scholarly journals Speaking with an alien voice: Flexible sense of agency during vocal production

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias K. Franken ◽  
Robert Hartsuiker ◽  
Petter Johansson ◽  
Lars Hall ◽  
Andreas Lind
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Sensory Feedback ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sense Of Agency ◽  
Comparison Process ◽  
Vocal Production ◽  
Internal Representations ◽  
Normal Voice ◽  
Comparator Model ◽  
Joint Contribution

Speakers monitor auditory feedback during speech production in order to correct for speech errors. The comparator model proposes that this process is supported by comparing sensory feedback to internal predictions of the sensory consequences of articulation. Additionally, this comparison process is proposed to support the sense of agency over vocal output. The current study tests this hypothesis by asking whether mismatching auditory feedback leads to a decrease in the sense of agency as measured by speakers’ responses to pitch-shifted feedback. Participants vocalized while auditory feedback was unexpectedly and briefly pitch-shifted. In addition, in one block, the entire vocalization’s pitch was baseline-shifted (‘alien voice’), while it was not in the other block (‘normal voice’). Participants compensated for the pitch shifts even in the alien voice condition, suggesting that agency was flexible. This is problematic for the classic comparator model, where a mismatching feedback would lead to a loss of agency. Alternative models are discussed in light of these findings, including an adapted comparator model and the inferential account, which suggests that agency is inferred from the joint contribution of several multisensory sources of evidence. Together, these findings suggest that internal representations of one’s own voice are more flexible than often assumed.

scholarly journals Effect of Distorted Visual Feedback on the Sense of Agency

2008 ◽  
Vol 19 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 53-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Farrer ◽  
M. Bouchereau ◽  
M. Jeannerod ◽  
N. Franck
Keyword(s):  
Visual Feedback ◽  
Internal Model ◽  
Sensory Feedback ◽  
Sense Of Agency ◽  
Hand Movements ◽  
Comparison Process ◽  
Computer Screen ◽  
Temporal Properties ◽  
Cardinal Feature

It has been hypothesized that an internal model is involved in controlling and recognizing one’s own actions (action attribution). This results from a comparison process between the predicted sensory feedback of the action and its real sensory consequences. The aim of the present study is to distinguish the respective importance of two action parameters (time and direction) on such an attribution judgment.We used a device that allows introduction of discordance between the movements actually performed and the sensory feedback displayed on a computer screen. Participants were asked to judge whether they were viewing (1) their own movements, (2) their own movements modified (spatially or temporally displaced), or (3) those of another agent (i.e, the experimenter). In fact, in all conditions they were only shown their own movements either unaltered or modified by varying amounts in space or time.Movements were only attributed to another agent when therewas a high spatial discordance between participants’ hand movements and sensory feedback. This study is the first to show that the direction of movements is a cardinal feature in action attribution, whereas temporal properties of movements play a less important role.

scholarly journals Drifting pitch awareness after exposure to altered auditory feedback

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias K. Franken ◽  
Robert Hartsuiker ◽  
Petter Johansson ◽  
Lars Hall ◽  
Andreas Lind
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Sensory Feedback ◽  
Prolonged Exposure ◽  
Sense Of Agency ◽  
Opposite Pattern ◽  
Actual Production ◽  
Sensory Prediction ◽  
Pitch Shift

Various studies have claimed that the sense of agency is based on a comparison between an internal estimate of an action’s outcome and sensory feedback. With respect to speech, this presumes that speakers have a stable pre-articulatory representation of their own speech. However, recent research suggests that the sense of agency is flexible and thus in some contexts we may feel like we produced speech that was not actually produced by us. The current study tested whether the estimated pitch of one’s articulation (termed ‘pitch awareness’) is affected by manipulated auditory feedback. In four experiments, fifty-six participants produced isolated vowels while being exposed to pitch-shifted auditory feedback. After every vocalization, participants indicated whether they thought the feedback was higher or lower than their actual production. After exposure to a block of high-pitched auditory feedback (+500 cents pitch shift), participants were more likely to label subsequent auditory feedback as “lower than my actual production”, suggesting that prolonged exposure to high-pitched auditory feedback led to a drift in participants’ pitch awareness. The opposite pattern was found after exposure to a constant -500 cents pitch shift. This suggests that pitch awareness is not solely based on a pre-articulatory representation of intended speech or on a sensory prediction, but also on sensory feedback. We propose that this drift in pitch awareness could be indicative of a sense of agency over the pitch-shifted auditory feedback in the exposure block. If so, this suggests that the sense of agency over vocal output is flexible.

The Effect of Learning Modality and Auditory Feedback on Word Memory: Cochlear-Implanted versus Normal-Hearing Adults

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (03) ◽  
pp. 222-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riki Taitelbaum-Swead ◽  
Michal Icht ◽  
Yaniv Mama
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Silent Reading ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Visual Modality ◽  
Auditory Modality ◽  
No Production ◽  
Vocal Production ◽  
Word Memory ◽  
Open Set

AbstractIn recent years, the effect of cognitive abilities on the achievements of cochlear implant (CI) users has been evaluated. Some studies have suggested that gaps between CI users and normal-hearing (NH) peers in cognitive tasks are modality specific, and occur only in auditory tasks.The present study focused on the effect of learning modality (auditory, visual) and auditory feedback on word memory in young adults who were prelingually deafened and received CIs before the age of 5 yr, and their NH peers.A production effect (PE) paradigm was used, in which participants learned familiar study words by vocal production (saying aloud) or by no-production (silent reading or listening). Words were presented (1) in the visual modality (written) and (2) in the auditory modality (heard). CI users performed the visual condition twice—once with the implant ON and once with it OFF. All conditions were followed by free recall tests.Twelve young adults, long-term CI users, implanted between ages 1.7 and 4.5 yr, and who showed ≥50% in monosyllabic consonant-vowel-consonant open-set test with their implants were enrolled. A group of 14 age-matched NH young adults served as the comparison group.For each condition, we calculated the proportion of study words recalled. Mixed-measures analysis of variances were carried out with group (NH, CI) as a between-subjects variable, and learning condition (aloud or silent reading) as a within-subject variable. Following this, paired sample t tests were used to evaluate the PE size (differences between aloud and silent words) and overall recall ratios (aloud and silent words combined) in each of the learning conditions.With visual word presentation, young adults with CIs (regardless of implant status CI-ON or CI-OFF), showed comparable memory performance (and a similar PE) to NH peers. However, with auditory presentation, young adults with CIs showed poorer memory for nonproduced words (hence a larger PE) relative to their NH peers.The results support the construct that young adults with CIs will benefit more from learning via the visual modality (reading), rather than the auditory modality (listening). Importantly, vocal production can largely improve auditory word memory, especially for the CI group.

scholarly journals Shared mechanisms of auditory and non-auditory vocal learning in the songbird brain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James McGregor ◽  
Abigail Grassler ◽  
Paul I. Jaffe ◽  
Amanda Louise Jacob ◽  
Michael Brainard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reinforcement Learning ◽  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
General Principle ◽  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Sensory Feedback ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Neural Systems ◽  
Auditory Information ◽  
Vocal Plasticity

Songbirds and humans share the ability to adaptively modify their vocalizations based on sensory feedback. Prior studies have focused primarily on the role that auditory feedback plays in shaping vocal output throughout life. In contrast, it is unclear whether and how non-auditory information drives vocal plasticity. Here, we first used a reinforcement learning paradigm to establish that non-auditory feedback can drive vocal learning in adult songbirds. We then assessed the role of a songbird basal ganglia-thalamocortical pathway critical to auditory vocal learning in this novel form of vocal plasticity. We found that both this circuit and its dopaminergic inputs are necessary for non-auditory vocal learning, demonstrating that this pathway is not specialized exclusively for auditory-driven vocal learning. The ability of this circuit to use both auditory and non-auditory information to guide vocal learning may reflect a general principle for the neural systems that support vocal plasticity across species.

The Emerging Standard Neurobiological Model of Decision Making

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shih-Wei Wu ◽  
Paul W. Glimcher
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Economic Theory ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Neoclassical Economic ◽  
Internal Representations ◽  
Neurobiological Model ◽  
Neoclassical Economic Theory ◽  
The Brain

The standard neurobiological model of decision making has evolved, since the turn of the twenty-first century, from a confluence of economic, psychological, and neurosci- entific studies of how humans make choices. Two fundamental insights have guided the development of this model during this period, one drawn from economics and the other from neuroscience. The first derives from neoclassical economic theory, which unambiguously demonstrated that logically consistent choosers behave “as if” they had some internal, continuous, and monotonic representation of the values of any choice objects under consideration. The second insight derives from neurobiological studies suggesting that the brain can both represent, in patterns of local neural activity, and compare, by a process of interneuronal competition, internal representations of value associated with different choices.

scholarly journals Extending experiences of voluntary action by association

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (31) ◽  
pp. 8867-8872 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nima Khalighinejad ◽  
Patrick Haggard
Keyword(s):  
Involuntary Movement ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sense Of Agency ◽  
Voluntary Action ◽  
Voluntary Movements ◽  
Motor Systems ◽  
Brain Machine Interfaces ◽  
Involuntary Movements ◽  
Temporal Features ◽  
Key Aspects

“Sense of agency” refers to the experience that links one’s voluntary actions to their external outcomes. It remains unclear whether this ubiquitous experience is hardwired, arising from specific signals within the brain’s motor systems, or rather depends on associative learning, through repeated cooccurrence of voluntary movements and their outcomes. To distinguish these two models, we asked participants to trigger a tone by a voluntary keypress action. The voluntary action was always associated with an involuntary movement of the other hand. We then tested whether the combination of the involuntary movement and tone alone might now suffice to produce a sense of agency, even when the voluntary action was omitted. Sense of agency was measured using an implicit marker based on time perception, namely a shift in the perceived time of the outcome toward the action that caused it. Across two experiments, repeatedly pairing an involuntary movement with a voluntary action induced key temporal features of agency, with the outcome now perceived as shifted toward the involuntary movement. This shift required involuntary movements to have been previously associated with voluntary actions. We show that some key aspects of agency may be transferred from voluntary actions to involuntary movements. An internal volitional signal is required for the primary acquisition of agency but, with repeated association, the involuntary movement in itself comes to produce some key temporal features of agency over the subsequent outcome. This finding may explain how humans can develop an enduring sense of agency in nonnatural cases, like brain–machine interfaces.

Effects of Auditory Feedback and Phonetic Context on Stomal Noise in Laryngectomized Speakers

1987 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Till ◽  
Kathie E. England ◽  
Cindy B. Law-Till
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Noise Intensity ◽  
The Other ◽  
Clinical Implications ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Esophageal Speech ◽  
Phonetic Context ◽  
Speech Token

Stomal noise intensity during esophageal speech was measured in 7 laryngectomized subjects during amplified monaural auditory feedback and during control conditions without feedback. A significant (5–10 dB) reduction in stomal noise was observed when auditory feedback was applied. The conditions without feedback were designed to provide additional information regarding the effects of the initial phonetic element in the esophageal speech token on stomal noise. During the control conditions, esophageal speech tokens beginning with voiceless consonants resulted in significantly more stomal noise than was present for the other speech tokens. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed.

Perspective-taking

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Stanghellini
Keyword(s):  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sense Of Agency ◽  
Mental Condition ◽  
Therapeutic Goal ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Therapeutic Device

This chapter discusses how perspectivism is the device through which each one of us, who first and foremost sees the world from his point of view, is able to recognize that precisely as just one point of view, and thereby to change it. A healthy mental condition implies the ability to change one’s point of view and temporarily take the perspective of another person. The stronger the reciprocity of perspectives between my former and my present ego, and between my own vantage and the Other’s, the weaker the tendency to perceive my motivations as absolutely necessary. Perspectivism allows me to see myself as not strictly determined by the past and by the involuntary, and may restore a sense of agency. This explains why the reciprocity of perspectives is a therapeutic goal and perspectivism—the attempt to see things from the point of view of the Other—is a therapeutic device.

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