; 11:473. [PMID: 29033806 PMCID: PMC5626874 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00473] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2017] [Accepted: 09/11/2017] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Previous studies on congenital amusia mainly focused on the impaired fronto-temporal pathway. It is possible that neural pathways of amusia patients on a larger scale are affected. In this study, we investigated changes in structural connections by applying both tract-based and network-based analysis to DTI data of 12 subjects with congenital amusia and 20 demographic-matched normal controls. TBSS (tract-based spatial statistics) was used to detect microstructural changes. The results showed that amusics had higher diffusivity indices in the corpus callosum, the right inferior/superior longitudinal fasciculus, and the right inferior frontal-occipital fasciculus (IFOF). The axial diffusivity values of the right IFOF were negatively correlated with musical scores in the amusia group. Network-based analysis showed that the efficiency of the brain network was reduced in amusics. The impairments of WM tracts were also found to be correlated with reduced network efficiency in amusics. This suggests that impaired WM tracts may lead to the reduced network efficiency seen in amusics. Our findings suggest that congenital amusia is a disconnection syndrome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jieqiong Wang
- Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
| | - Caicai Zhang
- Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.,Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China
| | - Shibiao Wan
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
| | - Gang Peng
- Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.,Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China
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23
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Lu X, Sun Y, Ho HT, Thompson WF. Pitch contour impairment in congenital amusia: New insights from the Self-paced Audio-visual Contour Task (SACT). PLoS One 2017; 12:e0179252. [PMID: 28617864 PMCID: PMC5472285 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0179252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2017] [Accepted: 05/28/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Individuals with congenital amusia usually exhibit impairments in melodic contour processing when asked to compare pairs of melodies that may or may not be identical to one another. However, it is unclear whether the impairment observed in contour processing is caused by an impairment of pitch discrimination, or is a consequence of poor pitch memory. To help resolve this ambiguity, we designed a novel Self-paced Audio-visual Contour Task (SACT) that evaluates sensitivity to contour while placing minimal burden on memory. In this task, participants control the pace of an auditory contour that is simultaneously accompanied by a visual contour, and they are asked to judge whether the two contours are congruent or incongruent. In Experiment 1, melodic contours varying in pitch were presented with a series of dots that varied in spatial height. Amusics exhibited reduced sensitivity to audio-visual congruency in comparison to control participants. To exclude the possibility that the impairment arises from a general deficit in cross-modal mapping, Experiment 2 examined sensitivity to cross-modal mapping for two other auditory dimensions: timbral brightness and loudness. Amusics and controls were significantly more sensitive to large than small contour changes, and to changes in loudness than changes in timbre. However, there were no group differences in cross-modal mapping, suggesting that individuals with congenital amusia can comprehend spatial representations of acoustic information. Taken together, the findings indicate that pitch contour processing in congenital amusia remains impaired even when pitch memory is relatively unburdened.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuejing Lu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Yanan Sun
- Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Hao Tam Ho
- Department of Translational Research on New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Pisa, Pisa, Italy.,School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - William Forde Thompson
- Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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24
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Whiteford KL, Oxenham AJ. Auditory deficits in amusia extend beyond poor pitch perception. Neuropsychologia 2017; 99:213-224. [PMID: 28315696 PMCID: PMC5408761 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.03.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2016] [Revised: 03/08/2017] [Accepted: 03/13/2017] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Congenital amusia is a music perception disorder believed to reflect a deficit in fine-grained pitch perception and/or short-term or working memory for pitch. Because most measures of pitch perception include memory and segmentation components, it has been difficult to determine the true extent of pitch processing deficits in amusia. It is also unclear whether pitch deficits persist at frequencies beyond the range of musical pitch. To address these questions, experiments were conducted with amusics and matched controls, manipulating both the stimuli and the task demands. First, we assessed pitch discrimination at low (500Hz and 2000Hz) and high (8000Hz) frequencies using a three-interval forced-choice task. Amusics exhibited deficits even at the highest frequency, which lies beyond the existence region of musical pitch. Next, we assessed the extent to which frequency coding deficits persist in one- and two-interval frequency-modulation (FM) and amplitude-modulation (AM) detection tasks at 500Hz at slow (fm=4Hz) and fast (fm=20Hz) modulation rates. Amusics still exhibited deficits in one-interval FM detection tasks that should not involve memory or segmentation. Surprisingly, amusics were also impaired on AM detection, which should not involve pitch processing. Finally, direct comparisons between the detection of continuous and discrete FM demonstrated that amusics suffer deficits in both coding and segmenting pitch information. Our results reveal auditory deficits in amusia extending beyond pitch perception that are subtle when controlling for memory and segmentation, and are likely exacerbated in more complex contexts such as musical listening.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelly L Whiteford
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, 75 East River Parkway, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
| | - Andrew J Oxenham
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, 75 East River Parkway, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
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25
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Nozaradan S, Mouraux A, Cousineau M. Frequency tagging to track the neural processing of contrast in fast, continuous sound sequences. J Neurophysiol 2017; 118:243-253. [PMID: 28381494 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00971.2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2016] [Revised: 03/31/2017] [Accepted: 03/31/2017] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
The human auditory system presents a remarkable ability to detect rapid changes in fast, continuous acoustic sequences, as best illustrated in speech and music. However, the neural processing of rapid auditory contrast remains largely unclear, probably due to the lack of methods to objectively dissociate the response components specifically related to the contrast from the other components in response to the sequence of fast continuous sounds. To overcome this issue, we tested a novel use of the frequency-tagging approach allowing contrast-specific neural responses to be tracked based on their expected frequencies. The EEG was recorded while participants listened to 40-s sequences of sounds presented at 8Hz. A tone or interaural time contrast was embedded every fifth sound (AAAAB), such that a response observed in the EEG at exactly 8 Hz/5 (1.6 Hz) or harmonics should be the signature of contrast processing by neural populations. Contrast-related responses were successfully identified, even in the case of very fine contrasts. Moreover, analysis of the time course of the responses revealed a stable amplitude over repetitions of the AAAAB patterns in the sequence, except for the response to perceptually salient contrasts that showed a buildup and decay across repetitions of the sounds. Overall, this new combination of frequency-tagging with an oddball design provides a valuable complement to the classic, transient, evoked potentials approach, especially in the context of rapid auditory information. Specifically, we provide objective evidence on the neural processing of contrast embedded in fast, continuous sound sequences.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Recent theories suggest that the basis of neurodevelopmental auditory disorders such as dyslexia might be an impaired processing of fast auditory changes, highlighting how the encoding of rapid acoustic information is critical for auditory communication. Here, we present a novel electrophysiological approach to capture in humans neural markers of contrasts in fast continuous tone sequences. Contrast-specific responses were successfully identified, even for very fine contrasts, providing direct insight on the encoding of rapid auditory information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sylvie Nozaradan
- Institute of Neuroscience, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium; .,MARCS Institute for Brain, Behavior, and Development, Sydney, Australia; and.,International Laboratory for Brain, Music, and Sound Research (Brams), Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - André Mouraux
- Institute of Neuroscience, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Marion Cousineau
- International Laboratory for Brain, Music, and Sound Research (Brams), Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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26
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Sun Y, Lu X, Ho HT, Thompson WF. Pitch discrimination associated with phonological awareness: Evidence from congenital amusia. Sci Rep 2017; 7:44285. [PMID: 28287166 PMCID: PMC5347159 DOI: 10.1038/srep44285] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2016] [Accepted: 02/06/2017] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Research suggests that musical skills are associated with phonological abilities. To further investigate this association, we examined whether phonological impairments are evident in individuals with poor music abilities. Twenty individuals with congenital amusia and 20 matched controls were assessed on a pure-tone pitch discrimination task, a rhythm discrimination task, and four phonological tests. Amusic participants showed deficits in discriminating pitch and discriminating rhythmic patterns that involve a regular beat. At a group level, these individuals performed similarly to controls on all phonological tests. However, eight amusics with severe pitch impairment, as identified by the pitch discrimination task, exhibited significantly worse performance than all other participants in phonological awareness. A hierarchical regression analysis indicated that pitch discrimination thresholds predicted phonological awareness beyond that predicted by phonological short-term memory and rhythm discrimination. In contrast, our rhythm discrimination task did not predict phonological awareness beyond that predicted by pitch discrimination thresholds. These findings suggest that accurate pitch discrimination is critical for phonological processing. We propose that deficits in early-stage pitch discrimination may be associated with impaired phonological awareness and we discuss the shared role of pitch discrimination for processing music and speech.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanan Sun
- Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Xuejing Lu
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Hao Tam Ho
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - William Forde Thompson
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
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Zhou L, Liu F, Jing X, Jiang C. Neural differences between the processing of musical meaning conveyed by direction of pitch change and natural music in congenital amusia. Neuropsychologia 2017; 96:29-38. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.12.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2016] [Revised: 10/07/2016] [Accepted: 12/22/2016] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
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