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Liu Y, van Hell JG. Neural correlates of listening to nonnative-accented speech in multi-talker background noise. Neuropsychologia 2024; 203:108968. [PMID: 39117064 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.108968] [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: 01/16/2024] [Revised: 07/30/2024] [Accepted: 08/05/2024] [Indexed: 08/10/2024]
Abstract
We examined the neural correlates underlying the semantic processing of native- and nonnative-accented sentences, presented in quiet or embedded in multi-talker noise. Implementing a semantic violation paradigm, 36 English monolingual young adults listened to American-accented (native) and Chinese-accented (nonnative) English sentences with or without semantic anomalies, presented in quiet or embedded in multi-talker noise, while EEG was recorded. After hearing each sentence, participants verbally repeated the sentence, which was coded and scored as an offline comprehension accuracy measure. In line with earlier behavioral studies, the negative impact of background noise on sentence repetition accuracy was higher for nonnative-accented than for native-accented sentences. At the neural level, the N400 effect for semantic anomaly was larger for native-accented than for nonnative-accented sentences, and was also larger for sentences presented in quiet than in noise, indicating impaired lexical-semantic access when listening to nonnative-accented speech or sentences embedded in noise. No semantic N400 effect was observed for nonnative-accented sentences presented in noise. Furthermore, the frequency of neural oscillations in the alpha frequency band (an index of online cognitive listening effort) was higher when listening to sentences in noise versus in quiet, but no difference was observed across the accent conditions. Semantic anomalies presented in background noise also elicited higher theta activity, whereas processing nonnative-accented anomalies was associated with decreased theta activity. Taken together, we found that listening to nonnative accents or background noise is associated with processing challenges during online semantic access, leading to decreased comprehension accuracy. However, the underlying cognitive mechanism (e.g., associated listening efforts) might manifest differently across accented speech processing and speech in noise processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yushuang Liu
- Department of Psychology and Center for Language Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
| | - Janet G van Hell
- Department of Psychology and Center for Language Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
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2
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Farraj N, Reiner M. Applications of Alpha Neurofeedback Processes for Enhanced Mental Manipulation of Unfamiliar Molecular and Spatial Structures. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback 2024; 49:365-382. [PMID: 38722457 DOI: 10.1007/s10484-024-09640-7] [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] [Accepted: 03/23/2024] [Indexed: 08/09/2024]
Abstract
This study explores a novel approach to enhancing cognitive proficiency by targeting neural mechanisms that facilitate science and math learning, especially mental rotation. The study specifically examines the relationship between upper alpha intensity and mental rotation skills. Although prior neurofeedback research for increasing upper alpha highlights this correlation, mostly with familiar objects, novel chemistry and math learning prompts envisioning unfamiliar objects which question the persistence of this correlation. This study revisits the upper alpha and mental rotation relationship in the context of unfamiliar objects with a single neurofeedback session and examines the efficiency of manual and automatic neurofeedback protocols. Results will provide a basis for integrating neurofeedback protocols into learning applications for enhanced learning. Our study encompassed three cohorts: Group 1 experienced an automatic neurofeedback protocol, Group 2 received a manual neurofeedback protocol, and the control group had no neurofeedback intervention. The experimental phases involved EEG measurement of individual upper alpha (frequency of maximal power + 2 Hz) intensity, mental rotation tasks featuring geometric and unfamiliar molecular stimuli, one neurofeedback session for applicable groups, post-treatment upper alpha level assessments, and a mental rotation retest. The neurofeedback groups exhibited increased levels of upper alpha power, which was correlated with improved response time in mental rotation, regardless of stimulus type, compared to the control group. Both neurofeedback protocols achieved comparable results. This study advocates integrating neurofeedback into learning software for optimal learning experiences, highlighting a single session's efficacy and the substantial neurofeedback protocol's impact in enhancing upper alpha oscillations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nehai Farraj
- Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
| | - Miriam Reiner
- Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
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3
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Yusuf PA, Hubka P, Konerding W, Land R, Tillein J, Kral A. Congenital deafness reduces alpha-gamma cross-frequency coupling in the auditory cortex. Hear Res 2024; 449:109032. [PMID: 38797035 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2024.109032] [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: 01/15/2024] [Revised: 04/30/2024] [Accepted: 05/13/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024]
Abstract
Neurons within a neuronal network can be grouped by bottom-up and top-down influences using synchrony in neuronal oscillations. This creates the representation of perceptual objects from sensory features. Oscillatory activity can be differentiated into stimulus-phase-locked (evoked) and non-phase-locked (induced). The former is mainly determined by sensory input, the latter by higher-level (cortical) processing. Effects of auditory deprivation on cortical oscillations have been studied in congenitally deaf cats (CDCs) using cochlear implant (CI) stimulation. CI-induced alpha, beta, and gamma activity were compromised in the auditory cortex of CDCs. Furthermore, top-down information flow between secondary and primary auditory areas in hearing cats, conveyed by induced alpha oscillations, was lost in CDCs. Here we used the matching pursuit algorithm to assess components of such oscillatory activity in local field potentials recorded in primary field A1. Additionally to the loss of induced alpha oscillations, we also found a loss of evoked theta activity in CDCs. The loss of theta and alpha activity in CDCs can be directly related to reduced high-frequency (gamma-band) activity due to cross-frequency coupling. Here we quantified such cross-frequency coupling in adult 1) hearing-experienced, acoustically stimulated cats (aHCs), 2) hearing-experienced cats following acute pharmacological deafening and subsequent CIs, thus in electrically stimulated cats (eHCs), and 3) electrically stimulated CDCs. We found significant cross-frequency coupling in all animal groups in > 70% of auditory-responsive sites. The predominant coupling in aHCs and eHCs was between theta/alpha phase and gamma power. In CDCs such coupling was lost and replaced by alpha oscillations coupling to delta/theta phase. Thus, alpha/theta oscillations synchronize high-frequency gamma activity only in hearing-experienced cats. The absence of induced alpha and theta oscillations contributes to the loss of induced gamma power in CDCs, thereby signifying impaired local network activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Prasandhya A Yusuf
- Hannover Medical School, Institute of AudioNeuroTechnology and Department of Experimental Otology of the ENT Clinics, Hannover, Germany; Faculty of Medicine University of Indonesia, Department of Medical Physiology and Biophysics / Medical Technology IMERI, Jakarta, Indonesia.
| | - Peter Hubka
- Hannover Medical School, Institute of AudioNeuroTechnology and Department of Experimental Otology of the ENT Clinics, Hannover, Germany
| | - Wiebke Konerding
- Hannover Medical School, Institute of AudioNeuroTechnology and Department of Experimental Otology of the ENT Clinics, Hannover, Germany
| | - Rüdiger Land
- Hannover Medical School, Institute of AudioNeuroTechnology and Department of Experimental Otology of the ENT Clinics, Hannover, Germany
| | - Jochen Tillein
- J.W. Goethe University, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Andrej Kral
- Hannover Medical School, Institute of AudioNeuroTechnology and Department of Experimental Otology of the ENT Clinics, Hannover, Germany; Australian Hearing Hub, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
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4
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Gehmacher Q, Schubert J, Schmidt F, Hartmann T, Reisinger P, Rösch S, Schwarz K, Popov T, Chait M, Weisz N. Eye movements track prioritized auditory features in selective attention to natural speech. Nat Commun 2024; 15:3692. [PMID: 38693186 PMCID: PMC11063150 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48126-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2023] [Accepted: 04/22/2024] [Indexed: 05/03/2024] Open
Abstract
Over the last decades, cognitive neuroscience has identified a distributed set of brain regions that are critical for attention. Strong anatomical overlap with brain regions critical for oculomotor processes suggests a joint network for attention and eye movements. However, the role of this shared network in complex, naturalistic environments remains understudied. Here, we investigated eye movements in relation to (un)attended sentences of natural speech. Combining simultaneously recorded eye tracking and magnetoencephalographic data with temporal response functions, we show that gaze tracks attended speech, a phenomenon we termed ocular speech tracking. Ocular speech tracking even differentiates a target from a distractor in a multi-speaker context and is further related to intelligibility. Moreover, we provide evidence for its contribution to neural differences in speech processing, emphasizing the necessity to consider oculomotor activity in future research and in the interpretation of neural differences in auditory cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Quirin Gehmacher
- Paris-Lodron-University of Salzburg, Department of Psychology, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Salzburg, Austria.
| | - Juliane Schubert
- Paris-Lodron-University of Salzburg, Department of Psychology, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Fabian Schmidt
- Paris-Lodron-University of Salzburg, Department of Psychology, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Thomas Hartmann
- Paris-Lodron-University of Salzburg, Department of Psychology, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Patrick Reisinger
- Paris-Lodron-University of Salzburg, Department of Psychology, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Sebastian Rösch
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg, 5020, Salzburg, Austria
| | | | - Tzvetan Popov
- Methods of Plasticity Research, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, CH-8050, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, DE- 78464, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Maria Chait
- Ear Institute, University College London, London, UK
| | - Nathan Weisz
- Paris-Lodron-University of Salzburg, Department of Psychology, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Salzburg, Austria
- Neuroscience Institute, Christian Doppler University Hospital, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria
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5
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Levy O, Hackmon SL, Zvilichovsky Y, Korisky A, Bidet-Caulet A, Schweitzer JB, Golumbic EZ. Neurophysiological Patterns of Attention and Distraction during Realistic Virtual-Reality Classroom Learning in Adults with and without ADHD. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.17.590012. [PMID: 38659916 PMCID: PMC11042341 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.17.590012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/26/2024]
Abstract
Many people, and particularly those diagnosed with ADHD, report difficulties maintaining attention and proneness to distraction during classroom learning. However, the behavioral, neural and physiological basis of attention in realistic learning contexts is not well understood, since current clinical and scientific tools used for evaluating and quantifying the constructs of "distractibility" and "inattention", are removed from the real-life experience in organic classrooms. Here we introduce a novel Virtual Reality (VR) platform for studying students' brain activity and physiological responses as they immerse in realistic frontal classroom learning. Using this approach, we studied whether adults with and without ADHD (N=49) exhibit differences in neurophysiological metrics associated with sustained attention, such as speech-tracking of the teacher's voice, power of alpha-oscillations and levels of arousal, as well as responses to potential disturbances by background sound-events in the classroom. Under these ecological conditions, we find that adults with ADHD exhibit higher auditory neural response to background sounds relative to their control-peers, which also contributed to explaining variance in the severity of ADHD symptoms, together with higher power of alpha-oscillations and more frequent gaze-shifts around the classroom. These results are in-line with higher sensitivity to irrelevant stimuli in the environment and increased mind-wandering/boredom. At the same time, both groups exhibited similar learning outcomes and showed similar neural tracking of the teacher's speech. This suggests that in this context, attention may not operate as a zero-sum game and that allocating some resources to irrelevant stimuli does not always detract from performing the task at hand. Given the dire need for more objective, dimensional and ecologically-valid measures of attention and its real-life deficits, this work provides new insights into the neurophysiological manifestations of attention and distraction experienced in real-life contexts, while challenging some prevalent notions regarding the nature of attentional challenges experienced by those with ADHD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Orel Levy
- The Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | | | - Yair Zvilichovsky
- The Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Adi Korisky
- The Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | | | - Julie B. Schweitzer
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA U.S.A
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Brilliant, Yaar-Soffer Y, Herrmann CS, Henkin Y, Kral A. Theta and alpha oscillatory signatures of auditory sensory and cognitive loads during complex listening. Neuroimage 2024; 289:120546. [PMID: 38387743 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120546] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2023] [Revised: 02/07/2024] [Accepted: 02/15/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024] Open
Abstract
The neuronal signatures of sensory and cognitive load provide access to brain activities related to complex listening situations. Sensory and cognitive loads are typically reflected in measures like response time (RT) and event-related potentials (ERPs) components. It's, however, strenuous to distinguish the underlying brain processes solely from these measures. In this study, along with RT- and ERP-analysis, we performed time-frequency analysis and source localization of oscillatory activity in participants performing two different auditory tasks with varying degrees of complexity and related them to sensory and cognitive load. We studied neuronal oscillatory activity in both periods before the behavioral response (pre-response) and after it (post-response). Robust oscillatory activities were found in both periods and were differentially affected by sensory and cognitive load. Oscillatory activity under sensory load was characterized by decrease in pre-response (early) theta activity and increased alpha activity. Oscillatory activity under cognitive load was characterized by increased theta activity, mainly in post-response (late) time. Furthermore, source localization revealed specific brain regions responsible for processing these loads, such as temporal and frontal lobe, cingulate cortex and precuneus. The results provide evidence that in complex listening situations, the brain processes sensory and cognitive loads differently. These neural processes have specific oscillatory signatures and are long lasting, extending beyond the behavioral response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brilliant
- Department of Experimental Otology, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany.
| | - Y Yaar-Soffer
- Department of Communication Disorder, Tel Aviv University, 5262657 Tel Aviv, Israel; Hearing, Speech and Language Center, Sheba Medical Center, 5265601 Tel Hashomer, Israel
| | - C S Herrmann
- Experimental Psychology Division, University of Oldenburg, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Y Henkin
- Department of Communication Disorder, Tel Aviv University, 5262657 Tel Aviv, Israel; Hearing, Speech and Language Center, Sheba Medical Center, 5265601 Tel Hashomer, Israel
| | - A Kral
- Department of Experimental Otology, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany
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Wisniewski MG, Joyner CN, Zakrzewski AC, Makeig S. Finding tau rhythms in EEG: An independent component analysis approach. Hum Brain Mapp 2024; 45:e26572. [PMID: 38339905 PMCID: PMC10823759 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26572] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2023] [Revised: 12/05/2023] [Accepted: 12/10/2023] [Indexed: 02/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Tau rhythms are largely defined by sound responsive alpha band (~8-13 Hz) oscillations generated largely within auditory areas of the superior temporal gyri. Studies of tau have mostly employed magnetoencephalography or intracranial recording because of tau's elusiveness in the electroencephalogram. Here, we demonstrate that independent component analysis (ICA) decomposition can be an effective way to identify tau sources and study tau source activities in EEG recordings. Subjects (N = 18) were passively exposed to complex acoustic stimuli while the EEG was recorded from 68 electrodes across the scalp. Subjects' data were split into 60 parallel processing pipelines entailing use of five levels of high-pass filtering (passbands of 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 Hz), three levels of low-pass filtering (25, 50, and 100 Hz), and four different ICA algorithms (fastICA, infomax, adaptive mixture ICA [AMICA], and multi-model AMICA [mAMICA]). Tau-related independent component (IC) processes were identified from this data as being localized near the superior temporal gyri with a spectral peak in the 8-13 Hz alpha band. These "tau ICs" showed alpha suppression during sound presentations that was not seen for other commonly observed IC clusters with spectral peaks in the alpha range (e.g., those associated with somatomotor mu, and parietal or occipital alpha). The choice of analysis parameters impacted the likelihood of obtaining tau ICs from an ICA decomposition. Lower cutoff frequencies for high-pass filtering resulted in significantly fewer subjects showing a tau IC than more aggressive high-pass filtering. Decomposition using the fastICA algorithm performed the poorest in this regard, while mAMICA performed best. The best combination of filters and ICA model choice was able to identify at least one tau IC in the data of ~94% of the sample. Altogether, the data reveal close similarities between tau EEG IC dynamics and tau dynamics observed in MEG and intracranial data. Use of relatively aggressive high-pass filters and mAMICA decomposition should allow researchers to identify and characterize tau rhythms in a majority of their subjects. We believe adopting the ICA decomposition approach to EEG analysis can increase the rate and range of discoveries related to auditory responsive tau rhythms.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Scott Makeig
- Swartz Center for Computational NeuroscienceUniversity of California San DiegoLa JollaCaliforniaUSA
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Jelinek J, Johne M, Alam M, Krauss JK, Kral A, Schwabe K. Hearing loss in juvenile rats leads to excessive play fighting and hyperactivity, mild cognitive deficits and altered neuronal activity in the prefrontal cortex. CURRENT RESEARCH IN NEUROBIOLOGY 2024; 6:100124. [PMID: 38616957 PMCID: PMC11015060 DOI: 10.1016/j.crneur.2024.100124] [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: 08/15/2023] [Revised: 12/23/2023] [Accepted: 12/29/2023] [Indexed: 04/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Background In children, hearing loss has been associated with hyperactivity, disturbed social interaction, and risk of cognitive disturbances. Mechanistic explanations of these relations sometimes involve language. To investigate the effect of hearing loss on behavioral deficits in the absence of language, we tested the impact of hearing loss in juvenile rats on motor, social, and cognitive behavior and on physiology of prefrontal cortex. Methods Hearing loss was induced in juvenile (postnatal day 14) male Sprague-Dawley rats by intracochlear injection of neomycin under general anesthesia. Sham-operated and non-operated hearing rats served as controls. One week after surgery auditory brainstem response (ABR) measurements verified hearing loss or intact hearing in sham-operated and non-operated controls. All rats were then tested for locomotor activity (open field), coordination (Rotarod), and for social interaction during development in weeks 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 24 after surgery. From week 8 on, rats were trained and tested for spatial learning and memory (4-arm baited 8-arm radial maze test). In a final setting, neuronal activity was recorded in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Results In the open field deafened rats moved faster and covered more distance than sham-operated and non-operated controls from week 8 on (both p < 0.05). Deafened rats showed significantly more play fighting during development (p < 0.05), whereas other aspects of social interaction, such as following, were not affected. Learning of the radial maze test was not impaired in deafened rats (p > 0.05), but rats used less next-arm entries than other groups indicating impaired concept learning (p < 0.05). In the mPFC neuronal firing rate was reduced and enhanced irregular firing was observed. Moreover, oscillatory activity was altered, both within the mPFC and in coherence of mPFC with the somatosensory cortex (p < 0.05). Conclusions Hearing loss in juvenile rats leads to hyperactive behavior and pronounced play-fighting during development, suggesting a causal relationship between hearing loss and cognitive development. Altered neuronal activities in the mPFC after hearing loss support such effects on neuronal networks outside the central auditory system. This animal model provides evidence of developmental consequences of juvenile hearing loss on prefrontal cortex in absence of language as potential confounding factor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonas Jelinek
- Department of Neurosurgery, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany
| | - Marie Johne
- Department of Neurosurgery, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, German Research Foundation, Hannover, Germany
| | - Mesbah Alam
- Department of Neurosurgery, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany
| | - Joachim K. Krauss
- Department of Neurosurgery, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany
| | - Andrej Kral
- Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, German Research Foundation, Hannover, Germany
- Institute of AudioNeuroTechnology, Hannover Medical School, Stadtfelddamm 34, 30625, Hanover, Germany
- Department of Experimental Otology of the ENT Clinics, Hannover Medical School, Stadtfelddamm 34, 30625, Hannover, Germany
| | - Kerstin Schwabe
- Department of Neurosurgery, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, German Research Foundation, Hannover, Germany
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Mai G, Wang WSY. Distinct roles of delta- and theta-band neural tracking for sharpening and predictive coding of multi-level speech features during spoken language processing. Hum Brain Mapp 2023; 44:6149-6172. [PMID: 37818940 PMCID: PMC10619373 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2023] [Revised: 08/17/2023] [Accepted: 09/13/2023] [Indexed: 10/13/2023] Open
Abstract
The brain tracks and encodes multi-level speech features during spoken language processing. It is evident that this speech tracking is dominant at low frequencies (<8 Hz) including delta and theta bands. Recent research has demonstrated distinctions between delta- and theta-band tracking but has not elucidated how they differentially encode speech across linguistic levels. Here, we hypothesised that delta-band tracking encodes prediction errors (enhanced processing of unexpected features) while theta-band tracking encodes neural sharpening (enhanced processing of expected features) when people perceive speech with different linguistic contents. EEG responses were recorded when normal-hearing participants attended to continuous auditory stimuli that contained different phonological/morphological and semantic contents: (1) real-words, (2) pseudo-words and (3) time-reversed speech. We employed multivariate temporal response functions to measure EEG reconstruction accuracies in response to acoustic (spectrogram), phonetic and phonemic features with the partialling procedure that singles out unique contributions of individual features. We found higher delta-band accuracies for pseudo-words than real-words and time-reversed speech, especially during encoding of phonetic features. Notably, individual time-lag analyses showed that significantly higher accuracies for pseudo-words than real-words started at early processing stages for phonetic encoding (<100 ms post-feature) and later stages for acoustic and phonemic encoding (>200 and 400 ms post-feature, respectively). Theta-band accuracies, on the other hand, were higher when stimuli had richer linguistic content (real-words > pseudo-words > time-reversed speech). Such effects also started at early stages (<100 ms post-feature) during encoding of all individual features or when all features were combined. We argue these results indicate that delta-band tracking may play a role in predictive coding leading to greater tracking of pseudo-words due to the presence of unexpected/unpredicted semantic information, while theta-band tracking encodes sharpened signals caused by more expected phonological/morphological and semantic contents. Early presence of these effects reflects rapid computations of sharpening and prediction errors. Moreover, by measuring changes in EEG alpha power, we did not find evidence that the observed effects can be solitarily explained by attentional demands or listening efforts. Finally, we used directed information analyses to illustrate feedforward and feedback information transfers between prediction errors and sharpening across linguistic levels, showcasing how our results fit with the hierarchical Predictive Coding framework. Together, we suggest the distinct roles of delta and theta neural tracking for sharpening and predictive coding of multi-level speech features during spoken language processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guangting Mai
- Hearing Theme, National Institute for Health Research Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, Nottingham, UK
- Academic Unit of Mental Health and Clinical Neurosciences, School of Medicine, The University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London, London, UK
| | - William S-Y Wang
- Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong
- Language Engineering Laboratory, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
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10
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Pomper U, Curetti LZ, Chait M. Neural dynamics underlying successful auditory short-term memory performance. Eur J Neurosci 2023; 58:3859-3878. [PMID: 37691137 PMCID: PMC10946728 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2023] [Revised: 08/18/2023] [Accepted: 08/19/2023] [Indexed: 09/12/2023]
Abstract
Listeners often operate in complex acoustic environments, consisting of many concurrent sounds. Accurately encoding and maintaining such auditory objects in short-term memory is crucial for communication and scene analysis. Yet, the neural underpinnings of successful auditory short-term memory (ASTM) performance are currently not well understood. To elucidate this issue, we presented a novel, challenging auditory delayed match-to-sample task while recording MEG. Human participants listened to 'scenes' comprising three concurrent tone pip streams. The task was to indicate, after a delay, whether a probe stream was present in the just-heard scene. We present three key findings: First, behavioural performance revealed faster responses in correct versus incorrect trials as well as in 'probe present' versus 'probe absent' trials, consistent with ASTM search. Second, successful compared with unsuccessful ASTM performance was associated with a significant enhancement of event-related fields and oscillatory activity in the theta, alpha and beta frequency ranges. This extends previous findings of an overall increase of persistent activity during short-term memory performance. Third, using distributed source modelling, we found these effects to be confined mostly to sensory areas during encoding, presumably related to ASTM contents per se. Parietal and frontal sources then became relevant during the maintenance stage, indicating that effective STM operation also relies on ongoing inhibitory processes suppressing task-irrelevant information. In summary, our results deliver a detailed account of the neural patterns that differentiate successful from unsuccessful ASTM performance in the context of a complex, multi-object auditory scene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ulrich Pomper
- Ear InstituteUniversity College LondonLondonUK
- Faculty of PsychologyUniversity of ViennaViennaAustria
| | | | - Maria Chait
- Ear InstituteUniversity College LondonLondonUK
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11
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Quique YM, Gnanateja GN, Dickey MW, Evans WS, Chandrasekaran B. Examining cortical tracking of the speech envelope in post-stroke aphasia. Front Hum Neurosci 2023; 17:1122480. [PMID: 37780966 PMCID: PMC10538638 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1122480] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 08/28/2023] [Indexed: 10/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction People with aphasia have been shown to benefit from rhythmic elements for language production during aphasia rehabilitation. However, it is unknown whether rhythmic processing is associated with such benefits. Cortical tracking of the speech envelope (CTenv) may provide a measure of encoding of speech rhythmic properties and serve as a predictor of candidacy for rhythm-based aphasia interventions. Methods Electroencephalography was used to capture electrophysiological responses while Spanish speakers with aphasia (n = 9) listened to a continuous speech narrative (audiobook). The Temporal Response Function was used to estimate CTenv in the delta (associated with word- and phrase-level properties), theta (syllable-level properties), and alpha bands (attention-related properties). CTenv estimates were used to predict aphasia severity, performance in rhythmic perception and production tasks, and treatment response in a sentence-level rhythm-based intervention. Results CTenv in delta and theta, but not alpha, predicted aphasia severity. Neither CTenv in delta, alpha, or theta bands predicted performance in rhythmic perception or production tasks. Some evidence supported that CTenv in theta could predict sentence-level learning in aphasia, but alpha and delta did not. Conclusion CTenv of the syllable-level properties was relatively preserved in individuals with less language impairment. In contrast, higher encoding of word- and phrase-level properties was relatively impaired and was predictive of more severe language impairments. CTenv and treatment response to sentence-level rhythm-based interventions need to be further investigated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yina M. Quique
- Center for Education in Health Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - G. Nike Gnanateja
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States
| | - Michael Walsh Dickey
- VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
| | | | - Bharath Chandrasekaran
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
- Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Science and Disorders, School of Communication. Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States
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12
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Villard S, Perrachione TK, Lim SJ, Alam A, Kidd G. Energetic and informational masking place dissociable demands on listening effort: Evidence from simultaneous electroencephalography and pupillometrya). THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2023; 154:1152-1167. [PMID: 37610284 PMCID: PMC10449482 DOI: 10.1121/10.0020539] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2022] [Revised: 07/09/2023] [Accepted: 07/14/2023] [Indexed: 08/24/2023]
Abstract
The task of processing speech masked by concurrent speech/noise can pose a substantial challenge to listeners. However, performance on such tasks may not directly reflect the amount of listening effort they elicit. Changes in pupil size and neural oscillatory power in the alpha range (8-12 Hz) are prominent neurophysiological signals known to reflect listening effort; however, measurements obtained through these two approaches are rarely correlated, suggesting that they may respond differently depending on the specific cognitive demands (and, by extension, the specific type of effort) elicited by specific tasks. This study aimed to compare changes in pupil size and alpha power elicited by different types of auditory maskers (highly confusable intelligible speech maskers, speech-envelope-modulated speech-shaped noise, and unmodulated speech-shaped noise maskers) in young, normal-hearing listeners. Within each condition, the target-to-masker ratio was set at the participant's individually estimated 75% correct point on the psychometric function. The speech masking condition elicited a significantly greater increase in pupil size than either of the noise masking conditions, whereas the unmodulated noise masking condition elicited a significantly greater increase in alpha oscillatory power than the speech masking condition, suggesting that the effort needed to solve these respective tasks may have different neural origins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Villard
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
| | - Tyler K Perrachione
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
| | - Sung-Joo Lim
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
| | - Ayesha Alam
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
| | - Gerald Kidd
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
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13
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Abbasi O, Steingräber N, Chalas N, Kluger DS, Gross J. Spatiotemporal dynamics characterise spectral connectivity profiles of continuous speaking and listening. PLoS Biol 2023; 21:e3002178. [PMID: 37478152 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2023] [Accepted: 05/31/2023] [Indexed: 07/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Speech production and perception are fundamental processes of human cognition that both rely on intricate processing mechanisms that are still poorly understood. Here, we study these processes by using magnetoencephalography (MEG) to comprehensively map connectivity of regional brain activity within the brain and to the speech envelope during continuous speaking and listening. Our results reveal not only a partly shared neural substrate for both processes but also a dissociation in space, delay, and frequency. Neural activity in motor and frontal areas is coupled to succeeding speech in delta band (1 to 3 Hz), whereas coupling in the theta range follows speech in temporal areas during speaking. Neural connectivity results showed a separation of bottom-up and top-down signalling in distinct frequency bands during speaking. Here, we show that frequency-specific connectivity channels for bottom-up and top-down signalling support continuous speaking and listening. These findings further shed light on the complex interplay between different brain regions involved in speech production and perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Omid Abbasi
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignal Analysis, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Nadine Steingräber
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignal Analysis, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Nikos Chalas
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignal Analysis, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
- Otto-Creutzfeldt-Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Daniel S Kluger
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignal Analysis, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
- Otto-Creutzfeldt-Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Joachim Gross
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignal Analysis, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
- Otto-Creutzfeldt-Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
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14
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Huberty S, O’Reilly C, Carter Leno V, Steiman M, Webb S, Elsabbagh M. Neural mechanisms of language development in infancy. INFANCY 2023; 28:754-770. [PMID: 36943905 PMCID: PMC10947526 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12540] [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: 05/12/2022] [Revised: 02/13/2023] [Accepted: 02/17/2023] [Indexed: 03/23/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the neural processes underpinning individual differences in early language development is of increasing interest, as it is known to vary in typical development and to be quite heterogeneous in neurodevelopmental conditions. However, few studies to date have tested whether early brain measures are indicative of the developmental trajectory of language, as opposed to language outcomes at specific ages. We combined recordings from two longitudinal studies, including typically developing infants without a family history of autism, and infants with increased likelihood of developing autism (infant-siblings) (N = 191). Electroencephalograms (EEG) were recorded at 6 months, and behavioral assessments at 6, 12, 18, 24 and 36 months of age. Using a growth curve model, we tested whether absolute EEG spectral power at 6 months was associated with concurrent language abilities, and developmental change in language between 6 and 36 months. We found evidence of an association between 6-month alpha-band power and concurrent, but not developmental change in, expressive language ability in both infant-siblings and control infants. The observed association between 6-month alpha-band power and 6-month expressive language was not moderated by group status, suggesting some continuity in neural mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Scott Huberty
- Montreal Neurological InstituteMcGill UniversityMontrealQuebecCanada
| | | | - Virginia Carter Leno
- Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and NeuroscienceKing's College LondonLondonUK
| | - Mandy Steiman
- Montreal Neurological InstituteMcGill UniversityMontrealQuebecCanada
| | - Sara Webb
- Center on Child Health, Behavior and DevelopmentSeattle Children's Research InstituteSeattleWashingtonUSA
| | - Mayada Elsabbagh
- Montreal Neurological InstituteMcGill UniversityMontrealQuebecCanada
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15
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Viswanathan V, Bharadwaj HM, Heinz MG, Shinn-Cunningham BG. Induced alpha and beta electroencephalographic rhythms covary with single-trial speech intelligibility in competition. Sci Rep 2023; 13:10216. [PMID: 37353552 PMCID: PMC10290148 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-37173-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2023] [Accepted: 06/17/2023] [Indexed: 06/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Neurophysiological studies suggest that intrinsic brain oscillations influence sensory processing, especially of rhythmic stimuli like speech. Prior work suggests that brain rhythms may mediate perceptual grouping and selective attention to speech amidst competing sound, as well as more linguistic aspects of speech processing like predictive coding. However, we know of no prior studies that have directly tested, at the single-trial level, whether brain oscillations relate to speech-in-noise outcomes. Here, we combined electroencephalography while simultaneously measuring intelligibility of spoken sentences amidst two different interfering sounds: multi-talker babble or speech-shaped noise. We find that induced parieto-occipital alpha (7-15 Hz; thought to modulate attentional focus) and frontal beta (13-30 Hz; associated with maintenance of the current sensorimotor state and predictive coding) oscillations covary with trial-wise percent-correct scores; importantly, alpha and beta power provide significant independent contributions to predicting single-trial behavioral outcomes. These results can inform models of speech processing and guide noninvasive measures to index different neural processes that together support complex listening.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vibha Viswanathan
- Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA.
| | - Hari M Bharadwaj
- Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA
| | - Michael G Heinz
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA
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16
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Clements GM, Gyurkovics M, Low KA, Kramer AF, Beck DM, Fabiani M, Gratton G. Dynamics of alpha suppression index both modality specific and general attention processes. Neuroimage 2023; 270:119956. [PMID: 36863549 PMCID: PMC10037550 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.119956] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2022] [Revised: 02/06/2023] [Accepted: 02/17/2023] [Indexed: 03/04/2023] Open
Abstract
EEG alpha power varies under many circumstances requiring visual attention. However, mounting evidence indicates that alpha may not only serve visual processing, but also the processing of stimuli presented in other sensory modalities, including hearing. We previously showed that alpha dynamics during an auditory task vary as a function of competition from the visual modality (Clements et al., 2022) suggesting that alpha may be engaged in multimodal processing. Here we assessed the impact of allocating attention to the visual or auditory modality on alpha dynamics at parietal and occipital electrodes, during the preparatory period of a cued-conflict task. In this task, bimodal precues indicated the modality (vision, hearing) relevant to a subsequent reaction stimulus, allowing us to assess alpha during modality-specific preparation and while switching between modalities. Alpha suppression following the precue occurred in all conditions, indicating that it may reflect general preparatory mechanisms. However, we observed a switch effect when preparing to attend to the auditory modality, in which greater alpha suppression was elicited when switching to the auditory modality compared to repeating. No switch effect was evident when preparing to attend to visual information (although robust suppression did occur in both conditions). In addition, waning alpha suppression preceded error trials, irrespective of sensory modality. These findings indicate that alpha can be used to monitor the level of preparatory attention to process both visual and auditory information, and support the emerging view that alpha band activity may index a general attention control mechanism used across modalities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grace M Clements
- Psychology Department, University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, USA; Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, USA.
| | - Mate Gyurkovics
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, USA; School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of Glasgow, Scotland
| | - Kathy A Low
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, USA
| | - Arthur F Kramer
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, USA; Center for Cognitive & Brain Health, Northeastern University, USA
| | - Diane M Beck
- Psychology Department, University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, USA; Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, USA
| | - Monica Fabiani
- Psychology Department, University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, USA; Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, USA
| | - Gabriele Gratton
- Psychology Department, University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, USA; Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, USA.
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17
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Kovács P, Tóth B, Honbolygó F, Szalárdy O, Kohári A, Mády K, Magyari L, Winkler I. Speech prosody supports speaker selection and auditory stream segregation in a multi-talker situation. Brain Res 2023; 1805:148246. [PMID: 36657631 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2023.148246] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2022] [Revised: 01/06/2023] [Accepted: 01/12/2023] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
To process speech in a multi-talker environment, listeners need to segregate the mixture of incoming speech streams and focus their attention on one of them. Potentially, speech prosody could aid the segregation of different speakers, the selection of the desired speech stream, and detecting targets within the attended stream. For testing these issues, we recorded behavioral responses and extracted event-related potentials and functional brain networks from electroencephalographic signals recorded while participants listened to two concurrent speech streams, performing a lexical detection and a recognition memory task in parallel. Prosody manipulation was applied to the attended speech stream in one group of participants and to the ignored speech stream in another group. Naturally recorded speech stimuli were either intact, synthetically F0-flattened, or prosodically suppressed by the speaker. Results show that prosody - especially the parsing cues mediated by speech rate - facilitates stream selection, while playing a smaller role in auditory stream segmentation and target detection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petra Kovács
- Department of Cognitive Science, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary
| | - Brigitta Tóth
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Center for Natural Sciences, Hungary.
| | - Ferenc Honbolygó
- Brain Imaging Center, Research Center for Natural Sciences, Hungary
| | - Orsolya Szalárdy
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Center for Natural Sciences, Hungary; Institute of Behavioural Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Anna Kohári
- Research Group of Phonetics, Institute for General and Hungarian Linguistics, Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics, Hungary
| | - Katalin Mády
- Research Group of Phonetics, Institute for General and Hungarian Linguistics, Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics, Hungary
| | - Lilla Magyari
- Department of Social Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway; Norwegian Centre for Reading Education and Research, Faculty of Arts and Education, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway
| | - István Winkler
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Center for Natural Sciences, Hungary
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18
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Elmer S, Besson M, Rodriguez-Fornells A, Giroud N. Foreign speech sound discrimination and associative word learning lead to a fast reconfiguration of resting-state networks. Neuroimage 2023; 271:120026. [PMID: 36921678 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120026] [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: 09/21/2022] [Revised: 03/09/2023] [Accepted: 03/12/2023] [Indexed: 03/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Learning new words in an unfamiliar language is a complex endeavor that requires the orchestration of multiple perceptual and cognitive functions. Although the neural mechanisms governing word learning are becoming better understood, little is known about the predictive value of resting-state (RS) metrics for foreign word discrimination and word learning attainment. In addition, it is still unknown which of the multistep processes involved in word learning have the potential to rapidly reconfigure RS networks. To address these research questions, we used electroencephalography (EEG), measured forty participants, and examined scalp-based power spectra, source-based spectral density maps and functional connectivity metrics before (RS1), in between (RS2) and after (RS3) a series of tasks which are known to facilitate the acquisition of new words in a foreign language, namely word discrimination, word-referent mapping and semantic generalization. Power spectra at the scalp level consistently revealed a reconfiguration of RS networks as a function of foreign word discrimination (RS1 vs. RS2) and word learning (RS1 vs. RS3) tasks in the delta, lower and upper alpha, and upper beta frequency ranges. Otherwise, functional reconfigurations at the source level were restricted to the theta (spectral density maps) and to the lower and upper alpha frequency bands (spectral density maps and functional connectivity). Notably, scalp RS changes related to the word discrimination tasks (difference between RS2 and RS1) correlated with word discrimination abilities (upper alpha band) and semantic generalization performance (theta and upper alpha bands), whereas functional changes related to the word learning tasks (difference between RS3 and RS1) correlated with word discrimination scores (lower alpha band). Taken together, these results highlight that foreign speech sound discrimination and word learning have the potential to rapidly reconfigure RS networks at multiple functional scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Elmer
- Department of Computational Linguistics, Computational Neuroscience of Speech & Hearing, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain; Competence center Language & Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Mireille Besson
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, Université Publique de France, CNRS & Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France
| | - Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells
- Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain; University of Barcelona, Spain; Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Nathalie Giroud
- Department of Computational Linguistics, Computational Neuroscience of Speech & Hearing, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Center for Neuroscience Zurich, University and ETH of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Competence center Language & Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland
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19
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Xiu B, Paul BT, Chen JM, Le TN, Lin VY, Dimitrijevic A. Neural responses to naturalistic audiovisual speech are related to listening demand in cochlear implant users. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 16:1043499. [DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.1043499] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2022] [Accepted: 10/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
There is a weak relationship between clinical and self-reported speech perception outcomes in cochlear implant (CI) listeners. Such poor correspondence may be due to differences in clinical and “real-world” listening environments and stimuli. Speech in the real world is often accompanied by visual cues, background environmental noise, and is generally in a conversational context, all factors that could affect listening demand. Thus, our objectives were to determine if brain responses to naturalistic speech could index speech perception and listening demand in CI users. Accordingly, we recorded high-density electroencephalogram (EEG) while CI users listened/watched a naturalistic stimulus (i.e., the television show, “The Office”). We used continuous EEG to quantify “speech neural tracking” (i.e., TRFs, temporal response functions) to the show’s soundtrack and 8–12 Hz (alpha) brain rhythms commonly related to listening effort. Background noise at three different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), +5, +10, and +15 dB were presented to vary the difficulty of following the television show, mimicking a natural noisy environment. The task also included an audio-only (no video) condition. After each condition, participants subjectively rated listening demand and the degree of words and conversations they felt they understood. Fifteen CI users reported progressively higher degrees of listening demand and less words and conversation with increasing background noise. Listening demand and conversation understanding in the audio-only condition was comparable to that of the highest noise condition (+5 dB). Increasing background noise affected speech neural tracking at a group level, in addition to eliciting strong individual differences. Mixed effect modeling showed that listening demand and conversation understanding were correlated to early cortical speech tracking, such that high demand and low conversation understanding occurred with lower amplitude TRFs. In the high noise condition, greater listening demand was negatively correlated to parietal alpha power, where higher demand was related to lower alpha power. No significant correlations were observed between TRF/alpha and clinical speech perception scores. These results are similar to previous findings showing little relationship between clinical speech perception and quality-of-life in CI users. However, physiological responses to complex natural speech may provide an objective measure of aspects of quality-of-life measures like self-perceived listening demand.
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20
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Evidence of visual crossmodal reorganization positively relates to speech outcomes in cochlear implant users. Sci Rep 2022; 12:17749. [PMID: 36273017 PMCID: PMC9587996 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-22117-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2022] [Accepted: 10/10/2022] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Deaf individuals who use a cochlear implant (CI) have remarkably different outcomes for auditory speech communication ability. One factor assumed to affect CI outcomes is visual crossmodal plasticity in auditory cortex, where deprived auditory regions begin to support non-auditory functions such as vision. Previous research has viewed crossmodal plasticity as harmful for speech outcomes for CI users if it interferes with sound processing, while others have demonstrated that plasticity related to visual language may be beneficial for speech recovery. To clarify, we used electroencephalography (EEG) to measure brain responses to a partial face speaking a silent single-syllable word (visual language) in 15 CI users and 13 age-matched typical-hearing controls. We used source analysis on EEG activity to measure crossmodal visual responses in auditory cortex and then compared them to CI users' speech-in-noise listening ability. CI users' brain response to the onset of the video stimulus (face) was larger than controls in left auditory cortex, consistent with crossmodal activation after deafness. CI users also produced a mixture of alpha (8-12 Hz) synchronization and desynchronization in auditory cortex while watching lip movement while controls instead showed desynchronization. CI users with higher speech scores had stronger crossmodal responses in auditory cortex to the onset of the video, but those with lower speech scores had increases in alpha power during lip movement in auditory areas. Therefore, evidence of crossmodal reorganization in CI users does not necessarily predict poor speech outcomes, and differences in crossmodal activation during lip reading may instead relate to strategies or differences that CI users use in audiovisual speech communication.
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21
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Dynamic auditory contributions to error detection revealed in the discrimination of Same and Different syllable pairs. Neuropsychologia 2022; 176:108388. [PMID: 36183800 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108388] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2022] [Revised: 09/20/2022] [Accepted: 09/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
During speech production auditory regions operate in concert with the anterior dorsal stream to facilitate online error detection. As the dorsal stream also is known to activate in speech perception, the purpose of the current study was to probe the role of auditory regions in error detection during auditory discrimination tasks as stimuli are encoded and maintained in working memory. A priori assumptions are that sensory mismatch (i.e., error) occurs during the discrimination of Different (mismatched) but not Same (matched) syllable pairs. Independent component analysis was applied to raw EEG data recorded from 42 participants to identify bilateral auditory alpha rhythms, which were decomposed across time and frequency to reveal robust patterns of event related synchronization (ERS; inhibition) and desynchronization (ERD; processing) over the time course of discrimination events. Results were characterized by bilateral peri-stimulus alpha ERD transitioning to alpha ERS in the late trial epoch, with ERD interpreted as evidence of working memory encoding via Analysis by Synthesis and ERS considered evidence of speech-induced-suppression arising during covert articulatory rehearsal to facilitate working memory maintenance. The transition from ERD to ERS occurred later in the left hemisphere in Different trials than in Same trials, with ERD and ERS temporally overlapping during the early post-stimulus window. Results were interpreted to suggest that the sensory mismatch (i.e., error) arising from the comparison of the first and second syllable elicits further processing in the left hemisphere to support working memory encoding and maintenance. Results are consistent with auditory contributions to error detection during both encoding and maintenance stages of working memory, with encoding stage error detection associated with stimulus concordance and maintenance stage error detection associated with task-specific retention demands.
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22
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Impact of Effortful Word Recognition on Supportive Neural Systems Measured by Alpha and Theta Power. Ear Hear 2022; 43:1549-1562. [DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000001211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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23
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Shahsavari Baboukani P, Graversen C, Alickovic E, Østergaard J. Speech to noise ratio improvement induces nonlinear parietal phase synchrony in hearing aid users. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:932959. [PMID: 36017182 PMCID: PMC9396236 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.932959] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2022] [Accepted: 06/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
ObjectivesComprehension of speech in adverse listening conditions is challenging for hearing-impaired (HI) individuals. Noise reduction (NR) schemes in hearing aids (HAs) have demonstrated the capability to help HI to overcome these challenges. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of NR processing (inactive, where the NR feature was switched off, vs. active, where the NR feature was switched on) on correlates of listening effort across two different background noise levels [+3 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and +8 dB SNR] by using a phase synchrony analysis of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals.DesignThe EEG was recorded while 22 HI participants fitted with HAs performed a continuous speech in noise (SiN) task in the presence of background noise and a competing talker. The phase synchrony within eight regions of interest (ROIs) and four conventional EEG bands was computed by using a multivariate phase synchrony measure.ResultsThe results demonstrated that the activation of NR in HAs affects the EEG phase synchrony in the parietal ROI at low SNR differently than that at high SNR. The relationship between conditions of the listening task and phase synchrony in the parietal ROI was nonlinear.ConclusionWe showed that the activation of NR schemes in HAs can non-linearly reduce correlates of listening effort as estimated by EEG-based phase synchrony. We contend that investigation of the phase synchrony within ROIs can reflect the effects of HAs in HI individuals in ecological listening conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Payam Shahsavari Baboukani
- Department of Electronic Systems, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
- *Correspondence: Payam Shahsavari Baboukani
| | - Carina Graversen
- Integrative Neuroscience, Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
- Department of Health Science and Technology, Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain (CNAP), Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Emina Alickovic
- Eriksholm Research Centre, Snekkersten, Denmark
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Jan Østergaard
- Department of Electronic Systems, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
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24
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Bai F, Meyer AS, Martin AE. Neural dynamics differentially encode phrases and sentences during spoken language comprehension. PLoS Biol 2022; 20:e3001713. [PMID: 35834569 PMCID: PMC9282610 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001713] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2022] [Accepted: 06/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Human language stands out in the natural world as a biological signal that uses a structured system to combine the meanings of small linguistic units (e.g., words) into larger constituents (e.g., phrases and sentences). However, the physical dynamics of speech (or sign) do not stand in a one-to-one relationship with the meanings listeners perceive. Instead, listeners infer meaning based on their knowledge of the language. The neural readouts of the perceptual and cognitive processes underlying these inferences are still poorly understood. In the present study, we used scalp electroencephalography (EEG) to compare the neural response to phrases (e.g., the red vase) and sentences (e.g., the vase is red), which were close in semantic meaning and had been synthesized to be physically indistinguishable. Differences in structure were well captured in the reorganization of neural phase responses in delta (approximately <2 Hz) and theta bands (approximately 2 to 7 Hz),and in power and power connectivity changes in the alpha band (approximately 7.5 to 13.5 Hz). Consistent with predictions from a computational model, sentences showed more power, more power connectivity, and more phase synchronization than phrases did. Theta-gamma phase-amplitude coupling occurred, but did not differ between the syntactic structures. Spectral-temporal response function (STRF) modeling revealed different encoding states for phrases and sentences, over and above the acoustically driven neural response. Our findings provide a comprehensive description of how the brain encodes and separates linguistic structures in the dynamics of neural responses. They imply that phase synchronization and strength of connectivity are readouts for the constituent structure of language. The results provide a novel basis for future neurophysiological research on linguistic structure representation in the brain, and, together with our simulations, support time-based binding as a mechanism of structure encoding in neural dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fan Bai
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Antje S. Meyer
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Andrea E. Martin
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
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Gnanateja GN, Devaraju DS, Heyne M, Quique YM, Sitek KR, Tardif MC, Tessmer R, Dial HR. On the Role of Neural Oscillations Across Timescales in Speech and Music Processing. Front Comput Neurosci 2022; 16:872093. [PMID: 35814348 PMCID: PMC9260496 DOI: 10.3389/fncom.2022.872093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2022] [Accepted: 05/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
This mini review is aimed at a clinician-scientist seeking to understand the role of oscillations in neural processing and their functional relevance in speech and music perception. We present an overview of neural oscillations, methods used to study them, and their functional relevance with respect to music processing, aging, hearing loss, and disorders affecting speech and language. We first review the oscillatory frequency bands and their associations with speech and music processing. Next we describe commonly used metrics for quantifying neural oscillations, briefly touching upon the still-debated mechanisms underpinning oscillatory alignment. Following this, we highlight key findings from research on neural oscillations in speech and music perception, as well as contributions of this work to our understanding of disordered perception in clinical populations. Finally, we conclude with a look toward the future of oscillatory research in speech and music perception, including promising methods and potential avenues for future work. We note that the intention of this mini review is not to systematically review all literature on cortical tracking of speech and music. Rather, we seek to provide the clinician-scientist with foundational information that can be used to evaluate and design research studies targeting the functional role of oscillations in speech and music processing in typical and clinical populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- G. Nike Gnanateja
- Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
| | - Dhatri S. Devaraju
- Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
| | - Matthias Heyne
- Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
| | - Yina M. Quique
- Center for Education in Health Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Kevin R. Sitek
- Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
| | - Monique C. Tardif
- Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
| | - Rachel Tessmer
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
| | - Heather R. Dial
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Houston, Houston, TX, United States
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Hunter CR. Listening Over Time: Single-Trial Tonic and Phasic Oscillatory Alpha-and Theta-Band Indicators of Listening-Related Fatigue. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:915349. [PMID: 35720726 PMCID: PMC9198355 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.915349] [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: 04/07/2022] [Accepted: 05/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Objectives Listening effort engages cognitive resources to support speech understanding in adverse listening conditions, and leads to fatigue over the longer term for people with hearing loss. Direct, neural measures of listening-related fatigue have not been developed. Here, event-related or phasic changes in alpha and theta oscillatory power during listening were used as measures of listening effort, and longer-term or tonic changes over the course of the listening task were assessed as measures of listening-related fatigue. In addition, influences of self-reported fatigue and degree of hearing loss on tonic changes in oscillatory power were examined. Design Participants were middle-aged adults (age 37–65 years; n = 12) with age-appropriate hearing. Sentences were presented in a background of multi-talker babble at a range of signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) varying around the 80 percent threshold of individual listeners. Single-trial oscillatory power during both sentence and baseline intervals was analyzed with linear mixed-effect models that included as predictors trial number, SNR, subjective fatigue, and hearing loss. Results Alpha and theta power in both sentence presentation and baseline intervals increased as a function of trial, indicating listening-related fatigue. Further, tonic power increases across trials were affected by hearing loss and/or subjective fatigue, particularly in the alpha-band. Phasic changes in alpha and theta power generally tracked with SNR, with decreased alpha power and increased theta power at less favorable SNRs. However, for the alpha-band, the linear effect of SNR emerged only at later trials. Conclusion Tonic increases in oscillatory power in alpha- and theta-bands over the course of a listening task may be biomarkers for the development of listening-related fatigue. In addition, alpha-band power as an index of listening-related fatigue may be sensitive to individual differences attributable to level of hearing loss and the subjective experience of listening-related fatigue. Finally, phasic effects of SNR on alpha power emerged only after a period of listening, suggesting that this measure of listening effort could depend on the development of listening-related fatigue.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cynthia R Hunter
- Speech Perception, Cognition, and Hearing Laboratory, Department of Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences and Disorders, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, United States
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27
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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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28
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Grant AM, Kousaie S, Coulter K, Gilbert AC, Baum SR, Gracco V, Titone D, Klein D, Phillips NA. Age of Acquisition Modulates Alpha Power During Bilingual Speech Comprehension in Noise. Front Psychol 2022; 13:865857. [PMID: 35548507 PMCID: PMC9083356 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.865857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 03/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Research on bilingualism has grown exponentially in recent years. However, the comprehension of speech in noise, given the ubiquity of both bilingualism and noisy environments, has seen only limited focus. Electroencephalogram (EEG) studies in monolinguals show an increase in alpha power when listening to speech in noise, which, in the theoretical context where alpha power indexes attentional control, is thought to reflect an increase in attentional demands. In the current study, English/French bilinguals with similar second language (L2) proficiency and who varied in terms of age of L2 acquisition (AoA) from 0 (simultaneous bilinguals) to 15 years completed a speech perception in noise task. Participants were required to identify the final word of high and low semantically constrained auditory sentences such as "Stir your coffee with a spoon" vs. "Bob could have known about the spoon" in both of their languages and in both noise (multi-talker babble) and quiet during electrophysiological recording. We examined the effects of language, AoA, semantic constraint, and listening condition on participants' induced alpha power during speech comprehension. Our results show an increase in alpha power when participants were listening in their L2, suggesting that listening in an L2 requires additional attentional control compared to the first language, particularly early in processing during word identification. Additionally, despite similar proficiency across participants, our results suggest that under difficult processing demands, AoA modulates the amount of attention required to process the second language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela M Grant
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Research in Human Development, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Shanna Kousaie
- Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.,Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Kristina Coulter
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Research in Human Development, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Annie C Gilbert
- Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Shari R Baum
- Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Vincent Gracco
- School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - Debra Titone
- Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Department of Psychology, McGill University Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Denise Klein
- Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Natalie A Phillips
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Research in Human Development, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Bloomfield Centre for Research in Aging, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research and Jewish General Hospital, McGill University Memory Clinic, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, QC, Canada
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29
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Corcoran AW, Perera R, Koroma M, Kouider S, Hohwy J, Andrillon T. Expectations boost the reconstruction of auditory features from electrophysiological responses to noisy speech. Cereb Cortex 2022; 33:691-708. [PMID: 35253871 PMCID: PMC9890472 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2021] [Revised: 02/11/2022] [Accepted: 02/12/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Online speech processing imposes significant computational demands on the listening brain, the underlying mechanisms of which remain poorly understood. Here, we exploit the perceptual "pop-out" phenomenon (i.e. the dramatic improvement of speech intelligibility after receiving information about speech content) to investigate the neurophysiological effects of prior expectations on degraded speech comprehension. We recorded electroencephalography (EEG) and pupillometry from 21 adults while they rated the clarity of noise-vocoded and sine-wave synthesized sentences. Pop-out was reliably elicited following visual presentation of the corresponding written sentence, but not following incongruent or neutral text. Pop-out was associated with improved reconstruction of the acoustic stimulus envelope from low-frequency EEG activity, implying that improvements in perceptual clarity were mediated via top-down signals that enhanced the quality of cortical speech representations. Spectral analysis further revealed that pop-out was accompanied by a reduction in theta-band power, consistent with predictive coding accounts of acoustic filling-in and incremental sentence processing. Moreover, delta-band power, alpha-band power, and pupil diameter were all increased following the provision of any written sentence information, irrespective of content. Together, these findings reveal distinctive profiles of neurophysiological activity that differentiate the content-specific processes associated with degraded speech comprehension from the context-specific processes invoked under adverse listening conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew W Corcoran
- Corresponding author: Room E672, 20 Chancellors Walk, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia.
| | - Ricardo Perera
- Cognition & Philosophy Laboratory, School of Philosophical, Historical, and International Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800 Australia
| | - Matthieu Koroma
- Brain and Consciousness Group (ENS, EHESS, CNRS), Département d’Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure-PSL Research University, Paris 75005, France
| | - Sid Kouider
- Brain and Consciousness Group (ENS, EHESS, CNRS), Département d’Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure-PSL Research University, Paris 75005, France
| | - Jakob Hohwy
- Cognition & Philosophy Laboratory, School of Philosophical, Historical, and International Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800 Australia,Monash Centre for Consciousness & Contemplative Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800 Australia
| | - Thomas Andrillon
- Monash Centre for Consciousness & Contemplative Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800 Australia,Paris Brain Institute, Sorbonne Université, Inserm-CNRS, Paris 75013, France
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30
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Zhang M, Frohlich F. Cell type-specific excitability probed by optogenetic stimulation depends on the phase of the alpha oscillation. Brain Stimul 2022; 15:472-482. [PMID: 35219922 PMCID: PMC8975618 DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2022.02.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2021] [Revised: 01/30/2022] [Accepted: 02/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Alpha oscillations have been proposed to provide phasic inhibition in the brain. Yet, pinging alpha oscillations with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to examine phase-dependent network excitability has resulted in conflicting findings. At the cellular level, such gating by the alpha oscillation remains poorly understood. OBJECTIVE We examine how the excitability of pyramidal cells and presumed fast-spiking inhibitory interneurons depends on the phase of the alpha oscillation. METHODS Optogenetic stimulation pulses were administered at random phases of the alpha oscillation in the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) of two adult ferrets that expressed channelrhodopsin in pyramidal cells. Post-stimulation firing probability was calculated as a function of the stimulation phase of the alpha oscillation for both verum and sham stimulation. RESULTS The excitability of pyramidal cells depended on the alpha phase, in anticorrelation with their intrinsic phase preference; pyramidal cells were more responsive to optogenetic stimulation at the alpha phase with intrinsically low firing rates. In contrast, presumed fast-spiking inhibitory interneurons did not show such a phase dependency despite their stronger intrinsic phase preference. CONCLUSIONS Alpha oscillations gate input to PPC in a phase-dependent manner such that low intrinsic activity was associated with higher responsiveness to input. This finding supports a model of cortical oscillation, in which internal processing and communication are limited to the depolarized half-cycle, whereas the other half-cycle serves as a signal detector for unexpected input. The functional role of different parts of the alpha cycle may vary across the cortex depending on local neuronal firing properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mengsen Zhang
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Flavio Frohlich
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA; Carolina Center for Neurostimulation, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA; Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA; Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA; Department of Neurology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
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31
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Attaheri A, Choisdealbha ÁN, Di Liberto GM, Rocha S, Brusini P, Mead N, Olawole-Scott H, Boutris P, Gibbon S, Williams I, Grey C, Flanagan S, Goswami U. Delta- and theta-band cortical tracking and phase-amplitude coupling to sung speech by infants. Neuroimage 2021; 247:118698. [PMID: 34798233 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118698] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2021] [Revised: 10/15/2021] [Accepted: 10/30/2021] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
The amplitude envelope of speech carries crucial low-frequency acoustic information that assists linguistic decoding at multiple time scales. Neurophysiological signals are known to track the amplitude envelope of adult-directed speech (ADS), particularly in the theta-band. Acoustic analysis of infant-directed speech (IDS) has revealed significantly greater modulation energy than ADS in an amplitude-modulation (AM) band centred on ∼2 Hz. Accordingly, cortical tracking of IDS by delta-band neural signals may be key to language acquisition. Speech also contains acoustic information within its higher-frequency bands (beta, gamma). Adult EEG and MEG studies reveal an oscillatory hierarchy, whereby low-frequency (delta, theta) neural phase dynamics temporally organize the amplitude of high-frequency signals (phase amplitude coupling, PAC). Whilst consensus is growing around the role of PAC in the matured adult brain, its role in the development of speech processing is unexplored. Here, we examined the presence and maturation of low-frequency (<12 Hz) cortical speech tracking in infants by recording EEG longitudinally from 60 participants when aged 4-, 7- and 11- months as they listened to nursery rhymes. After establishing stimulus-related neural signals in delta and theta, cortical tracking at each age was assessed in the delta, theta and alpha [control] bands using a multivariate temporal response function (mTRF) method. Delta-beta, delta-gamma, theta-beta and theta-gamma phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) was also assessed. Significant delta and theta but not alpha tracking was found. Significant PAC was present at all ages, with both delta and theta -driven coupling observed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam Attaheri
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom.
| | - Áine Ní Choisdealbha
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom.
| | - Giovanni M Di Liberto
- Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs, UMR 8248, CNRS, France; Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL University, France; Department of Mechanical, Trinity Centre for Biomedical Engineering and Trinity Institute of Neuroscience, Manufacturing and Biomedical Engineering, Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Ireland; School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and UCD Centre for Biomedical Engineering, University College Dublin, Ireland.
| | - Sinead Rocha
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom.
| | - Perrine Brusini
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom; Institute of Population Health, Waterhouse Building, Block B, Brownlow Street, Liverpool L69 3GF, United Kingdom.
| | - Natasha Mead
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom.
| | - Helen Olawole-Scott
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom.
| | - Panagiotis Boutris
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom.
| | - Samuel Gibbon
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom.
| | - Isabel Williams
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom.
| | - Christina Grey
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom.
| | - Sheila Flanagan
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom.
| | - Usha Goswami
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom.
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32
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Panachakel JT, G RA. Classification of Phonological Categories in Imagined Speech using Phase Synchronization Measure. ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY. IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY. ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2021; 2021:2226-2229. [PMID: 34891729 DOI: 10.1109/embc46164.2021.9630699] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Phonological categories in articulated speech are defined based on the place and manner of articulation. In this work, we investigate whether the phonological categories of the prompts imagined during speech imagery lead to differences in phase synchronization in various cortical regions that can be discriminated from the EEG captured during the imagination. Nasal and bilabial consonant are the two phonological categories considered due to their differences in both place and manner of articulation. Mean phase coherence (MPC) is used for measuring the phase synchronization and shallow neural network (NN) is used as the classifier. As a benchmark, we have also designed another NN based on statistical parameters extracted from imagined speech EEG. The NN trained on MPC values in the beta band gives classification results superior to NN trained on alpha band MPC values, gamma band MPC values and statistical parameters extracted from the EEG.Clinical relevance: Brain-computer interface (BCI) is a promising tool for aiding differently-abled people and for neurorehabilitation. One of the challenges in designing speech imagery based BCI is the identification of speech prompts that can lead to distinct neural activations. We have shown that nasal and blilabial consonants lead to dissimilar activations. Hence prompts orthogonal in these phonological categories are good choices as speech imagery prompts.
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Panachakel JT, Sharma K, A S A, A G R. Can we identify the category of imagined phoneme from EEG? ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY. IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY. ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2021; 2021:459-462. [PMID: 34891332 DOI: 10.1109/embc46164.2021.9630604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Phonemes are classified into different categories based on the place and manner of articulation. We investigate the differences between the neural correlates of imagined nasal and bilabial consonants (distinct phonological categories). Mean phase coherence is used as a metric for measuring the phase synchronisation between pairs of electrodes in six cortical regions (auditory, motor, prefrontal, sensorimotor, so-matosensory and premotor) during the imagery of nasal and bilabial consonants. Statistically significant difference at 95% confidence interval is observed in beta and lower-gamma bands in various cortical regions. Our observations are inline with the directions into velocities of articulators and dual stream prediction models and support the hypothesis that phonological categories not only exist in articulated speech but can also be distinguished from the EEG of imagined speech.
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Decoding Object-Based Auditory Attention from Source-Reconstructed MEG Alpha Oscillations. J Neurosci 2021; 41:8603-8617. [PMID: 34429378 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0583-21.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2021] [Revised: 08/08/2021] [Accepted: 08/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
How do we attend to relevant auditory information in complex naturalistic scenes? Much research has focused on detecting which information is attended, without regarding underlying top-down control mechanisms. Studies investigating attentional control generally manipulate and cue specific features in simple stimuli. However, in naturalistic scenes it is impossible to dissociate relevant from irrelevant information based on low-level features. Instead, the brain has to parse and select auditory objects of interest. The neural underpinnings of object-based auditory attention remain not well understood. Here we recorded MEG while 15 healthy human subjects (9 female) prepared for the repetition of an auditory object presented in one of two overlapping naturalistic auditory streams. The stream containing the repetition was prospectively cued with 70% validity. Crucially, this task could not be solved by attending low-level features, but only by processing the objects fully. We trained a linear classifier on the cortical distribution of source-reconstructed oscillatory activity to distinguish which auditory stream was attended. We could successfully classify the attended stream from alpha (8-14 Hz) activity in anticipation of repetition onset. Importantly, attention could only be classified from trials in which subjects subsequently detected the repetition, but not from miss trials. Behavioral relevance was further supported by a correlation between classification accuracy and detection performance. Decodability was not sustained throughout stimulus presentation, but peaked shortly before repetition onset, suggesting that attention acted transiently according to temporal expectations. We thus demonstrate anticipatory alpha oscillations to underlie top-down control of object-based auditory attention in complex naturalistic scenes.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT In everyday life, we often find ourselves bombarded with auditory information, from which we need to select what is relevant to our current goals. Previous research has highlighted how we attend to specific highly controlled aspects of the auditory input. Although invaluable, it is still unclear how this relates to attentional control in naturalistic auditory scenes. Here we used the high precision of magnetoencephalography in space and time to investigate the brain mechanisms underlying top-down control of object-based attention in ecologically valid sound scenes. We show that rhythmic activity in auditory association cortex at a frequency of ∼10 Hz (alpha waves) controls attention to currently relevant segments within the auditory scene and predicts whether these segments are subsequently detected.
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35
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De Groote E, Eqlimi E, Bockstael A, Botteldooren D, Santens P, De Letter M. Parkinson's disease affects the neural alpha oscillations associated with speech-in-noise processing. Eur J Neurosci 2021; 54:7355-7376. [PMID: 34617350 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15477] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2021] [Revised: 09/03/2021] [Accepted: 09/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Parkinson's disease (PD) has increasingly been associated with auditory dysfunction, including alterations regarding the control of auditory information processing. Although these alterations may interfere with the processing of speech in degraded listening conditions, behavioural studies have generally found preserved speech-in-noise recognition in PD. However, behavioural speech audiometry does not capture the neurophysiological mechanisms supporting speech-in-noise processing. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the neural oscillatory mechanisms associated with speech-in-noise processing in PD. Twelve persons with PD and 12 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HCs) were included in this study. Persons with PD were studied in the medication off condition. All subjects underwent an audiometric screening and performed a sentence-in-noise recognition task under simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) recording. Behavioural speech recognition scores and self-reported ratings of effort, performance, and motivation were collected. Time-frequency analysis of EEG data revealed no significant difference between persons with PD and HCs regarding delta-theta (2-8 Hz) inter-trial phase coherence to noise and sentence onset. In contrast, significantly increased alpha (8-12 Hz) power was found in persons with PD compared with HCs during the sentence-in-noise recognition task. Behaviourally, persons with PD demonstrated significantly decreased speech recognition scores, whereas no significant differences were found regarding effort, performance, and motivation ratings. These results suggest that persons with PD allocate more cognitive resources to support speech-in-noise processing. The interpretation of this finding is discussed in the context of a top-down mediated compensation mechanism for inefficient filtering and degradation of auditory input in PD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evelien De Groote
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, BrainComm Research Group, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Ehsan Eqlimi
- Department of Information Technology, WAVES Research Group, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Annelies Bockstael
- Department of Information Technology, WAVES Research Group, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Dick Botteldooren
- Department of Information Technology, WAVES Research Group, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Patrick Santens
- Department of Neurology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Miet De Letter
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, BrainComm Research Group, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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Jenson D. Audiovisual incongruence differentially impacts left and right hemisphere sensorimotor oscillations: Potential applications to production. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0258335. [PMID: 34618866 PMCID: PMC8496780 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/26/2020] [Accepted: 09/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Speech production gives rise to distinct auditory and somatosensory feedback signals which are dynamically integrated to enable online monitoring and error correction, though it remains unclear how the sensorimotor system supports the integration of these multimodal signals. Capitalizing on the parity of sensorimotor processes supporting perception and production, the current study employed the McGurk paradigm to induce multimodal sensory congruence/incongruence. EEG data from a cohort of 39 typical speakers were decomposed with independent component analysis to identify bilateral mu rhythms; indices of sensorimotor activity. Subsequent time-frequency analyses revealed bilateral patterns of event related desynchronization (ERD) across alpha and beta frequency ranges over the time course of perceptual events. Right mu activity was characterized by reduced ERD during all cases of audiovisual incongruence, while left mu activity was attenuated and protracted in McGurk trials eliciting sensory fusion. Results were interpreted to suggest distinct hemispheric contributions, with right hemisphere mu activity supporting a coarse incongruence detection process and left hemisphere mu activity reflecting a more granular level of analysis including phonological identification and incongruence resolution. Findings are also considered in regard to incongruence detection and resolution processes during production.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Jenson
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Washington State University, Spokane, Washington, United States of America
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37
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Lim SJ, Carter YD, Njoroge JM, Shinn-Cunningham BG, Perrachione TK. Talker discontinuity disrupts attention to speech: Evidence from EEG and pupillometry. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2021; 221:104996. [PMID: 34358924 PMCID: PMC8515637 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2021.104996] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2021] [Revised: 07/11/2021] [Accepted: 07/13/2021] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
Speech is processed less efficiently from discontinuous, mixed talkers than one consistent talker, but little is known about the neural mechanisms for processing talker variability. Here, we measured psychophysiological responses to talker variability using electroencephalography (EEG) and pupillometry while listeners performed a delayed recall of digit span task. Listeners heard and recalled seven-digit sequences with both talker (single- vs. mixed-talker digits) and temporal (0- vs. 500-ms inter-digit intervals) discontinuities. Talker discontinuity reduced serial recall accuracy. Both talker and temporal discontinuities elicited P3a-like neural evoked response, while rapid processing of mixed-talkers' speech led to increased phasic pupil dilation. Furthermore, mixed-talkers' speech produced less alpha oscillatory power during working memory maintenance, but not during speech encoding. Overall, these results are consistent with an auditory attention and streaming framework in which talker discontinuity leads to involuntary, stimulus-driven attentional reorientation to novel speech sources, resulting in the processing interference classically associated with talker variability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sung-Joo Lim
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, United States.
| | - Yaminah D Carter
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, United States
| | - J Michelle Njoroge
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, United States
| | | | - Tyler K Perrachione
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, United States.
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38
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Dheerendra P, Barascud N, Kumar S, Overath T, Griffiths TD. Dynamics underlying auditory-object-boundary detection in primary auditory cortex. Eur J Neurosci 2021; 54:7274-7288. [PMID: 34549472 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15471] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2020] [Revised: 09/10/2021] [Accepted: 09/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Auditory object analysis requires the fundamental perceptual process of detecting boundaries between auditory objects. However, the dynamics underlying the identification of discontinuities at object boundaries are not well understood. Here, we employed a synthetic stimulus composed of frequency-modulated ramps known as 'acoustic textures', where boundaries were created by changing the underlying spectrotemporal statistics. We collected magnetoencephalographic (MEG) data from human volunteers and observed a slow (<1 Hz) post-boundary drift in the neuromagnetic signal. The response evoking this drift signal was source localised close to Heschl's gyrus (HG) bilaterally, which is in agreement with a previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study that found HG to be involved in the detection of similar auditory object boundaries. Time-frequency analysis demonstrated suppression in alpha and beta bands that occurred after the drift signal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pradeep Dheerendra
- Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.,Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK.,Institute of Neuroscience & Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Nicolas Barascud
- LSCP, Département d'Etudes Cognitives, ENS, EHESS, CNRS, PSL Research University, Paris, France.,Ear Institute, University College London, London, UK
| | - Sukhbinder Kumar
- Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.,Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK
| | - Tobias Overath
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK.,Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
| | - Timothy D Griffiths
- Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.,Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK
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39
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Tune S, Alavash M, Fiedler L, Obleser J. Neural attentional-filter mechanisms of listening success in middle-aged and older individuals. Nat Commun 2021; 12:4533. [PMID: 34312388 PMCID: PMC8313676 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24771-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2020] [Accepted: 07/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Successful listening crucially depends on intact attentional filters that separate relevant from irrelevant information. Research into their neurobiological implementation has focused on two potential auditory filter strategies: the lateralization of alpha power and selective neural speech tracking. However, the functional interplay of the two neural filter strategies and their potency to index listening success in an ageing population remains unclear. Using electroencephalography and a dual-talker task in a representative sample of listeners (N = 155; age=39-80 years), we here demonstrate an often-missed link from single-trial behavioural outcomes back to trial-by-trial changes in neural attentional filtering. First, we observe preserved attentional-cue-driven modulation of both neural filters across chronological age and hearing levels. Second, neural filter states vary independently of one another, demonstrating complementary neurobiological solutions of spatial selective attention. Stronger neural speech tracking but not alpha lateralization boosts trial-to-trial behavioural performance. Our results highlight the translational potential of neural speech tracking as an individualized neural marker of adaptive listening behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Tune
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
- Center for Brain, Behavior, and Metabolism, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
| | - Mohsen Alavash
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Center for Brain, Behavior, and Metabolism, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Lorenz Fiedler
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Center for Brain, Behavior, and Metabolism, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Eriksholm Research Centre, Snekkersten, Denmark
| | - Jonas Obleser
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
- Center for Brain, Behavior, and Metabolism, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
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40
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Paul BT, Chen J, Le T, Lin V, Dimitrijevic A. Cortical alpha oscillations in cochlear implant users reflect subjective listening effort during speech-in-noise perception. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0254162. [PMID: 34242290 PMCID: PMC8270138 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2020] [Accepted: 06/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Listening to speech in noise is effortful for individuals with hearing loss, even if they have received a hearing prosthesis such as a hearing aid or cochlear implant (CI). At present, little is known about the neural functions that support listening effort. One form of neural activity that has been suggested to reflect listening effort is the power of 8-12 Hz (alpha) oscillations measured by electroencephalography (EEG). Alpha power in two cortical regions has been associated with effortful listening-left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and parietal cortex-but these relationships have not been examined in the same listeners. Further, there are few studies available investigating neural correlates of effort in the individuals with cochlear implants. Here we tested 16 CI users in a novel effort-focused speech-in-noise listening paradigm, and confirm a relationship between alpha power and self-reported effort ratings in parietal regions, but not left IFG. The parietal relationship was not linear but quadratic, with alpha power comparatively lower when effort ratings were at the top and bottom of the effort scale, and higher when effort ratings were in the middle of the scale. Results are discussed in terms of cognitive systems that are engaged in difficult listening situations, and the implication for clinical translation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brandon T. Paul
- Evaluative Clinical Sciences Platform, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Joseph Chen
- Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Faculty of Medicine, Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Trung Le
- Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Faculty of Medicine, Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Vincent Lin
- Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Faculty of Medicine, Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Andrew Dimitrijevic
- Evaluative Clinical Sciences Platform, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Faculty of Medicine, Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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41
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Tracking Cognitive Spare Capacity During Speech Perception With EEG/ERP: Effects of Cognitive Load and Sentence Predictability. Ear Hear 2021; 41:1144-1157. [PMID: 32282402 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000000856] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Listening to speech in adverse listening conditions is effortful. Objective assessment of cognitive spare capacity during listening can serve as an index of the effort needed to understand speech. Cognitive spare capacity is influenced both by signal-driven demands posed by listening conditions and top-down demands intrinsic to spoken language processing, such as memory use and semantic processing. Previous research indicates that electrophysiological responses, particularly alpha oscillatory power, may index listening effort. However, it is not known how these indices respond to memory and semantic processing demands during spoken language processing in adverse listening conditions. The aim of the present study was twofold: first, to assess the impact of memory demands on electrophysiological responses during recognition of degraded, spoken sentences, and second, to examine whether predictable sentence contexts increase or decrease cognitive spare capacity during listening. DESIGN Cognitive demand was varied in a memory load task in which young adult participants (n = 20) viewed either low-load (one digit) or high-load (seven digits) sequences of digits, then listened to noise-vocoded spoken sentences that were either predictable or unpredictable, and then reported the final word of the sentence and the digits. Alpha oscillations in the frequency domain and event-related potentials in the time domain of the electrophysiological data were analyzed, as was behavioral accuracy for both words and digits. RESULTS Measured during sentence processing, event-related desynchronization of alpha power was greater (more negative) under high load than low load and was also greater for unpredictable than predictable sentences. A complementary pattern was observed for the P300/late positive complex (LPC) to sentence-final words, such that P300/LPC amplitude was reduced under high load compared with low load and for unpredictable compared with predictable sentences. Both words and digits were identified more quickly and accurately on trials in which spoken sentences were predictable. CONCLUSIONS Results indicate that during a sentence-recognition task, both cognitive load and sentence predictability modulate electrophysiological indices of cognitive spare capacity, namely alpha oscillatory power and P300/LPC amplitude. Both electrophysiological and behavioral results indicate that a predictive sentence context reduces cognitive demands during listening. Findings contribute to a growing literature on objective measures of cognitive demand during listening and indicate predictable sentence context as a top-down factor that can support ease of listening.
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42
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Kraus F, Tune S, Ruhe A, Obleser J, Wöstmann M. Unilateral Acoustic Degradation Delays Attentional Separation of Competing Speech. Trends Hear 2021; 25:23312165211013242. [PMID: 34184964 PMCID: PMC8246482 DOI: 10.1177/23312165211013242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Hearing loss is often asymmetric such that hearing thresholds differ substantially between the two ears. The extreme case of such asymmetric hearing is single-sided deafness. A unilateral cochlear implant (CI) on the more severely impaired ear is an effective treatment to restore hearing. The interactive effects of unilateral acoustic degradation and spatial attention to one sound source in multitalker situations are at present unclear. Here, we simulated some features of listening with a unilateral CI in young, normal-hearing listeners (N = 22) who were presented with 8-band noise-vocoded speech to one ear and intact speech to the other ear. Neural responses were recorded in the electroencephalogram to obtain the spectrotemporal response function to speech. Listeners made more mistakes when answering questions about vocoded (vs. intact) attended speech. At the neural level, we asked how unilateral acoustic degradation would impact the attention-induced amplification of tracking target versus distracting speech. Interestingly, unilateral degradation did not per se reduce the attention-induced amplification but instead delayed it in time: Speech encoding accuracy, modelled on the basis of the spectrotemporal response function, was significantly enhanced for attended versus ignored intact speech at earlier neural response latencies (<∼250 ms). This attentional enhancement was not absent but delayed for vocoded speech. These findings suggest that attentional selection of unilateral, degraded speech is feasible but induces delayed neural separation of competing speech, which might explain listening challenges experienced by unilateral CI users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frauke Kraus
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Sarah Tune
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Anna Ruhe
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Jonas Obleser
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Malte Wöstmann
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
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43
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Jenson D, Saltuklaroglu T. Sensorimotor contributions to working memory differ between the discrimination of Same and Different syllable pairs. Neuropsychologia 2021; 159:107947. [PMID: 34216594 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107947] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2020] [Revised: 02/01/2021] [Accepted: 06/27/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Sensorimotor activity during speech perception is both pervasive and highly variable, changing as a function of the cognitive demands imposed by the task. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate whether the discrimination of Same (matched) and Different (unmatched) syllable pairs elicit different patterns of sensorimotor activity as stimuli are processed in working memory. Raw EEG data recorded from 42 participants were decomposed with independent component analysis to identify bilateral sensorimotor mu rhythms from 36 subjects. Time frequency decomposition of mu rhythms revealed concurrent event related desynchronization (ERD) in alpha and beta frequency bands across the peri- and post-stimulus time periods, which were interpreted as evidence of sensorimotor contributions to working memory encoding and maintenance. Left hemisphere alpha/beta ERD was stronger in Different trials than Same trials during the post-stimulus period, while right hemisphere alpha/beta ERD was stronger in Same trials than Different trials. A between-hemispheres contrast revealed no differences during Same trials, while post-stimulus alpha/beta ERD was stronger in the left hemisphere than the right during Different trials. Results were interpreted to suggest that predictive coding mechanisms lead to repetition suppression effects in Same trials. Mismatches arising from predictive coding mechanisms in Different trials shift subsequent working memory processing to the speech-dominant left hemisphere. Findings clarify how sensorimotor activity differentially supports working memory encoding and maintenance stages during speech discrimination tasks and have potential to inform sensorimotor models of speech perception and working memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Jenson
- Washington State University, Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Spokane, WA, USA.
| | - Tim Saltuklaroglu
- University of Tennessee Health Science Center, College of Health Professions, Department of Audiology and Speech-Pathology, Knoxville, TN, USA
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44
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Wisniewski MG, Zakrzewski AC, Bell DR, Wheeler M. EEG power spectral dynamics associated with listening in adverse conditions. Psychophysiology 2021; 58:e13877. [PMID: 34161612 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13877] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2020] [Revised: 05/15/2021] [Accepted: 05/17/2021] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Adverse listening conditions increase the demand on cognitive resources needed for speech comprehension. In an exploratory study, we aimed to identify independent power spectral features in the EEG useful for studying the cognitive processes involved in this effortful listening. Listeners performed the coordinate response measure task with a single-talker masker at a 0-dB signal-to-noise ratio. Sounds were left unfiltered or degraded with low-pass filtering. Independent component analysis (ICA) was used to identify independent components (ICs) in the EEG data, the power spectral dynamics of which were then analyzed. Frontal midline theta, left frontal, right frontal, left mu, right mu, left temporal, parietal, left occipital, central occipital, and right occipital clusters of ICs were identified. All IC clusters showed some significant listening-related changes in their power spectrum. This included sustained theta enhancements, gamma enhancements, alpha enhancements, alpha suppression, beta enhancements, and mu rhythm suppression. Several of these effects were absent or negligible using traditional channel analyses. Comparison of filtered to unfiltered speech revealed a stronger alpha suppression in the parietal and central occipital clusters of ICs for the filtered speech condition. This not only replicates recent findings showing greater alpha suppression as listening difficulty increases but also suggests that such alpha-band effects can stem from multiple cortical sources. We lay out the advantages of the ICA approach over the restrictive analyses that have been used as of late in the study of listening effort. We also make suggestions for moving into hypothesis-driven studies regarding the power spectral features that were revealed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew G Wisniewski
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA
| | | | - Destiny R Bell
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA
| | - Michelle Wheeler
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA
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45
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De Nil L, Isabella S, Jobst C, Kwon S, Mollaei F, Cheyne D. Complexity-Dependent Modulations of Beta Oscillations for Verbal and Nonverbal Movements. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2021; 64:2248-2260. [PMID: 33900804 DOI: 10.1044/2021_jslhr-20-00275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Purpose The planning and execution of motor behaviors require coordination of neurons that are established through synchronization of neural activity. Movements are typically preceded by event-related desynchronization (ERD) in the beta range (15-30 Hz) primarily localized in the motor cortex, while movement onset is associated with event-related synchronization (ERS). It is hypothesized that ERD is important for movement preparation and execution, and ERS serves to inhibit movement and update the motor plan. The primary objective of this study was to determine to what extent movement-related oscillatory brain patterns (ERD and ERS) during verbal and nonverbal tasks may be affected differentially by variations in task complexity. Method Seventeen right-handed adult participants (nine women, eight men; M age = 25.8 years, SD = 5.13) completed a sequential button press and verbal task. The final analyses included data for 15 participants for the nonverbal task and 13 for the verbal task. Both tasks consisted of two complexity levels: simple and complex sequences. Magnetoencephalography was used to record modulations in beta band brain oscillations during task performance. Results Both the verbal and button press tasks were characterized by significant premovement ERD and postmovement ERS. However, only simple sequences showed a distinct transient synchronization during the premovement phase of the task. Differences between the two tasks were reflected in both latency and peak amplitude of ERD and ERS, as well as in lateralization of oscillations. Conclusions Both verbal and nonverbal movements showed a significant desynchronization of beta oscillations during the movement preparation and holding phase and a resynchronization upon movement termination. Importantly, the premovement phase for simple but not complex tasks was characterized by a transient partial synchronization. In addition, the data revealed significant differences between the two tasks in terms of lateralization of oscillatory modulations. Our findings suggest that, while data from the general motor control research can inform our understanding of speech motor control, significant differences exist between the two motor systems that caution against overgeneralization of underlying neural control processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luc De Nil
- Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Silvia Isabella
- Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Cecilia Jobst
- The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Soonji Kwon
- The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Fatemeh Mollaei
- Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Douglas Cheyne
- Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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46
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Reduction of somatosensory functional connectivity by transcranial alternating current stimulation at endogenous mu-frequency. Neuroimage 2020; 221:117175. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2020] [Revised: 06/19/2020] [Accepted: 07/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
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47
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Tóth B, Honbolygó F, Szalárdy O, Orosz G, Farkas D, Winkler I. The effects of speech processing units on auditory stream segregation and selective attention in a multi-talker (cocktail party) situation. Cortex 2020; 130:387-400. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.06.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2019] [Revised: 03/24/2020] [Accepted: 06/08/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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48
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Seifi Ala T, Graversen C, Wendt D, Alickovic E, Whitmer WM, Lunner T. An exploratory Study of EEG Alpha Oscillation and Pupil Dilation in Hearing-Aid Users During Effortful listening to Continuous Speech. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0235782. [PMID: 32649733 PMCID: PMC7351195 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0235782] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2020] [Accepted: 06/17/2020] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Individuals with hearing loss allocate cognitive resources to comprehend noisy speech in everyday life scenarios. Such a scenario could be when they are exposed to ongoing speech and need to sustain their attention for a rather long period of time, which requires listening effort. Two well-established physiological methods that have been found to be sensitive to identify changes in listening effort are pupillometry and electroencephalography (EEG). However, these measurements have been used mainly for momentary, evoked or episodic effort. The aim of this study was to investigate how sustained effort manifests in pupillometry and EEG, using continuous speech with varying signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Eight hearing-aid users participated in this exploratory study and performed a continuous speech-in-noise task. The speech material consisted of 30-second continuous streams that were presented from loudspeakers to the right and left side of the listener (±30° azimuth) in the presence of 4-talker background noise (+180° azimuth). The participants were instructed to attend either to the right or left speaker and ignore the other in a randomized order with two different SNR conditions: 0 dB and -5 dB (the difference between the target and the competing talker). The effects of SNR on listening effort were explored objectively using pupillometry and EEG. The results showed larger mean pupil dilation and decreased EEG alpha power in the parietal lobe during the more effortful condition. This study demonstrates that both measures are sensitive to changes in SNR during continuous speech.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tirdad Seifi Ala
- Eriksholm Research Centre, Oticon A/S, Snekkersten, Denmark
- Hearing Sciences–Scottish Section, Division of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Nottingham, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
| | | | - Dorothea Wendt
- Eriksholm Research Centre, Oticon A/S, Snekkersten, Denmark
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Emina Alickovic
- Eriksholm Research Centre, Oticon A/S, Snekkersten, Denmark
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | - William M. Whitmer
- Hearing Sciences–Scottish Section, Division of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Nottingham, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
| | - Thomas Lunner
- Eriksholm Research Centre, Oticon A/S, Snekkersten, Denmark
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Song J, Martin L, Iverson P. Auditory neural tracking and lexical processing of speech in noise: Masker type, spatial location, and language experience. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2020; 148:253. [PMID: 32752786 DOI: 10.1121/10.0001477] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2019] [Accepted: 06/09/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The present study investigated how single-talker and babble maskers affect auditory and lexical processing during native (L1) and non-native (L2) speech recognition. Electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings were made while L1 and L2 (Korean) English speakers listened to sentences in the presence of single-talker and babble maskers that were colocated or spatially separated from the target. The predictability of the sentences was manipulated to measure lexical-semantic processing (N400), and selective auditory processing of the target was assessed using neural tracking measures. The results demonstrate that intelligible single-talker maskers cause listeners to attend more to the semantic content of the targets (i.e., greater context-related N400 changes) than when targets are in babble, and that listeners track the acoustics of the target less accurately with single-talker maskers. L1 and L2 listeners both modulated their processing in this way, although L2 listeners had more difficulty with the materials overall (i.e., lower behavioral accuracy, less context-related N400 variation, more listening effort). The results demonstrate that auditory and lexical processing can be simultaneously assessed within a naturalistic speech listening task, and listeners can adjust lexical processing to more strongly track the meaning of a sentence in order to help ignore competing lexical content.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jieun Song
- Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic Sciences, University College London, Chandler House, 2 Wakefield Street, London, WC1N 1PF, United Kingdom
| | - Luke Martin
- Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic Sciences, University College London, Chandler House, 2 Wakefield Street, London, WC1N 1PF, United Kingdom
| | - Paul Iverson
- Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic Sciences, University College London, Chandler House, 2 Wakefield Street, London, WC1N 1PF, United Kingdom
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Wöstmann M, Lui TKY, Friese KH, Kreitewolf J, Naujokat M, Obleser J. The vulnerability of working memory to distraction is rhythmic. Neuropsychologia 2020; 146:107505. [PMID: 32485200 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107505] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2020] [Revised: 05/08/2020] [Accepted: 05/26/2020] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Recent research posits that the cognitive system samples target stimuli in a rhythmic fashion, characterized by target detection fluctuating at frequencies of ~3-8 Hz. Besides prioritized encoding of targets, a key cognitive function is the protection of working memory from distractor intrusion. Here, we test to which degree the vulnerability of working memory to distraction is rhythmic. In an Irrelevant-Speech Task, N = 23 human participants had to retain the serial order of nine numbers in working memory while being distracted by task-irrelevant speech with variable temporal onsets. The magnitude of the distractor-evoked N1 component in the event-related potential as well as behavioural recall accuracy, both measures of memory distraction, were periodically modulated by distractor onset time in approximately 2-4 cycles per second (Hz). Critically, an underlying 2.5-Hz rhythm explained variation in both measures of distraction such that stronger phasic distractor encoding mediated lower phasic memory recall accuracy. In a behavioural follow-up experiment, we tested whether these results would replicate in a task design without rhythmic presentation of target items. Participants (N = 6 with on average >2500 trials, each) retained two line-figures in memory while being distracted by acoustic noise of varying onset across trials. In agreement with the main experiment, the temporal onset of the distractor periodically modulated memory performance. These results suggest that during working memory retention, the human cognitive system implements distractor suppression in a temporally dynamic fashion, reflected in ~400-ms long cycles of high versus low distractibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Malte Wöstmann
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
| | | | | | - Jens Kreitewolf
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Malte Naujokat
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Jonas Obleser
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
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