1
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Sun M, Xing W, Yu W, Slevc LR, Li W. ERP evidence for cross-domain prosodic priming from music to speech. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2024; 254:105439. [PMID: 38945108 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2024.105439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2023] [Revised: 06/19/2024] [Accepted: 06/25/2024] [Indexed: 07/02/2024]
Abstract
Considerable work has investigated similarities between the processing of music and language, but it remains unclear whether typical, genuine music can influence speech processing via cross-domain priming. To investigate this, we measured ERPs to musical phrases and to syntactically ambiguous Chinese phrases that could be disambiguated by early or late prosodic boundaries. Musical primes also had either early or late prosodic boundaries and we asked participants to judge whether the prime and target have the same structure. Within musical phrases, prosodic boundaries elicited reduced N1 and enhanced P2 components (relative to the no-boundary condition) and musical phrases with late boundaries exhibited a closure positive shift (CPS) component. More importantly, primed target phrases elicited a smaller CPS compared to non-primed phrases, regardless of the type of ambiguous phrase. These results suggest that prosodic priming can occur across domains, supporting the existence of common neural processes in music and language processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mingjiang Sun
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Huanghe Road 850, Dalian 116029, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian 116029, China
| | - Weijing Xing
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Huanghe Road 850, Dalian 116029, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian 116029, China
| | - Wenjing Yu
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Huanghe Road 850, Dalian 116029, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian 116029, China
| | - L Robert Slevc
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
| | - Weijun Li
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Huanghe Road 850, Dalian 116029, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian 116029, China.
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2
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Benítez-Burraco A, Nikolsky A. The (Co)Evolution of Language and Music Under Human Self-Domestication. HUMAN NATURE (HAWTHORNE, N.Y.) 2023; 34:229-275. [PMID: 37097428 PMCID: PMC10354115 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-023-09447-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/27/2023] [Indexed: 04/26/2023]
Abstract
Together with language, music is perhaps the most distinctive behavioral trait of the human species. Different hypotheses have been proposed to explain why only humans perform music and how this ability might have evolved in our species. In this paper, we advance a new model of music evolution that builds on the self-domestication view of human evolution, according to which the human phenotype is, at least in part, the outcome of a process similar to domestication in other mammals, triggered by the reduction in reactive aggression responses to environmental changes. We specifically argue that self-domestication can account for some of the cognitive changes, and particularly for the behaviors conducive to the complexification of music through a cultural mechanism. We hypothesize four stages in the evolution of music under self-domestication forces: (1) collective protomusic; (2) private, timbre-oriented music; (3) small-group, pitch-oriented music; and (4) collective, tonally organized music. This line of development encompasses the worldwide diversity of music types and genres and parallels what has been hypothesized for languages. Overall, music diversity might have emerged in a gradual fashion under the effects of the enhanced cultural niche construction as shaped by the progressive decrease in reactive (i.e., impulsive, triggered by fear or anger) aggression and the increase in proactive (i.e., premeditated, goal-directed) aggression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Benítez-Burraco
- Department of Spanish Language, Linguistics and Literary Theory (Linguistics), Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain.
- Departamento de Lengua Española, Facultad de Filología, Área de Lingüística General, Lingüística y Teoría de la Literatura, Universidad de Sevilla, C/ Palos de la Frontera s/n, Sevilla, 41007, España.
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3
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Nitin R, Gustavson DE, Aaron AS, Boorom OA, Bush CT, Wiens N, Vaughan C, Persici V, Blain SD, Soman U, Hambrick DZ, Camarata SM, McAuley JD, Gordon RL. Exploring individual differences in musical rhythm and grammar skills in school-aged children with typically developing language. Sci Rep 2023; 13:2201. [PMID: 36750727 PMCID: PMC9905575 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-21902-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2022] [Accepted: 10/05/2022] [Indexed: 02/09/2023] Open
Abstract
A growing number of studies have shown a connection between rhythmic processing and language skill. It has been proposed that domain-general rhythm abilities might help children to tap into the rhythm of speech (prosody), cueing them to prosodic markers of grammatical (syntactic) information during language acquisition, thus underlying the observed correlations between rhythm and language. Working memory processes common to task demands for musical rhythm discrimination and spoken language paradigms are another possible source of individual variance observed in musical rhythm and language abilities. To investigate the nature of the relationship between musical rhythm and expressive grammar skills, we adopted an individual differences approach in N = 132 elementary school-aged children ages 5-7, with typical language development, and investigated prosodic perception and working memory skills as possible mediators. Aligning with the literature, musical rhythm was correlated with expressive grammar performance (r = 0.41, p < 0.001). Moreover, musical rhythm predicted mastery of complex syntax items (r = 0.26, p = 0.003), suggesting a privileged role of hierarchical processing shared between musical rhythm processing and children's acquisition of complex syntactic structures. These relationships between rhythm and grammatical skills were not mediated by prosodic perception, working memory, or non-verbal IQ; instead, we uncovered a robust direct effect of musical rhythm perception on grammatical task performance. Future work should focus on possible biological endophenotypes and genetic influences underlying this relationship.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachana Nitin
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
- Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
| | - Daniel E Gustavson
- Department of Medicine, Division of Genetic Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Institute for Behavioural Genetics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Allison S Aaron
- Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Olivia A Boorom
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences and Disorders, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA
| | - Catherine T Bush
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Natalie Wiens
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Ascension Via Christi St Teresa Hospital, Wichita, KS, USA
| | - Chloe Vaughan
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Valentina Persici
- Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
- Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi di Milano - Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Scott D Blain
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Uma Soman
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Communication Disorders and Deaf Education, Fontbonne University, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - David Z Hambrick
- Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Stephen M Camarata
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - J Devin McAuley
- Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Reyna L Gordon
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
- Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
- Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
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4
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Moghiseh E, Sonderegger M, Wagner M. The iambic-trochaic law without iambs or trochees: Parsing speech for grouping and prominence. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2023; 153:1108. [PMID: 36859141 DOI: 10.1121/10.0017170] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2022] [Accepted: 01/23/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Listeners parse the speech signal effortlessly into words and phrases, but many questions remain about how. One classic idea is that rhythm-related auditory principles play a role, in particular, that a psycho-acoustic "iambic-trochaic law" (ITL) ensures that alternating sounds varying in intensity are perceived as recurrent binary groups with initial prominence (trochees), while alternating sounds varying in duration are perceived as binary groups with final prominence (iambs). We test the hypothesis that the ITL is in fact an indirect consequence of the parsing of speech along two in-principle orthogonal dimensions: prominence and grouping. Results from several perception experiments show that the two dimensions, prominence and grouping, are each reliably cued by both intensity and duration, while foot type is not associated with consistent cues. The ITL emerges only when one manipulates either intensity or duration in an extreme way. Overall, the results suggest that foot perception is derivative of the cognitively more basic decisions of grouping and prominence, and the notions of trochee and iamb may not play any direct role in speech parsing. A task manipulation furthermore gives new insight into how these decisions mutually inform each other.
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Affiliation(s)
- Esmail Moghiseh
- Department of Linguistics, McGill University, Montréal, Québec H3A 1A7, Canada
| | - Morgan Sonderegger
- Department of Linguistics, McGill University, Montréal, Québec H3A 1A7, Canada
| | - Michael Wagner
- Department of Linguistics, McGill University, Montréal, Québec H3A 1A7, Canada
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5
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Asano R, Boeckx C, Fujita K. Moving beyond domain-specific vs. domain-general options in cognitive neuroscience. Cortex 2022; 154:259-268. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2021] [Revised: 04/07/2022] [Accepted: 05/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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6
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Asano R, Boeckx C, Seifert U. Hierarchical control as a shared neurocognitive mechanism for language and music. Cognition 2021; 216:104847. [PMID: 34311153 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104847] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2020] [Revised: 05/14/2021] [Accepted: 07/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Although comparative research has made substantial progress in clarifying the relationship between language and music as neurocognitive systems from both a theoretical and empirical perspective, there is still no consensus about which mechanisms, if any, are shared and how they bring about different neurocognitive systems. In this paper, we tackle these two questions by focusing on hierarchical control as a neurocognitive mechanism underlying syntax in language and music. We put forward the Coordinated Hierarchical Control (CHC) hypothesis: linguistic and musical syntax rely on hierarchical control, but engage this shared mechanism differently depending on the current control demand. While linguistic syntax preferably engages the abstract rule-based control circuit, musical syntax rather employs the coordination of the abstract rule-based and the more concrete motor-based control circuits. We provide evidence for our hypothesis by reviewing neuroimaging as well as neuropsychological studies on linguistic and musical syntax. The CHC hypothesis makes a set of novel testable predictions to guide future work on the relationship between language and music.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rie Asano
- Systematic Musicology, Institute of Musicology, University of Cologne, Germany.
| | - Cedric Boeckx
- Section of General Linguistics, University of Barcelona, Spain; University of Barcelona Institute for Complex Systems (UBICS), Spain; Catalan Institute for Advanced Studies and Research (ICREA), Spain
| | - Uwe Seifert
- Systematic Musicology, Institute of Musicology, University of Cologne, Germany
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7
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Bilger HT, Vertosick E, Vickers A, Kaczmarek K, Prum RO. Higher-Order Musical Temporal Structure in Bird Song. Front Psychol 2021; 12:629456. [PMID: 33868093 PMCID: PMC8044833 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.629456] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2020] [Accepted: 02/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Bird songs often display musical acoustic features such as tonal pitch selection, rhythmicity, and melodic contouring. We investigated higher-order musical temporal structure in bird song using an experimental method called “music scrambling” with human subjects. Recorded songs from a phylogenetically diverse group of 20 avian taxa were split into constituent elements (“notes” or “syllables”) and recombined in original and random order. Human subjects were asked to evaluate which version sounded more “musical” on a per-species basis. Species identity and stimulus treatment were concealed from subjects, and stimulus presentation order was randomized within and between taxa. Two recordings of human music were included as a control for attentiveness. Participants varied in their assessments of individual species musicality, but overall they were significantly more likely to rate bird songs with original temporal sequence as more musical than those with randomized temporal sequence. We discuss alternative hypotheses for the origins of avian musicality, including honest signaling, perceptual bias, and arbitrary aesthetic coevolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hans T Bilger
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States.,Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas, Austin, TX, United States
| | - Emily Vertosick
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, United States
| | - Andrew Vickers
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, United States
| | - Konrad Kaczmarek
- Department of Music, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - Richard O Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States
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Ab Shukor NF, Han W, Lee J, Seo YJ. Crucial Music Components Needed for Speech Perception Enhancement of Pediatric Cochlear Implant Users: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Audiol Neurootol 2021; 26:389-413. [PMID: 33878756 DOI: 10.1159/000515136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2020] [Accepted: 02/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Although many clinicians have attempted music training for the hearing-impaired children, no specific effects have yet been reported for individual music components. This paper seeks to discover specific music components that help in improving speech perception of children with cochlear implants (CI) and to identify the effective training periods and methods needed for each component. METHOD While assessing 5 electronic databases, that is, ScienceDirect, Scopus, PubMed, CINAHL, and Web of Science, 1,638 articles were found initially. After the screening and eligibility assessment stage based on the Participants, Intervention, Comparisons, Outcome, and Study Design (PICOS) inclusion criteria, 18 of 1,449 articles were chosen. RESULTS A total of 18 studies and 14 studies (209 participants) were analyzed using a systematic review and meta-analysis, respectively. No publication bias was detected based on an Egger's regression result even though the funnel plot was asymmetrical. The results of the meta-analysis revealed that the largest improvement was seen for rhythm perception, followed by the perception of pitch and harmony and smallest for timbre perception after the music training. The duration of training affected the rhythm, pitch, and harmony perception but not the timbre. Interestingly, musical activities, such as singing, produced the biggest effect size, implying that children with CI obtained the greatest benefits of music training by singing, followed by playing an instrument and achieved the smallest effect by only listening to musical stimuli. Significant improvement in pitch perception helped with the enhancement of prosody perception. CONCLUSION Music training can improve the music perception of children with CI and enhance their speech prosody. Long training duration was shown to provide the largest training effect of the children's perception improvement. The children with CI learned rhythm and pitch better than they did with harmony and timbre. These results support the finding of past studies that with music training, both rhythm and pitch perception can be improved, and it also helps in the development of prosody perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nor Farawaheeda Ab Shukor
- Laboratory of Hearing and Technology, Research Institute of Audiology and Speech Pathology, College of Natural Sciences, Hallym University, Chuncheon, Republic of Korea.,Division of Speech Pathology and Audiology, College of Natural Sciences, Hallym University, Chuncheon, Republic of Korea
| | - Woojae Han
- Laboratory of Hearing and Technology, Research Institute of Audiology and Speech Pathology, College of Natural Sciences, Hallym University, Chuncheon, Republic of Korea.,Division of Speech Pathology and Audiology, College of Natural Sciences, Hallym University, Chuncheon, Republic of Korea
| | - Jihyeon Lee
- Laboratory of Hearing and Technology, Research Institute of Audiology and Speech Pathology, College of Natural Sciences, Hallym University, Chuncheon, Republic of Korea.,Research Institute of Hearing Enhancement, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Republic of Korea
| | - Young Joon Seo
- Research Institute of Hearing Enhancement, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Republic of Korea.,Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Republic of Korea
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9
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Calma-Roddin N, Drury JE. Music, Language, and The N400: ERP Interference Patterns Across Cognitive Domains. Sci Rep 2020; 10:11222. [PMID: 32641708 PMCID: PMC7343814 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-66732-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2018] [Accepted: 04/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Studies of the relationship of language and music have suggested these two systems may share processing resources involved in the computation/maintenance of abstract hierarchical structure (syntax). One type of evidence comes from ERP interference studies involving concurrent language/music processing showing interaction effects when both processing streams are simultaneously perturbed by violations (e.g., syntactically incorrect words paired with incongruent completion of a chord progression). Here, we employ this interference methodology to target the mechanisms supporting long term memory (LTM) access/retrieval in language and music. We used melody stimuli from previous work showing out-of-key or unexpected notes may elicit a musical analogue of language N400 effects, but only for familiar melodies, and not for unfamiliar ones. Target notes in these melodies were time-locked to visually presented target words in sentence contexts manipulating lexical/conceptual semantic congruity. Our study succeeded in eliciting expected N400 responses from each cognitive domain independently. Among several new findings we argue to be of interest, these data demonstrate that: (i) language N400 effects are delayed in onset by concurrent music processing only when melodies are familiar, and (ii) double violations with familiar melodies (but not with unfamiliar ones) yield a sub-additive N400 response. In addition: (iii) early negativities (RAN effects), which previous work has connected to musical syntax, along with the music N400, were together delayed in onset for familiar melodies relative to the timing of these effects reported in the previous music-only study using these same stimuli, and (iv) double violation cases involving unfamiliar/novel melodies also delayed the RAN effect onset. These patterns constitute the first demonstration of N400 interference effects across these domains and together contribute previously undocumented types of interactions to the available pool of findings relevant to understanding whether language and music may rely on shared underlying mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole Calma-Roddin
- Department of Behavioral Sciences, New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, New York, USA.
- Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, New York, USA.
| | - John E Drury
- School of Linguistic Sciences and Arts, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, China
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10
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Caccia M, Lorusso ML. The processing of rhythmic structures in music and prosody by children with developmental dyslexia and developmental language disorder. Dev Sci 2020; 24:e12981. [PMID: 32356924 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12981] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2019] [Revised: 04/08/2020] [Accepted: 04/09/2020] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Rhythm perception seems to be crucial to language development. Many studies have shown that children with developmental dyslexia and developmental language disorder have difficulties in processing rhythmic structures. In this study, we investigated the relationships between prosody and musical processing in Italian children with typical and atypical development. The tasks aimed to reproduce linguistic prosodic structures through musical sequences, offering a direct comparison between the two domains without violating the specificities of each one. About 16 Typically Developing children, 16 children with a diagnosis of Developmental Dyslexia, and 16 with a diagnosis of developmental language disorder (age 10-13 years) participated in the experimental study. Three tasks were administered: an association task between a sentence and its humming version, a stress discrimination task (between couples of sounds reproducing the intonation of Italian trisyllabic words), and an association task between trisyllabic nonwords with different stress position and three-notes musical sequences with different musical stress. Children with developmental language disorder perform significantly lower than Typically Developing children on the humming test. By contrast, children with developmental dyslexia are significantly slower than TD in associating nonwords with musical sequences. Accuracy and speed in the experimental tests correlate with metaphonological, language, and word reading scores. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed within a multidimensional model of neurodevelopmental disorders including prosodic and rhythmic skills at word and sentence level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martina Caccia
- Unit of Child Psychopathology - Neurodevelopmental Disorders of Language and Learning, Scientific Institute IRCCS E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Italy.,School of Advanced Studies IUSS Pavia - Center of Neurocognition, Epistemology and Theoretical Syntax (NETS), Pavia, Italy
| | - Maria Luisa Lorusso
- Unit of Child Psychopathology - Neurodevelopmental Disorders of Language and Learning, Scientific Institute IRCCS E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Italy
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11
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Di Liberto GM, Pelofi C, Bianco R, Patel P, Mehta AD, Herrero JL, de Cheveigné A, Shamma S, Mesgarani N. Cortical encoding of melodic expectations in human temporal cortex. eLife 2020; 9:e51784. [PMID: 32122465 PMCID: PMC7053998 DOI: 10.7554/elife.51784] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2019] [Accepted: 01/20/2020] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans engagement in music rests on underlying elements such as the listeners' cultural background and interest in music. These factors modulate how listeners anticipate musical events, a process inducing instantaneous neural responses as the music confronts these expectations. Measuring such neural correlates would represent a direct window into high-level brain processing. Here we recorded cortical signals as participants listened to Bach melodies. We assessed the relative contributions of acoustic versus melodic components of the music to the neural signal. Melodic features included information on pitch progressions and their tempo, which were extracted from a predictive model of musical structure based on Markov chains. We related the music to brain activity with temporal response functions demonstrating, for the first time, distinct cortical encoding of pitch and note-onset expectations during naturalistic music listening. This encoding was most pronounced at response latencies up to 350 ms, and in both planum temporale and Heschl's gyrus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giovanni M Di Liberto
- Laboratoire des systèmes perceptifs, Département d’études cognitives, École normale supérieure, PSL University, CNRS75005 ParisFrance
| | - Claire Pelofi
- Department of Psychology, New York UniversityNew YorkUnited States
- Institut de Neurosciences des Système, UMR S 1106, INSERM, Aix Marseille UniversitéMarseilleFrance
| | | | - Prachi Patel
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Columbia UniversityNew YorkUnited States
- Mortimer B Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia UniversityNew YorkUnited States
| | - Ashesh D Mehta
- Department of Neurosurgery, Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/NorthwellManhassetUnited States
- Feinstein Institute of Medical Research, Northwell HealthManhassetUnited States
| | - Jose L Herrero
- Department of Neurosurgery, Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/NorthwellManhassetUnited States
- Feinstein Institute of Medical Research, Northwell HealthManhassetUnited States
| | - Alain de Cheveigné
- Laboratoire des systèmes perceptifs, Département d’études cognitives, École normale supérieure, PSL University, CNRS75005 ParisFrance
- UCL Ear InstituteLondonUnited Kingdom
| | - Shihab Shamma
- Laboratoire des systèmes perceptifs, Département d’études cognitives, École normale supérieure, PSL University, CNRS75005 ParisFrance
- Institute for Systems Research, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of MarylandCollege ParkUnited States
| | - Nima Mesgarani
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Columbia UniversityNew YorkUnited States
- Mortimer B Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia UniversityNew YorkUnited States
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12
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Castro N, Mendoza JM, Tampke EC, Vitevitch MS. An account of the Speech-to-Song Illusion using Node Structure Theory. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0198656. [PMID: 29883451 PMCID: PMC5993277 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0198656] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2017] [Accepted: 05/23/2018] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
In the Speech-to-Song Illusion, repetition of a spoken phrase results in it being perceived as if it were sung. Although a number of previous studies have examined which characteristics of the stimulus will produce the illusion, there is, until now, no description of the cognitive mechanism that underlies the illusion. We suggest that the processes found in Node Structure Theory that are used to explain normal language processing as well as other auditory illusions might also account for the Speech-to-Song Illusion. In six experiments we tested whether the satiation of lexical nodes, but continued priming of syllable nodes may lead to the Speech-to-Song Illusion. The results of these experiments provide evidence for the role of priming, activation, and satiation as described in Node Structure Theory as an explanation of the Speech-to-Song Illusion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nichol Castro
- Spoken Language Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America
| | - Joshua M. Mendoza
- Spoken Language Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America
| | - Elizabeth C. Tampke
- Spoken Language Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America
| | - Michael S. Vitevitch
- Spoken Language Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America
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13
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Abstract
We present here a musical approach to speech melody, one that takes advantage of the intervallic precision made possible with musical notation. Current phonetic and phonological approaches to speech melody either assign localized pitch targets that impoverish the acoustic details of the pitch contours and/or merely highlight a few salient points of pitch change, ignoring all the rest of the syllables. We present here an alternative model using musical notation, which has the advantage of representing the pitch of all syllables in a sentence as well as permitting a specification of the intervallic excursions among syllables and the potential for group averaging of pitch use across speakers. We tested the validity of this approach by recording native speakers of Canadian English reading unfamiliar test items aloud, spanning from single words to full sentences containing multiple intonational phrases. The fundamental-frequency trajectories of the recorded items were converted from hertz into semitones, averaged across speakers, and transcribed into musical scores of relative pitch. Doing so allowed us to quantify local and global pitch-changes associated with declarative, imperative, and interrogative sentences, and to explore the melodic dynamics of these sentence types. Our basic observation is that speech is atonal. The use of a musical score ultimately has the potential to combine speech rhythm and melody into a unified representation of speech prosody, an important analytical feature that is not found in any current linguistic approach to prosody.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivan Chow
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Steven Brown
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
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14
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Breen M. Effects of metric hierarchy and rhyme predictability on word duration in The Cat in the Hat. Cognition 2018; 174:71-81. [PMID: 29425988 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2018.01.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2016] [Revised: 01/25/2018] [Accepted: 01/29/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Word durations convey many types of linguistic information, including intrinsic lexical features like length and frequency and contextual features like syntactic and semantic structure. The current study was designed to investigate whether hierarchical metric structure and rhyme predictability account for durational variation over and above other features in productions of a rhyming, metrically-regular children's book: The Cat in the Hat (Dr. Seuss, 1957). One-syllable word durations and inter-onset intervals were modeled as functions of segment number, lexical frequency, word class, syntactic structure, repetition, and font emphasis. Consistent with prior work, factors predicting longer word durations and inter-onset intervals included more phonemes, lower frequency, first mention, alignment with a syntactic boundary, and capitalization. A model parameter corresponding to metric grid height improved model fit of word durations and inter-onset intervals. Specifically, speakers realized five levels of metric hierarchy with inter-onset intervals such that interval duration increased linearly with increased height in the metric hierarchy. Conversely, speakers realized only three levels of metric hierarchy with word duration, demonstrating that they shortened the highly predictable rhyme resolutions. These results further understanding of the factors that affect spoken word duration, and demonstrate the myriad cues that children receive about linguistic structure from nursery rhymes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mara Breen
- Department of Psychology and Education, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA, USA.
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15
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Bebout J, Belke E. Language play facilitates language learning: Optimizing the input for gender-like category induction. Cogn Res Princ Implic 2017; 2:11. [PMID: 28275704 PMCID: PMC5318489 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-016-0038-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2016] [Accepted: 12/08/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Gender induction has been claimed to be virtually impossible unless nouns provide reliable semantic or phonological gender-relevant cues. However, learners might exploit syntactic cues, such as definite articles, to infer the gender of gender-unmarked nouns. In children’s poems and songs, such syntactic cues are presented in a highly structured fashion. We assessed gender-like category induction in an artificial language that provided exclusively syntactic cues for its gender-like subclasses. We trained participants with structured or unstructured input presented in a prose, a rhyming, a melodic, or a rhyming and melodic fashion. Input structuring significantly facilitated gender-like category induction. Participants trained in the Rhyme-and-Melody mode significantly outperformed participants trained in the Prose mode, especially when the input was structured. The Rhyme-only and Melody-only modes yielded intermediate results. Thus, a highly structured rhyming and melodic input substantially facilitates gender-like category induction, making a case for the use of children’s songs in language teaching.
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16
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Podlipniak P. The Role of the Baldwin Effect in the Evolution of Human Musicality. Front Neurosci 2017; 11:542. [PMID: 29056895 PMCID: PMC5635050 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2017.00542] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2017] [Accepted: 09/19/2017] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
From the biological perspective human musicality is the term referred to as a set of abilities which enable the recognition and production of music. Since music is a complex phenomenon which consists of features that represent different stages of the evolution of human auditory abilities, the question concerning the evolutionary origin of music must focus mainly on music specific properties and their possible biological function or functions. What usually differentiates music from other forms of human sound expressions is a syntactically organized structure based on pitch classes and rhythmic units measured in reference to musical pulse. This structure is an auditory (not acoustical) phenomenon, meaning that it is a human-specific interpretation of sounds achieved thanks to certain characteristics of the nervous system. There is historical and cross-cultural diversity of this structure which indicates that learning is an important part of the development of human musicality. However, the fact that there is no culture without music, the syntax of which is implicitly learned and easily recognizable, suggests that human musicality may be an adaptive phenomenon. If the use of syntactically organized structure as a communicative phenomenon were adaptive it would be only in circumstances in which this structure is recognizable by more than one individual. Therefore, there is a problem to explain the adaptive value of an ability to recognize a syntactically organized structure that appeared accidentally as the result of mutation or recombination in an environment without a syntactically organized structure. The possible solution could be explained by the Baldwin effect in which a culturally invented trait is transformed into an instinctive trait by the means of natural selection. It is proposed that in the beginning musical structure was invented and learned thanks to neural plasticity. Because structurally organized music appeared adaptive (phenotypic adaptation) e.g., as a tool of social consolidation, our predecessors started to spend a lot of time and energy on music. In such circumstances, accidentally one individual was born with the genetically controlled development of new neural circuitry which allowed him or her to learn music faster and with less energy use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Piotr Podlipniak
- Institute of Musicology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poznań, Poland
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17
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Mol C, Chen A, Kager RWJ, Ter Haar SM. Prosody in birdsong: A review and perspective. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2017; 81:167-180. [PMID: 28232050 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.02.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2016] [Revised: 02/16/2017] [Accepted: 02/17/2017] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Birdsong shows striking parallels with human speech. Previous comparisons between birdsong and human vocalizations focused on syntax, phonology and phonetics. In this review, we propose that future comparative research should expand its focus to include prosody, i.e. the temporal and melodic properties that extend over larger units of song. To this end, we consider the similarities between birdsong structure and the prosodic hierarchy in human speech and between context-dependent acoustic variations in birdsong and the biological codes in human speech. Moreover, we discuss songbirds' sensitivity to prosody-like acoustic features and the role of such features in song segmentation and song learning in relation to infants' sensitivity to prosody and the role of prosody in early language acquisition. Finally, we make suggestions for future comparative birdsong research, including a framework of how prosody in birdsong can be studied. In particular, we propose to analyze birdsong as a multidimensional signal composed of specific acoustic features, and to assess whether these acoustic features are organized into prosody-like structures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carien Mol
- Cognitive Neurobiology and Helmholtz Institute, Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80086, 3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands.
| | - Aoju Chen
- Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS, Department of Languages, Literature and Communication, Utrecht University, Trans 10, 3512 JK Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - René W J Kager
- Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS, Department of Languages, Literature and Communication, Utrecht University, Trans 10, 3512 JK Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Sita M Ter Haar
- Cognitive Neurobiology and Helmholtz Institute, Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80086, 3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands
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