scholarly journals Effects of Selective Attention on Syntax Processing in Music and Language

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 2252-2267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clemens Maidhof ◽  
Stefan Koelsch
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Auditory Selective Attention ◽  
Music And Language ◽  
Syntactic Information ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Anterior Negativity ◽  
Clear Support

The present study investigated the effects of auditory selective attention on the processing of syntactic information in music and speech using event-related potentials. Spoken sentences or musical chord sequences were either presented in isolation, or simultaneously. When presented simultaneously, participants had to focus their attention either on speech, or on music. Final words of sentences and final harmonies of chord sequences were syntactically either correct or incorrect. Irregular chords elicited an early right anterior negativity (ERAN), whose amplitude was decreased when music was simultaneously presented with speech, compared to when only music was presented. However, the amplitude of the ERAN-like waveform elicited when music was ignored did not differ from the conditions in which participants attended the chord sequences. Irregular sentences elicited an early left anterior negativity (ELAN), regardless of whether speech was presented in isolation, was attended, or was to be ignored. These findings suggest that the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of syntactic structure of music and speech operate partially automatically, and, in the case of music, are influenced by different attentional conditions. Moreover, the ERAN was slightly reduced when irregular sentences were presented, but only when music was ignored. Therefore, these findings provide no clear support for an interaction of neural resources for syntactic processing already at these early stages.

Auditory Selective Attention and Event-Related Potentials in Schizophrenia

1991 ◽  
Vol 158 (4) ◽  
pp. 534-539 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip B. Ward ◽  
Stanley V. Catts ◽  
Allison M. Fox ◽  
Patricia T. Michie ◽  
Neil McConaghy
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Auditory Selective Attention ◽  
Attentional Deficits ◽  
Processing Negativity ◽  
Negative Thought ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Listening Task

Brain ERPs were recorded in ten unmedicated schizophrenic patients and age- and sex-matched healthy controls during a multidimensional listening task. Patients showed a marked reduction in a long-duration attention-related negative ERP component, termed ‘processing negativity’ (PN), which was elicited by attended stimuli. The amplitude of PN was significantly correlated with SANS and SAPS scores of schizophrenic symptoms. The P300 component was also reduced in amplitude in patients, and was significantly correlated with SANS ratings of negative thought disorder. These findings provide neurophysiological evidence of impairment in the maintenance of selective attention and the cognitive processes associated with target detection among schizophrenic patients. The reduced PN in schizophrenics implicates frontostriatal pathways in the aetiology of attentional deficits in schizophrenia.

Neural Mechanisms of Global and Local Processing: A Combined PET and ERP Study

1998 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 485-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. J. Heinze ◽  
H. Hinrichs ◽  
M. Scholz ◽  
W. Burchert ◽  
G. R. Mangun
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Divided Attention ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Extrastriate Cortex ◽  
Hemispheric Differences ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Sensory Evoked ◽  
Global And Local

The neural mechanisms of hierarchical stimulus processing were investigated using a combined event-related potentials (ERPs) and positron emission tomography (PET) approach. Healthy subjects were tested under two conditions that involved selective or divided attention between local and global levels of hierarchical letter stimuli in order to determine whether and where hemispheric differences might exist in the processing of local versus global information. When attention was divided between global and local levels, the N2 component of the ERPs (260- to 360-msec latency) elicited by the target stimuli showed asymmetries in amplitude over the two hemispheres. The N2 to local targets was larger over the left hemisphere, but the N2 to global targets tended to be slightly larger over the right hemisphere. However, the shorter-latency, sensory-evoked P1 component (90- to 150-msec latency) was not different for global versus local targets under conditions of divided attention. In contrast, during selective attention to either global or local targets, asymmetries in the N2 component were not observed. But under selective attention conditions, the sensory-evoked P1 components in the extrastriate cortex were enlarged for global versus local attention. In- creased regional cerebral blood flow in the posterior fusiform gyrus bilaterally was observed in the PET data during selective attention to either global or local targets, but neither these nor the P1 component showed any tendency toward hemispheric difference for global versus local attention. Neither were there any activations observed in the parietal lobe during selective attention to global versus local targets. Together these data indicate that early sensory inputs are not modulated to gate global versus local information differentially into the two hemi- spheres. Rather, later stages of processing that may be asym- metrically organized in the left and right hemispheres operate in parallel to process global and local aspects of complex stimuli (i.e., the N2 effect of the ERPs). This pattern of results supports models proposing that spatial frequency analysis is only asymmetric at higher stages of perceptual processing and not at the earliest stages of visual cortical analysis.

Sensory and Cognitive Components of Auditory Processing in Individuals With Tinnitus

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 834-842
Author(s):  
Harini Vasudevan ◽  
Hari Prakash Palaniswamy ◽  
Ramaswamy Balakrishnan
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Function Analysis ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Oscillatory Activity ◽  
Default Mode ◽  
Auditory Selective Attention ◽  
Cognitive Components ◽  
Mode Function ◽  
Related Potentials

Purpose The main purpose of the study is to explore the auditory selective attention abilities (using event-related potentials) and the neuronal oscillatory activity in the default mode network sites (using electroencephalogram [EEG]) in individuals with tinnitus. Method Auditory selective attention was measured using P300, and the resting state EEG was assessed using the default mode function analysis. Ten individuals with continuous and bothersome tinnitus along with 10 age- and gender-matched control participants underwent event-related potential testing and 5 min of EEG recording (at wakeful rest). Results Individuals with tinnitus were observed to have larger N1 and P3 amplitudes along with prolonged P3 latency. The default mode function analysis revealed no significant oscillatory differences between the groups. Conclusion The current study shows changes in both the early sensory and late cognitive components of auditory processing. The change in the P3 component is suggestive of selective auditory attention deficit, and the sensory component (N1) suggests an altered bottom-up processing in individuals with tinnitus.

Individual differences predict ERP signatures of second language learning of novel grammatical rules

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily S Nichols ◽  
Marc F Joanisse
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
First Language ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
Grammatical Rule ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Anterior Negativity

We investigated the extent to which second-language (L2) learning is influenced by the similarity of grammatical features in one’s first language (L1). We used event-related potentials to identify neural signatures of a novel grammatical rule - grammatical gender - in L1 English speakers. Of interest was whether individual differences in L2 proficiency and age of acquisition (AoA) influenced these effects. L2 and native speakers of French read French sentences that were grammatically correct, or contained either a grammatical gender or word order violation. Proficiency and AoA predicted Left Anterior Negativity amplitude, with structure violations driving the proficiency effect and gender violations driving the AoA effect. Proficiency, group, and AoA predicted P600 amplitude for gender violations but not structure violations. Different effects of grammatical gender and structure violations indicate that L2 speakers engage novel grammatical processes differently from L1 speakers and that this varies appreciably based on both AoA and proficiency.

scholarly journals An Event-Related Brain Potential (ERP) Study of Complex Anaphora in Spanish

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrián García-Sierra ◽  
Juan Silva-Pereyra ◽  
Graciela Catalina Alatorre-Cruz ◽  
Noelle Wig
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Brain Potential ◽  
Single Entity ◽  
Demonstrative Pronouns ◽  
Frontal Negativity ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Anterior Negativity

This study examines the event- related brain potential (ERP) of 25 Mexican monolingual Spanish-speakers when reading Spanish sentences with single entity anaphora or complex anaphora. Complex anaphora is an expression that refer to propositions, states, facts or events while, a single entity anaphora is an expression that refers back to a concrete object. Here we compare the cognitive cost in processing a single entity anaphora [éstafeminine; La renuncia (resignation)] from a complex anaphora [estoneuter; La renuncia fue aceptada (The resignation was accepted)]. Ésta elicited a larger positive peak at 200 ms, and esto elicited a larger frontal negativity around 400 ms. The positivity resembles the P200 component, and its amplitude is thought to represent an interaction between predictive qualities in sentence processing (i.e., graphical similarity and frequency of occurrence). Unlike parietal negativities (typical N400), frontal negativities are thought to represent the ease by which pronouns are linked with its antecedent, and how easy the information is recovered from short-term memory. Thus, the complex anaphora recruited more cognitive resources than the single entity anaphora. We also included an ungrammatical control sentence [éstemasculine; La renuncia (resignation)] to better understand the unique processes behind complex anaphoric resolution, as opposed to just general difficulty in sentence processing. In this case, event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by éstemasculine and éstafeminine were compared. Again, ésta elicited a larger P200. However, different from the experimental condition, a left anterior negativity (LAN) effect was observed for éste; the ungrammatical condition. Altogether, the present research provides electrophysiological evidence indicating that demonstrative pronouns with different morphosyntactic features (i.e., gender) and discourse parameters (i.e., single entity or complex referent) interact during the first stage of anaphoric processing of anaphora. This stage initiated as early as 200 milliseconds after the pronoun onset and probably ends around 400 ms.

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