Noradrenergic modulation of rhythmic neural activity shapes selective attention

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin J. Dahl ◽  
Mara Mather ◽  
Markus Werkle-Bergner
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Noradrenergic Modulation

scholarly journals Attention to speech: Mapping distributed and selective attention systems

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Galit Agmon ◽  
Paz Har-Shai Yahav ◽  
Michal Ben-Shachar ◽  
Elana Zion Golumbic
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Association Cortex ◽  
Distributed Attention ◽  
Listening Strategies ◽  
Auditory Association Cortex

AbstractDaily life is full of situations where many people converse at the same time. Under these noisy circumstances, individuals can employ different listening strategies to deal with the abundance of sounds around them. In this fMRI study we investigated how applying two different listening strategies – Selective vs. Distributed attention – affects the pattern of neural activity. Specifically, in a simulated ‘cocktail party’ paradigm, we compared brain activation patterns when listeners attend selectively to only one speaker and ignore all others, versus when they distribute their attention and attempt to follow two or four speakers at the same time. Results indicate that the two attention types activate a highly overlapping, bilateral fronto-temporal-parietal network of functionally connected regions. This network includes auditory association cortex (bilateral STG/STS) and higher-level regions related to speech processing and attention (bilateral IFG/insula, right MFG, left IPS). Within this network, responses in specific areas were modulated by the type of attention required. Specifically, auditory and speech-processing regions exhibited higher activity during Distributed attention, whereas fronto-parietal regions were activated more strongly during Selective attention. This pattern suggests that a common perceptual-attentional network is engaged when dealing with competing speech-inputs, regardless of the specific task at hand. At the same time, local activity within nodes of this network varies when implementing different listening strategies, reflecting the different cognitive demands they impose. These results nicely demonstrate the system’s flexibility to adapt its internal computations to accommodate different task requirements and listener goals.Significance StatementHearing many people talk simultaneously poses substantial challenges for the human perceptual and cognitive systems. We compared neural activity when listeners applied two different listening strategy to deal with these competing inputs: attending selectively to one speaker vs. distributing attention among all speakers. A network of functionally connected brain regions, involved in auditory processing, language processing and attentional control was activated when applying both attention types. However, activity within this network was modulated by the type of attention required and the number of competing speakers. These results suggest a common ‘attention to speech’ network, providing the computational infrastructure to deal effectively with multi-speaker input, but with sufficient flexibility to implement different prioritization strategies and to adapt to different listener goals.

No Evidence of Attentional Modulation of the Neural Response to the Temporal Fine Structure of Continuous Musical Pieces

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Octave Etard ◽  
Rémy Ben Messaoud ◽  
Gabriel Gaugain ◽  
Tobias Reichenbach
Keyword(s):  
Fine Structure ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Neural Response ◽  
Temporal Fine Structure ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Attentional Modulation ◽  
Eeg Recordings

Abstract Speech and music are spectrotemporally complex acoustic signals that are highly relevant for humans. Both contain a temporal fine structure that is encoded in the neural responses of subcortical and cortical processing centers. The subcortical response to the temporal fine structure of speech has recently been shown to be modulated by selective attention to one of two competing voices. Music similarly often consists of several simultaneous melodic lines, and a listener can selectively attend to a particular one at a time. However, the neural mechanisms that enable such selective attention remain largely enigmatic, not least since most investigations to date have focused on short and simplified musical stimuli. Here, we studied the neural encoding of classical musical pieces in human volunteers, using scalp EEG recordings. We presented volunteers with continuous musical pieces composed of one or two instruments. In the latter case, the participants were asked to selectively attend to one of the two competing instruments and to perform a vibrato identification task. We used linear encoding and decoding models to relate the recorded EEG activity to the stimulus waveform. We show that we can measure neural responses to the temporal fine structure of melodic lines played by one single instrument, at the population level as well as for most individual participants. The neural response peaks at a latency of 7.6 msec and is not measurable past 15 msec. When analyzing the neural responses to the temporal fine structure elicited by competing instruments, we found no evidence of attentional modulation. We observed, however, that low-frequency neural activity exhibited a modulation consistent with the behavioral task at latencies from 100 to 160 msec, in a similar manner to the attentional modulation observed in continuous speech (N100). Our results show that, much like speech, the temporal fine structure of music is tracked by neural activity. In contrast to speech, however, this response appears unaffected by selective attention in the context of our experiment.

scholarly journals Age-related differences in enhancement and suppression of neural activity underlying selective attention in matched young and old adults

2013 ◽  
Vol 1499 ◽  
pp. 69-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.E. Haring ◽  
T.Y. Zhuravleva ◽  
B.R. Alperin ◽  
D.M. Rentz ◽  
P.J. Holcomb ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Old Adults ◽  
Age Related

scholarly journals Active Ignoring in Early Visual Cortex

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 2046-2058 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen E. Payne ◽  
Harriet A. Allen
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Primary Visual Cortex ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Irrelevant Information ◽  
Subsequent Stage ◽  
Mental Processes ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
Early Visual Cortex ◽  
Attentional Mechanisms

Selective attention is critical for controlling the input to mental processes. Attentional mechanisms act not only to select relevant stimuli but also to exclude irrelevant stimuli. There is evidence that we can actively ignore irrelevant information. We measured neural activity relating to successfully ignoring distracters (using preview search) and found increases in both the precuneus and primary visual cortex during preparation to ignore distracters. We also found reductions in activity in fronto-parietal regions while previewing distracters and a reduction in activity in early visual cortex during search when a subset of items was successfully excluded from search, both associated with precuneus activity. These results are consistent with the proposal that actively excluding distractions has two components: an initial stage where distracters are encoded, and a subsequent stage where further processing of these items is inhibited. Our findings suggest that it is the precuneus that controls this process and can modulate activity in visual cortex as early as V1.

scholarly journals Does modulation of selective attention to features reflect enhancement or suppression of neural activity?

2012 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 398-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirk R. Daffner ◽  
Tatyana Y. Zhuravleva ◽  
Xue Sun ◽  
Elise C. Tarbi ◽  
Anna E. Haring ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Neural Activity

scholarly journals Interactive effects of HIV and ageing on neural oscillations: independence from neuropsychological performance

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandon J Lew ◽  
Jennifer O’Neill ◽  
Michael T Rezich ◽  
Pamela E May ◽  
Howard S Fox ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Hiv Infection ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Visual Selective Attention ◽  
Analysis Of Covariance ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Neuropsychological Performance ◽  
Posterior Parietal ◽  
Attentional Interference

Abstract HIV infection is associated with increased age-related co-morbidities including cognitive deficits, leading to hypotheses of HIV-related premature or accelerated ageing. Impairments in selective attention and the underlying neural dynamics have been linked to HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder; however, the effect of ageing in this context is not yet understood. Thus, the current study aimed to identify the interactive effects of ageing and HIV on selective attention processing. A total of 165 participants (92 controls, 73 participants with HIV) performed a visual selective attention task while undergoing magnetoencephalography and were compared cross-sectionally. Spectrally specific oscillatory neural responses during task performance were imaged and linked with selective attention function. Reaction time on the task and regional neural activity were analysed with analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) models aimed at examining the age-by-HIV interaction term. Finally, these metrics were evaluated with respect to clinical measures such as global neuropsychological performance, duration of HIV infection and medication regimen. Reaction time analyses showed a significant HIV-by-age interaction, such that in controls older age was associated with greater susceptibility to attentional interference, while in participants with HIV, such susceptibility was uniformly high regardless of age. In regard to neural activity, theta-specific age-by-HIV interaction effects were found in the prefrontal and posterior parietal cortices. In participants with HIV, neuropsychological performance was associated with susceptibility to attentional interference, while time since HIV diagnosis was associated with parietal activity above and beyond global neuropsychological performance. Finally, current efavirenz therapy was also related to increased parietal interference activity. In conclusion, susceptibility to attentional interference in younger participants with HIV approximated that of older controls, suggesting evidence of HIV-related premature ageing. Neural activity serving attention processing indicated compensatory recruitment of posterior parietal cortex as participants with HIV infection age, which was related to the duration of HIV infection and was independent of neuropsychological performance, suggesting an altered trajectory of neural function.

Selective attention to sound modulates neural activity in areas of audiovisual integration

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 94
Author(s):  
Maya Visser ◽  
César Ávila ◽  
Luis Morís Fernández ◽  
Salvador Soto-Faraco
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Audiovisual Integration

scholarly journals Diminished pre-stimulus alpha-lateralization suggests compromised self-initiated attentional control of auditory processing in old age

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin J. Dahl ◽  
Liesa Ilg ◽  
Shu-Chen Li ◽  
Susanne Passow ◽  
Markus Werkle-Bergner
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Rhythmic Activity ◽  
Aging Brain ◽  
Age Difference ◽  
Adult Age ◽  
Auditory Selective Attention ◽  
Alpha Beta

AbstractOlder adults experience difficulties in daily situations that require flexible information selection in the presence of multiple competing sensory inputs, like for instance multi-talker situations. Modulations of rhythmic neural activity in the alpha–beta (8–30 Hz) frequency range in posterior brain areas have been established as a cross-modal neural correlate of selective attention. However, research linking compromised auditory selective attention to changes in rhythmic neural activity in aging is sparse.We tested younger (n = 25; 22–35 years) and older adults (n = 26; 63–76 years) in an attention modulated dichotic listening task. In this, two streams of highly similar auditory input were simultaneously presented to participants′ both ears (i.e., dichotically) while attention had to be focused on the input to only one ear (i.e. target) and the other, distracting information had to be ignored.We here demonstrate a link between severely compromised auditory selective attention in aging and a partial reorganization of attention-related rhythmic neural responses. In particular, in old age we observed a shift from a self-initiated, preparatory modulation of alpha rhythmic activity to an externally driven, response in the alpha–beta range. Critically, moment-to-moment fluctuations in the age-specific patterns of self-initiated and externally driven lateralized rhythmic activity were tied to selective attention. We conclude that adult age difference in spatial selective attention likely derive from a functional reorganization of rhythmic neural activity within the aging brain.

scholarly journals The influence of auditory attention on rhythmic speech entrainment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodika Sokoliuk ◽  
Giulio Degano ◽  
Lucia Melloni ◽  
Uta Noppeney ◽  
Damian Cruse
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Directed Attention ◽  
Word Group ◽  
Physical Cues ◽  
Linguistic Structures

ABSTRACTLanguage comprehension relies on integrating words into progressively more complex structures, like phrases and sentences. This hierarchical structure building is reflected in rhythmic neural activity across multiple timescales in E/MEG (Ding et al., 2016, 2017).How does selective attention across levels of the hierarchy influence the expression of these rhythms?We investigated these questions in an EEG study of 72 healthy human volunteers listening to streams of monosyllabic isochronous English words that were either unrelated (scrambled condition) or composed of four-word-sequences building meaningful sentences (sentential condition). Importantly, there were no physical cues between four-word-sentences but boundaries were marked by syntactic structure and thematic role assignment. Participants were divided into three attention groups: from passive listening (passive group) to attending to individual words (word group) or sentences (sentence group). The passive and word group were naïve to the sentential structure of the stimulus material, while the sentence group were not.We found significant entrainment at word- and sentence rate across all three groups, with sentence entrainment linked to left middle temporal gyrus and right superior temporal gyrus. Goal-directed attention to words did not enhance word-rate-entrainment suggesting that word entrainment relies on largely automatic mechanisms. Importantly, goal-directed attention to sentences relative to words significantly increased sentence-rate-entrainment over left inferior frontal gyrus. This attentional modulation of rhythmic EEG activity at the sentential level highlights the role of attention in integrating individual words into complex linguistic structures.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTNeural activity is known to entrain to physical characteristics of auditory stimuli. However, entrainment also occurs with structures lacking physical cues but rather require comprehension of the stimulus’ meaning – for example, entrainment to sentences in speech even without acoustic gaps separating these higher linguistic structures.We investigated how goal-directed attention to low-level (words) and high-level (sentences) linguistic structures influences entrainment strength. Whilst sentence entrainment occurred independently of selective attention, it increased with goal-directed attention towards sentences. Conversely, no such attentional effect was found for word entrainment.While goal-directed attention towards sentences strengthens entrainment, it is no prerequisite for it to occur, suggesting that low attentional effort is required for sentence comprehension, potentially reflecting the importance of speech in humans.

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