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Maggu AR. Auditory Evoked Potentials in Communication Disorders: An Overview of Past, Present, and Future. Semin Hear 2022; 43:137-148. [PMID: 36313051 PMCID: PMC9605805 DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1756160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/16/2023] Open
Abstract
This article provides a brief overview of auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) and their application in the areas of research and clinics within the field of communication disorders. The article begins with providing a historical perspective within the context of the key scientific developments that led to the emergence of numerous types of AEPs. Furthermore, the article discusses the different AEP techniques in the light of their feasibility in clinics. As AEPs, because of their versatility, find their use across disciplines, this article also discusses some of the research questions that are currently being addressed using AEP techniques in the field of communication disorders and beyond. At the end, this article summarizes the shortcomings of the existing AEP techniques and provides a general perspective toward the future directions. The article is aimed at a broad readership including (but not limited to) students, clinicians, and researchers. Overall, this article may act as a brief primer for the new AEP users, and as an overview of the progress in the field of AEPs along with future directions, for those who already use AEPs on a routine basis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akshay R. Maggu
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York
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Novitskiy N, Maggu AR, Lai CM, Chan PHY, Wong KHY, Lam HS, Leung TY, Leung TF, Wong PCM. Early Development of Neural Speech Encoding Depends on Age but Not Native Language Status: Evidence From Lexical Tone. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2022; 3:67-86. [PMID: 37215329 PMCID: PMC10178623 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2020] [Accepted: 06/22/2021] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
We investigated the development of early-latency and long-latency brain responses to native and non-native speech to shed light on the neurophysiological underpinnings of perceptual narrowing and early language development. Specifically, we postulated a two-level process to explain the decrease in sensitivity to non-native phonemes toward the end of infancy. Neurons at the earlier stages of the ascending auditory pathway mature rapidly during infancy facilitating the encoding of both native and non-native sounds. This growth enables neurons at the later stages of the auditory pathway to assign phonological status to speech according to the infant's native language environment. To test this hypothesis, we collected early-latency and long-latency neural responses to native and non-native lexical tones from 85 Cantonese-learning children aged between 23 days and 24 months, 16 days. As expected, a broad range of presumably subcortical early-latency neural encoding measures grew rapidly and substantially during the first two years for both native and non-native tones. By contrast, long-latency cortical electrophysiological changes occurred on a much slower scale and showed sensitivity to nativeness at around six months. Our study provided a comprehensive understanding of early language development by revealing the complementary roles of earlier and later stages of speech processing in the developing brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nikolay Novitskiy
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Akshay R. Maggu
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
- O-lab, Duke Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Ching Man Lai
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Peggy H. Y. Chan
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
- Department of Paediatrics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Kay H. Y. Wong
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Hugh Simon Lam
- Department of Paediatrics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Tak Yeung Leung
- Department of Obsterics and Gynaecology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Ting Fan Leung
- Department of Paediatrics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Patrick C. M. Wong
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
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Panico F, De Marco S, Sagliano L, D'Olimpio F, Grossi D, Trojano L. Brain hemodynamic response in Examiner-Examinee dyads during spatial short-term memory task: an fNIRS study. Exp Brain Res 2021; 239:1607-1616. [PMID: 33751169 PMCID: PMC8144143 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-021-06073-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2020] [Accepted: 02/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
The Corsi Block-Tapping test (CBT) is a measure of spatial working memory (WM) in clinical practice, requiring an examinee to reproduce sequences of cubes tapped by an examiner. CBT implies complementary behaviors in the examiners and the examinees, as they have to attend a precise turn taking. Previous studies demonstrated that the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) is activated during CBT, but scarce evidence is available on the neural correlates of CBT in the real setting. We assessed PFC activity in dyads of examiner–examinee participants while completing the real version of CBT, during conditions of increasing and exceeding workload. This procedure allowed to investigate whether brain activity in the dyads is coordinated. Results in the examinees showed that PFC activity was higher when the workload approached or reached participants’ spatial WM span, and lower during workload conditions that were largely below or above their span. Interestingly, findings in the examiners paralleled the ones in the examinees, as examiners’ brain activity increased and decreased in a similar way as the examinees’ one. In the examiners, higher left-hemisphere activity was observed suggesting the likely activation of non-spatial WM processes. Data support a bell-shaped relationship between cognitive load and brain activity, and provide original insights on the cognitive processes activated in the examiner during CBT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Panico
- Department of Psychology, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Viale Ellittico 31, 81100, Caserta, Italy.
| | - Stefania De Marco
- Department of Psychology, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Viale Ellittico 31, 81100, Caserta, Italy
| | - Laura Sagliano
- Department of Psychology, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Viale Ellittico 31, 81100, Caserta, Italy
| | - Francesca D'Olimpio
- Department of Psychology, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Viale Ellittico 31, 81100, Caserta, Italy
| | - Dario Grossi
- Department of Psychology, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Viale Ellittico 31, 81100, Caserta, Italy
| | - Luigi Trojano
- Department of Psychology, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Viale Ellittico 31, 81100, Caserta, Italy
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Combination of absolute pitch and tone language experience enhances lexical tone perception. Sci Rep 2021; 11:1485. [PMID: 33452284 PMCID: PMC7811026 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-80260-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2020] [Accepted: 12/18/2020] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Absolute pitch (AP), a unique ability to name or produce pitch without any reference, is known to be influenced by genetic and cultural factors. AP and tone language experience are both known to promote lexical tone perception. However, the effects of the combination of AP and tone language experience on lexical tone perception are currently not known. In the current study, using behavioral (Categorical Perception) and electrophysiological (Frequency Following Response) measures, we investigated the effect of the combination of AP and tone language experience on lexical tone perception. We found that the Cantonese speakers with AP outperformed the Cantonese speakers without AP on Categorical Perception and Frequency Following Responses of lexical tones, suggesting an additive effect due to the combination of AP and tone language experience. These findings suggest a role of basic sensory pre-attentive auditory processes towards pitch encoding in AP. Further, these findings imply a common mechanism underlying pitch encoding in AP and tone language perception.
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Ong JH, Wong PCM, Liu F. Musicians show enhanced perception, but not production, of native lexical tones. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2020; 148:3443. [PMID: 33379922 DOI: 10.1121/10.0002776] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2020] [Accepted: 11/06/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Many studies have reported a musical advantage in perceiving lexical tones among non-native listeners, but it is unclear whether this advantage also applies to native listeners, who are likely to show ceiling-like performance and thus mask any potential musical advantage. The ongoing tone merging phenomenon in Hong Kong Cantonese provides a unique opportunity to investigate this as merging tone pairs are reported to be difficult to differentiate even among native listeners. In the present study, native Cantonese musicians and non-musicians were compared based on discrimination and identification of merging Cantonese tone pairs to determine whether a musical advantage in perception will be observed, and if so, whether this is seen on the phonetic and/or phonological level. The tonal space of the subjects' lexical tone production was also compared. Results indicated that the musicians outperformed the non-musicians on the two perceptual tasks, as indexed by a higher accuracy and faster reaction time, particularly on the most difficult tone pair. In the production task, however, there was no group difference in various indices of tonal space. Taken together, musical experience appears to facilitate native listeners' perception, but not production, of lexical tones, which partially supports a music-to-language transfer effect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jia Hoong Ong
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Earley Gate, Reading RG6 6AL, United Kingdom
| | - Patrick C M Wong
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages and Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Fang Liu
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Earley Gate, Reading RG6 6AL, United Kingdom
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Lau JCY, To CKS, Kwan JSK, Kang X, Losh M, Wong PCM. Lifelong Tone Language Experience does not Eliminate Deficits in Neural Encoding of Pitch in Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 2020; 51:3291-3310. [PMID: 33216279 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-020-04796-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/11/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Atypical pitch processing is a feature of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), which affects non-tone language speakers' communication. Lifelong auditory experience has been demonstrated to modify genetically-predisposed risks for pitch processing. We examined individuals with ASD to test the hypothesis that lifelong auditory experience in tone language may eliminate impaired pitch processing in ASD. We examined children's and adults' Frequency-following Response (FFR), a neurophysiological component indexing early neural sensory encoding of pitch. Univariate and machine-learning-based analytics suggest less robust pitch encoding and diminished pitch distinctions in the FFR from individuals with ASD. Contrary to our hypothesis, results point to a linguistic pitch encoding impairment associated with ASD that may not be eliminated even by lifelong sensory experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph C Y Lau
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China.,Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China.,Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.,Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.,Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Carol K S To
- Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Judy S K Kwan
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China.,Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Xin Kang
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China.,Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Molly Losh
- Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Patrick C M Wong
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China. .,Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China.
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