Neurophysiological Indices of Speech and Nonspeech Stimulus Processing

2005 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 1147-1164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna W. Tampas ◽  
Ashley W. Harkrider ◽  
Mark S. Hedrick
Keyword(s):  
Mismatch Negativity ◽  
Categorical Perception ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Speech Stimuli ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Auditory Systems ◽  
Nonspeech Stimulus ◽  
Content Support ◽  
Level Of Processing ◽  
Behavioral Discrimination

Auditory event-related potentials (mismatch negativity and P300) and behavioral discrimination were measured to synthetically generated consonant-vowel (CV) speech and nonspeech contrasts in 10 young adults with normal auditory systems. Previous research has demonstrated that behavioral and P300 responses reflect a phonetic, categorical level of processing. The aims of the current investigation were (a) to examine whether the mismatch negativity (MMN) response is also influenced by the phonetic characteristics of a stimulus or if it reflects purely an acoustic level of processing and (b) to expand our understanding of the neurophysiology underlying categorical perception, a phenomenon crucial in the processing of speech. The CVs were 2 within-category stimuli and the nonspeech stimuli were 2 glides whose frequency ramps matched the formant transitions of the CV stimuli. Listeners exhibited better behavioral discrimination to the nonspeech versus speech stimuli in same/different and oddball behavioral paradigms. MMN responses were elicited by the nonspeech stimuli, but absent to CV speech stimuli. Larger amplitude and earlier P300s were elicited by the nonspeech stimuli, while smaller and longer latency P300s were elicited by the speech stimulus contrast. Results suggest that the 2 types of stimuli were processed differently when measured behaviorally, with MMN, or P300. The better discrimination and clearer neurophysiological representation of the frequency glide, nonspeech stimuli versus the CV speech stimuli of analogous acoustic content support (a) categorical perception representation at the level of the MMN generators and (b) parallel processing of acoustic (sensory) and phonetic (categorical) information at the level of the MMN generators.

scholarly journals Neural Processing of Spectral and Durational Changes in Speech and Non-speech Stimuli: An MMN Study With Czech Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Nudga ◽  
Josef Urbanec ◽  
Zuzana Oceláková ◽  
Jan Kremláček ◽  
Kateřina Chládková
Keyword(s):  
Mismatch Negativity ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Spectral Change ◽  
Sound Processing ◽  
Speech Stimuli ◽  
Asymmetrical Pattern ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
The Asymmetry ◽  
Phonological Contrasts

Neural discrimination of auditory contrasts is usually studied via the mismatch negativity (MMN) component of the event-related potentials (ERPs). In the processing of speech contrasts, the magnitude of MMN is determined by both the acoustic as well as the phonological distance between stimuli. Also, the MMN can be modulated by the order in which the stimuli are presented, thus indexing perceptual asymmetries in speech sound processing. Here we assessed the MMN elicited by two types of phonological contrasts, namely vowel quality and vowel length, assuming that both will elicit a comparably strong MMN as both are phonemic in the listeners’ native language (Czech) and perceptually salient. Furthermore, we tested whether these phonemic contrasts are processed asymmetrically, and whether the asymmetries are acoustically or linguistically conditioned. The MMN elicited by the spectral change between /a/ and /ε/ was comparable to the MMN elicited by the durational change between /ε/ and /ε:/, suggesting that both types of contrasts are perceptually important for Czech listeners. The spectral change in vowels yielded an asymmetrical pattern manifested by a larger MMN response to the change from /ε/ to /a/ than from /a/ to /ε/. The lack of such an asymmetry in the MMN to the same spectral change in comparable non-speech stimuli spoke against an acoustically-based explanation, indicating that it may instead have been the phonological properties of the vowels that triggered the asymmetry. The potential phonological origins of the asymmetry are discussed within the featurally underspecified lexicon (FUL) framework, and conclusions are drawn about the perceptual relevance of the place and height features for the Czech /ε/-/a/ contrast.

Effects of Experimentally Induced Pain on Mismatch Negativity

2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce D. Dick ◽  
John F. Connolly ◽  
Michael E. Houlihan ◽  
Patrick J. McGrath ◽  
G. Allen Finley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Mismatch Negativity ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Disruptive Effect ◽  
Ischemic Pain ◽  
Active Attention ◽  
Early Processing ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Healthy Participants ◽  
Experimentally Induced

Abstract: Previous research has found that pain can exert a disruptive effect on cognitive processing. This experiment was conducted to extend previous research with participants with chronic pain. This report examines pain's effects on early processing of auditory stimulus differences using the Mismatch Negativity (MMN) in healthy participants while they experienced experimentally induced pain. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded using target and standard tones whose pitch differences were easy- or difficult-to-detect in conditions where participants attended to (active attention) or ignored (passive attention) the stimuli. Both attention manipulations were conducted in no pain and pain conditions. Experimentally induced ischemic pain did not disrupt the MMN. However, MMN amplitudes were larger to difficult-to-detect deviant tones during painful stimulation when they were attended than when they were ignored. Also, MMN amplitudes were larger to the difficult- than to the easy-to-detect tones in the active attention condition regardless of pain condition. It appears that rather than exerting a disruptive effect, the presence of experimentally induced pain enhanced early processing of small stimulus differences in these healthy participants.

Human Event-Related Potentials to Higher-Order Acoustic Spatial Changes

2002 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timo Ruusuvirta ◽  
Heikki Hämäläinen
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Mismatch Negativity ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Free Field ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Negative Polarity ◽  
Positive Polarity ◽  
Spatial Changes ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Human Event

Abstract Human event-related potentials (ERPs) to a tone continuously alternating between its two spatial loci of origin (middle-standards, left-standards), to repetitions of left-standards (oddball-deviants), and to the tones originally representing these repetitions presented alone (alone-deviants) were recorded in free-field conditions. During the recordings (Fz, Cz, Pz, M1, and M2 referenced to nose), the subjects watched a silent movie. Oddball-deviants elicited a spatially diffuse two-peaked deflection of positive polarity. It differed from a deflection elicited by left-standards and commenced earlier than a prominent deflection of negative polarity (N1) elicited by alone-deviants. The results are discussed in the context of the mismatch negativity (MMN) and previous findings of dissociation between spatial and non-spatial information in auditory working memory.

scholarly journals Logatome Discrimination in Cochlear Implant Users: Subjective Tests Compared to the Mismatch Negativity

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 329-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torsten Rahne ◽  
Michael Ziese ◽  
Dorothea Rostalski ◽  
Roland Mühler
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Cochlear Implant ◽  
Mismatch Negativity ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Discrimination Test ◽  
Speech Database ◽  
Automated Speech Recognition ◽  
Related Potentials

This paper describes a logatome discrimination test for the assessment of speech perception in cochlear implant users (CI users), based on a multilingual speech database, the Oldenburg Logatome Corpus, which was originally recorded for the comparison of human and automated speech recognition. The logatome discrimination task is based on the presentation of 100 logatome pairs (i.e., nonsense syllables) with balanced representations of alternating “vowel-replacement” and “consonant-replacement” paradigms in order to assess phoneme confusions. Thirteen adult normal hearing listeners and eight adult CI users, including both good and poor performers, were included in the study and completed the test after their speech intelligibility abilities were evaluated with an established sentence test in noise. Furthermore, the discrimination abilities were measured electrophysiologically by recording the mismatch negativity (MMN) as a component of auditory event-related potentials. The results show a clear MMN response only for normal hearing listeners and CI users with good performance, correlating with their logatome discrimination abilities. Higher discrimination scores for vowel-replacement paradigms than for the consonant-replacement paradigms were found. We conclude that the logatome discrimination test is well suited to monitor the speech perception skills of CI users. Due to the large number of available spoken logatome items, the Oldenburg Logatome Corpus appears to provide a useful and powerful basis for further development of speech perception tests for CI users.

Phonetic Encoding Contributes to the Processing of Linguistic Prosody at the Word Level: Cross-Linguistic Evidence From Event-Related Potentials

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Luodi Yu ◽  
Jiajing Zeng ◽  
Suiping Wang ◽  
Yang Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Prosodic Features ◽  
Speech Stimuli ◽  
Word Level ◽  
Acoustic Control ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Prosodic Phonology

Purpose This study aimed to examine whether abstract knowledge of word-level linguistic prosody is independent of or integrated with phonetic knowledge. Method Event-related potential (ERP) responses were measured from 18 adult listeners while they listened to native and nonnative word-level prosody in speech and in nonspeech. The prosodic phonology (speech) conditions included disyllabic pseudowords spoken in Chinese and in English matched for syllabic structure, duration, and intensity. The prosodic acoustic (nonspeech) conditions were hummed versions of the speech stimuli, which eliminated the phonetic content while preserving the acoustic prosodic features. Results We observed language-specific effects on the ERP that native stimuli elicited larger late negative response (LNR) amplitude than nonnative stimuli in the prosodic phonology conditions. However, no such effect was observed in the phoneme-free prosodic acoustic control conditions. Conclusions The results support the integration view that word-level linguistic prosody likely relies on the phonetic content where the acoustic cues embedded in. It remains to be examined whether the LNR may serve as a neural signature for language-specific processing of prosodic phonology beyond auditory processing of the critical acoustic cues at the suprasyllabic level.

Auditory Mismatch Negativity and P300a Elicited by the “Optimal” Multi-feature Paradigm in Early Schizophrenia

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 238-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek J. Fisher ◽  
Debra J. Campbell ◽  
Shelagh C. Abriel ◽  
Emma M. L. Ells ◽  
Erica D. Rudolph ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mismatch Negativity ◽  
Early Phase ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Positive Symptom ◽  
First Episode ◽  
Stimulus Context ◽  
Significant Group ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Auditory Change Detection

The mismatch negativity (MMN) is an EEG-derived event-related potential (ERP) elicited by any violation of a predicted auditory “rule,” regardless of whether one is attending to the stimuli and is thought to reflect updating of the stimulus context. Redirection of attention toward a rare, distracting stimulus event, however, can be measured by the subsequent P3a component of the P300. Chronic schizophrenia patients exhibit robust MMN deficits, as well as reductions in P3a amplitude. While, the substantial literature on the MMN in first-episode and early phase schizophrenia in this population reports reduced amplitudes, there also exist several contradictory studies. Conversely, P3a reduction in this population is relatively consistent, although the literature investigating this is small. The primary goal of this study was to contribute to our understanding of whether auditory change detection mechanisms are altered in early phase schizophrenia and, if so, under what conditions. Event-related potentials elicited by duration, frequency, gap, intensity, and location deviants (as elicited by the “optimal” multi-feature paradigm) were recorded in 14 early phase schizophrenia (EP) patients and 17 healthy controls (HCs). Electrical activity was recorded from 15 scalp electrodes. MMN/P3a amplitudes and latencies for each deviant were compared between groups and were correlated with clinical measures in EPs. There were no significant group differences for MMN amplitudes or latencies, though EPs did exhibit reduced P3a amplitudes to gap and duration deviants. Furthermore, PANSS (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale) positive symptom scores were correlated with intensity MMN latencies and duration P3a amplitudes in EPs. These findings suggest that MMNs may not be as robustly reduced in early phase schizophrenia (relative to chronic illness), but that alterations may be more likely in patients with increased positive symptomatology. Furthermore, these findings offer further support to previous work suggesting that the understudied P3a may have good complementary utility as a marker of early cortical dysfunction in psychosis.

Saliency of Vowel Features in Neural Responses of Cochlear Implant Users

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 388-397
Author(s):  
François Prévost ◽  
Alexandre Lehmann
Keyword(s):  
Speech Recognition ◽  
Cochlear Implant ◽  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Mismatch Negativity ◽  
Free Field ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Oddball Paradigm ◽  
Aural Rehabilitation ◽  
Spectral Components ◽  
Related Potentials

Cochlear implants restore hearing in deaf individuals, but speech perception remains challenging. Poor discrimination of spectral components is thought to account for limitations of speech recognition in cochlear implant users. We investigated how combined variations of spectral components along two orthogonal dimensions can maximize neural discrimination between two vowels, as measured by mismatch negativity. Adult cochlear implant users and matched normal-hearing listeners underwent electroencephalographic event-related potentials recordings in an optimum-1 oddball paradigm. A standard /a/ vowel was delivered in an acoustic free field along with stimuli having a deviant fundamental frequency (+3 and +6 semitones), a deviant first formant making it a /i/ vowel or combined deviant fundamental frequency and first formant (+3 and +6 semitones /i/ vowels). Speech recognition was assessed with a word repetition task. An analysis of variance between both amplitude and latency of mismatch negativity elicited by each deviant vowel was performed. The strength of correlations between these parameters of mismatch negativity and speech recognition as well as participants’ age was assessed. Amplitude of mismatch negativity was weaker in cochlear implant users but was maximized by variations of vowels’ first formant. Latency of mismatch negativity was later in cochlear implant users and was particularly extended by variations of the fundamental frequency. Speech recognition correlated with parameters of mismatch negativity elicited by the specific variation of the first formant. This nonlinear effect of acoustic parameters on neural discrimination of vowels has implications for implant processor programming and aural rehabilitation.

scholarly journals Symmetrical electrophysiological brain responses to unilateral and bilateral auditory stimuli suggest disrupted spatial processing in schizophrenia

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Sardari ◽  
Ali Mohammad Pourrahimi ◽  
Hossein Talebi ◽  
Shahrzad Mazhari
Keyword(s):  
Mismatch Negativity ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Frequency Discrimination ◽  
Stimulus Location ◽  
Spatial Processing ◽  
Healthy Individuals ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Processing Deficits

Abstract Research has found auditory spatial processing deficits in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ), but no study has examined SCZ patients’ auditory spatial processing at both pre-attentional and attentional stages. To address this gap, we investigated schizophrenics’ brain responses to sounds originating from different locations (right, left, and bilateral sources). The event-related potentials (ERPs) of 25 chronic schizophrenic patients and 25 healthy subjects were compared. Mismatch negativity (MMN) in response to frequency and duration deviants was assessed. Two P3 components (P3a and P3b) were elicited via a frequency discrimination task, and MMN and P3 were recorded through separate monaural and dichotic stimulation paradigms. Our results corroborated the previously published finding that MMN, P3a, and P3b amplitudes are reduced in SCZ patients, but they showed no significant effect of stimulus location on either MMN or P3. These results indicated similarity between the SCZ patients and healthy individuals as regards patterns of ERP responses to stimuli that come from different directions. No evidence of auditory hemispatial bias in the SCZ patients was found, supporting the existence of non-lateralized spatial processing deficits in such patients and suggesting compensatory changes in the hemispheric laterality of patients’ brains.

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