Age-Associated Degeneration of Backward Masking Task Performance: Evidence of Declining Temporal Resolution Abilities in Normal Listeners

1993 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 260-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick E. Cobb ◽  
Gary P. Jacobson ◽  
Craig W. Newman ◽  
Laura W. Kretschmer ◽  
Kenneth A. Donnelly
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Temporal Resolution ◽  
Backward Masking

Auditory Brainstem Correlates of Perceptual Timing Deficits

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 376-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krista L. Johnson ◽  
Trent G. Nicol ◽  
Steven G. Zecker ◽  
Nina Kraus
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Temporal Resolution ◽  
Biological Marker ◽  
Auditory Brainstem ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Backward Masking ◽  
Neural Encoding ◽  
Auditory Temporal Processing ◽  
Auditory Temporal Resolution ◽  
Sensory Processes

Children with language-based learning problems often exhibit pronounced speech perception difficulties. Specifically, these children have increased difficulty separating brief sounds occurring in rapid succession (temporal resolution). The purpose of this study was to better understand the consequences of auditory temporal resolution deficits from the perspective of the neural encoding of speech. The findings provide evidence that sensory processes relevant to cognition take place at much earlier levels than traditionally believed. Thresholds from a psychophysical backward masking task were used to divide children into groups with good and poor temporal resolution. Speech-evoked brainstem responses were analyzed across groups to measure the neural integrity of stimulus-time mechanisms. Results suggest that children with poor temporal resolution do not have an overall neural processing deficit, but rather a deficit specific to the encoding of certain acoustic cues in speech. Speech understanding relies on the ability to attach meaning to rapidly fluctuating changes of both the temporal and spectral information found in consonants and vowels. For this to happen properly, the auditory system must first accurately encode these time-varying acoustic cues. Speech perception difficulties that often co-occur in children with poor temporal resolution may originate as a neural encoding deficit in structures as early as the auditory brainstem. Thus, speech-evoked brainstem responses are a biological marker for auditory temporal processing ability.

Age-Related Improvements in Auditory Backward and Simultaneous Masking in 6- to 10-Year-Old Children

2000 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 1402-1415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas E. H. Hartley ◽  
Beverly A. Wright ◽  
Sarah C. Hogan ◽  
David R. Moore
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Temporal Resolution ◽  
Exponential Decay ◽  
Detection Threshold ◽  
Frequency Resolution ◽  
Backward Masking ◽  
Decay Function ◽  
Age Related ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Negative Exponential

This study investigated the development of auditory frequency and temporal resolution using simultaneous and backward masking of a tone by a noise. The participants were 6- to 10-year-old children and adults. On the measure of frequency resolution (the difference in the detection threshold for a tone presented either in a bandpass noise or in a spectrally notched noise), 6-year-old children performed as well as adults. However, for the backward masking task, 6-yearolds had, on average, 34 dB higher thresholds than adults. A negative exponential decay function fitted to the backward masking data for subjects of all ages indicated that adult-like temporal resolution may not be reached until about 11 years of age. These results show that, measured by masking, frequency resolution has reached adult-like performance by 6 years of age, whereas temporal resolution develops beyond 10 years of age. Six-year-old children were also assessed with tests of cognitive ability. Improvements in both frequency and temporal resolution were found with increasing IQ score.

Auditory Processing Efficiency and Temporal Resolution in Children and Adults

2004 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 1022-1029 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penelope R. Hill ◽  
Douglas E. H. Hartley ◽  
Brian R. Glasberg ◽  
Brian C. J. Moore ◽  
David R. Moore
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Resolution ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Basilar Membrane ◽  
Detection Efficiency ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Backward Masking ◽  
Temporal Window ◽  
Processing Efficiency ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Competing Hypotheses

Children have higher auditory backward masking (BM) thresholds than adults. One explanation for this is poor temporal resolution, resulting in difficulty separating brief or rapidly presented sounds. This implies that the auditory temporal window is broader in children than in adults. Alternatively, elevated BM thresholds in children may indicate poor processing efficiency. In this case, children would need a higher signal-to-masker ratio than adults to detect the presence of a signal. This would result in poor performance on a number of psychoacoustic tasks but would be particularly marked in BM due to the compressive nonlinearity of the basilar membrane. The objective of the present study was to examine the competing hypotheses of "temporal resolution" and "efficiency" by measuring BM as a function of signal-to-masker interval in children and adults. The children had significantly higher thresholds than the adults at each of the intervals. Subsequent modeling and analyses showed that the data for both children and adults were best fitted using the same, fixed temporal window. Therefore, the differences in BM threshold between adults and children were not due to differences in temporal resolution but to reduced detection efficiency in the children.

Effects of Concurrent Manual Task Performance on Connected Speech Acoustics in Individuals With Parkinson Disease

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (7) ◽  
pp. 2099-2117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason A. Whitfield ◽  
Zoe Kriegel ◽  
Adam M. Fullenkamp ◽  
Daryush D. Mehta
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Motor Task ◽  
Task Condition ◽  
Connected Speech ◽  
Speech Acoustics ◽  
Single Task ◽  
Manual Task ◽  
Task Conditions

Purpose Prior investigations suggest that simultaneous performance of more than 1 motor-oriented task may exacerbate speech motor deficits in individuals with Parkinson disease (PD). The purpose of the current investigation was to examine the extent to which performing a low-demand manual task affected the connected speech in individuals with and without PD. Method Individuals with PD and neurologically healthy controls performed speech tasks (reading and extemporaneous speech tasks) and an oscillatory manual task (a counterclockwise circle-drawing task) in isolation (single-task condition) and concurrently (dual-task condition). Results Relative to speech task performance, no changes in speech acoustics were observed for either group when the low-demand motor task was performed with the concurrent reading tasks. Speakers with PD exhibited a significant decrease in pause duration between the single-task (speech only) and dual-task conditions for the extemporaneous speech task, whereas control participants did not exhibit changes in any speech production variable between the single- and dual-task conditions. Conclusions Overall, there were little to no changes in speech production when a low-demand oscillatory motor task was performed with concurrent reading. For the extemporaneous task, however, individuals with PD exhibited significant changes when the speech and manual tasks were performed concurrently, a pattern that was not observed for control speakers. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.8637008

Development of visual perception and attention, assessed by backward masking and application in children with epilepsy

2003 ◽  
Vol 45 (08) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Macchi ◽  
Livia Nicoletta Rossi ◽  
Ivan Cortinovis ◽  
Lucia Menegazzo ◽  
Sandra Maria Burri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Perception ◽  
Backward Masking

The Influence of Emotionally Relevant Context on the Evoked Cardiac Response Triggered by an Irrelevant Stimulus

2003 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Kuniecki ◽  
Robert Barry ◽  
Jan Kaiser
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Auditory Stimulus ◽  
Irrelevant Stimulus ◽  
Cardiac Response ◽  
Mental Task ◽  
Negative Valence ◽  
Cardiac Deceleration ◽  
Relevant Context ◽  
Stimulus Valence ◽  
Affective Stimulus

Abstract The effect of stimulus valence was examined in the evoked cardiac response (ECR) elicited by the exposition of neutral and negative slides as well as by an innocuous auditory stimulus presented on the affective foregrounds generated by the slides. The exposition of the aversive slide produced prolonged cardiac deceleration in comparison with the neutral slide. Similar prolonged deceleration accompanied exposition of the neutral auditory stimulus on the negative visual foreground in comparison with the neutral foreground. We interpret these results as an autonomic correlate of extended stimulus processing associated with the affective stimulus. The initial deceleration response, covering two or three slower heart beats, may be prolonged for several seconds before HR reaches the baseline level again. In such a case the evoked cardiac deceleration can be functionally divided into two parts: the reflexive bradycardia (ECR1) elicited by neutral stimuli and a late decelerative component (LDC). We can speculate that the latter is associated with an additional voluntary continuation of processing of the stimulus. This must involve some cognitive aspect different from the mental task performance which leads to the accelerative ECR2, and we suggest that processing of a stimulus with negative valence is involved in generating the LDC.

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