scholarly journals What Does Language Have to Do With It? The Impact of Age and Bilingual Experience on Inhibitory Control in an Auditory Dichotic Listening Task

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 1581-1594
Author(s):  
Jamie L. Desjardins ◽  
Ashley Bangert ◽  
Ninive Gomez
Keyword(s):  
Older Adult ◽  
Dichotic Listening ◽  
Simon Task ◽  
Irrelevant Information ◽  
National Standards ◽  
Visual Test ◽  
Dichotic Listening Task ◽  
Inhibition Performance ◽  
Listening Task ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of the current study was to examine inhibition of irrelevant information in younger and older English monolingual and Spanish–English bilingual adults. Method Sixty-one participants divided into four groups: 15 younger English monolinguals, 16 younger Spanish–English bilinguals, 15 older English monolinguals, and 15 older Spanish–English bilinguals participated in this study. Younger participants were 18–25 years of age, and older participants were 47–62 years of age. Bilingual participants had learned Spanish from birth and began learning English by the age of 3 years old ( SD = 3.1). All participants had hearing thresholds of < 25 dB HL from 250 to 4000 Hz, bilaterally (American National Standards Institute [ANSI], 2004) and were right-handed. Inhibition was measured using a forced-attention dichotic consonant vowel listening task with a prime stimulus and the Simon task, a nonverbal visual test. Results Younger participants were better able to inhibit the irrelevant auditory and visual stimuli and modulate their attention according to the instructions that they were given compared to the older participants. However, no significant differences in inhibition performance or attention modulation were evidenced between the monolingual and bilingual groups in any of the dichotic listening conditions or on the Simon task. Conclusions No significant differences in performance on an auditory or a visual test of inhibition of irrelevant information was evidenced between the monolingual and bilingual participants in this study. These findings suggest that younger and older adult, early balanced Spanish–English bilinguals may not exhibit an advantage in the inhibition of irrelevant information compared to younger and older adult English monolinguals.

Performance on Auditory and Visual Tasks of Inhibition in English Monolingual and Spanish–English Bilingual Adults: Do Bilinguals Have a Cognitive Advantage?

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 410-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie L. Desjardins ◽  
Francisco Fernandez
Keyword(s):  
Incongruent Trial ◽  
Dichotic Listening ◽  
Simon Task ◽  
Congruent Trial ◽  
Irrelevant Information ◽  
Visual Test ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Visual Tasks ◽  
Listening Task ◽  
English Monolingual

Purpose Bilingual individuals have been shown to be more proficient on visual tasks of inhibition compared with their monolingual counterparts. However, the bilingual advantage has not been evidenced in all studies, and very little is known regarding how bilingualism influences inhibitory control in the perception of auditory information. The purpose of the current study was to examine inhibition of irrelevant information using auditory and visual tasks in English monolingual and Spanish–English bilingual adults. Method Twenty English monolinguals and 19 early balanced Spanish–English bilinguals participated in this study. All participants were 18–30 years of age, had hearing thresholds < 25 dB HL from 250 to 8000 Hz, bilaterally (American National Standards Institute, 2003), and were right handed. Inhibition was measured using a forced-attention dichotic consonant–vowel listening task and the Simon task, a nonverbal visual test. Results Both groups of participants demonstrated a significant right ear advantage on the dichotic listening task; however, no significant differences in performance were evidenced between the monolingual and bilingual groups in any of the dichotic listening conditions. Both groups performed better on the congruent trial than on the incongruent trial of the Simon task and had significantly faster response times on the congruent trial than on the incongruent trial. However, there were no significant differences in performance between the monolingual and bilingual groups on the visual test of inhibition. Conclusions No significant differences in performance on auditory and visual tests of inhibition of irrelevant information were evidenced between the monolingual and bilingual participants in this study. These findings suggest that bilinguals may not exhibit an advantage in the inhibition of irrelevant information compared with monolinguals.

The Impact of Synthetic and Accented Speech on Unattended Recall in a Dichotic Listening Task

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne M. Sinatra ◽  
Valerie K. Sims ◽  
Maxine B. Najle ◽  
Shannon K. T. Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Dichotic Listening ◽  
Accented Speech ◽  
Dichotic Listening Task ◽  
Listening Task ◽  
The Impact

Creativity and Attention: Insights From the Dichotic Listening Task

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oshin A. Vartanian ◽  
Colin Martindale ◽  
Jessica Matthews ◽  
Jonna M. Kwiatkowski
Keyword(s):  
Dichotic Listening ◽  
Dichotic Listening Task ◽  
Listening Task

Previously reward-associated sounds interfere with goal-directed auditory processing

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182199003
Author(s):  
Andy J Kim ◽  
David S Lee ◽  
Brian A Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Visual Processing ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Dichotic Listening ◽  
Auditory Information ◽  
Correct Identification ◽  
Subsequent Test ◽  
Dichotic Listening Task ◽  
Listening Task ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
Visual Domain

Previously reward-associated stimuli have consistently been shown to involuntarily capture attention in the visual domain. Although previously reward-associated but currently task-irrelevant sounds have also been shown to interfere with visual processing, it remains unclear whether such stimuli can interfere with the processing of task-relevant auditory information. To address this question, we modified a dichotic listening task to measure interference from task-irrelevant but previously reward-associated sounds. In a training phase, participants were simultaneously presented with a spoken letter and number in different auditory streams and learned to associate the correct identification of each of three letters with high, low, and no monetary reward, respectively. In a subsequent test phase, participants were again presented with the same auditory stimuli but were instead instructed to report the number while ignoring spoken letters. In both the training and test phases, response time measures demonstrated that attention was biased in favour of the auditory stimulus associated with high value. Our findings demonstrate that attention can be biased towards learned reward cues in the auditory domain, interfering with goal-directed auditory processing.

Responses of Stuttering and Non-Stuttering Children to a Dichotic Listening Task

1974 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 263-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Gruber ◽  
R. L. Powell
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
School Children ◽  
Dichotic Listening ◽  
Cerebral Dominance ◽  
Dichotic Listening Task ◽  
Listening Task

Performance on a dichotic listening task of 28 normally speaking and 28 stuttering elementary and high school children showed no significant inter-ear differences. These results do not support the idea that stuttering results from lack of cerebral dominance for speech.

scholarly journals M187. A MULTIMODAL, NEUROIMAGING STUDY OF TDCS MECHANISMS RELATED TO AUDITORY VERBAL HALLUCINATIONS IN HEALTHY INDIVIDUALS

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S207-S207
Author(s):  
Marquardt Lynn ◽  
Isabella Kusztrits ◽  
Alexander R Craven ◽  
Kenneth Hugdahl ◽  
Karsten Specht ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electric Field ◽  
Mr Spectroscopy ◽  
Dichotic Listening ◽  
Block Design ◽  
Brain Activation ◽  
Healthy Individuals ◽  
Auditory Verbal Hallucinations ◽  
Sham Stimulation ◽  
Dichotic Listening Task ◽  
Listening Task

Abstract Background Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a brain stimulation method which is growing in popularity in both research and clinical settings, especially as a treatment of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) in patients with schizophrenia. However, the underlying neural mechanisms of this tDCS treatment are poorly understood. Current AVH models propose that AVH arise from hyperactivation in the left temporo parietal (LTPC), causing AVH, and from hypoactivation in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (LDLPFC), leading to diminished control over AVH. We aimed to “mimic” this hyper-/hypoactivation pattern in healthy individuals with tDCS by placing the excitatory anode above the LTPC and the inhibitory cathode over the LDLPFC and then to study the effects of tDCS on these brain areas. Previous studies examined either brain activation, neurochemistry, or behavior, with other electrode montages, but few looked at those aspects together. The present study therefore examined tDCS effects with fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), MR spectroscopy, behavioral tasks and simulation of the electric field in a multimodal approach. We hypothesized that tDCS would (a) lead to similar behavioral deficits in healthy individuals as in schizophrenia patients and (b) induce changes in the stimulated areas on neurotransmitter and functional activation level. Methods Thirty-two healthy participants (18 males, mean age=26 yrs) were tested twice, ca. one week apart, with either real or sham (control) 2mA tDCS for 20 min while in a GE 750, 3T MRI scanner. The order of real/sham stimulation was counterbalanced in a double-blind design. During fMRI, participants completed a dichotic listening task in a block design, in order to measure behavior and brain activation changes. Before and after fMRI/tDCS, MR spectroscopy was carried out in two voxels placed under the electrodes. The data was analyzed with repeated measures ANOVAs. After data-collection, the structural T1 sequence was used to simulate the electric field of tDCS stimulation. Results Glx (Glutamate and glutamine combined) showed a trend (F(1,31)=3.35, p=.077, η2p=.098) to increase after tDCS stimulation compared to before, however this was not electrode specific. Neither fMRI, nor the dichotic listening task (all F≤1.64, p≥.203, η2p≤.052) showed any stimulation specific differences between real and sham stimulation. The tDCS simulation revealed large individual differences in the electric field induced. Discussion In the present study, tDCS seemed to have little effect on the measured brain parameters and little validation for the AVH model was found. The mechanisms of tDCS and how it affects the underlying brain tissue are poorly understood and seem to be affected by different stimulation parameters like stimulation duration, current strength and electrode montage. To use tDCS most effectively in schizophrenia research and treatment of auditory hallucinations, it should be validated with a multitude of methods, similar to the approach described here.

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