scholarly journals Defining the Role of Attention in Hierarchical Auditory Processing

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-128
Author(s):  
Caitlin N. Price ◽  
Deborah Moncrieff
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Auditory Pathway ◽  
Simultaneous Recording ◽  
Neural Encoding ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Attentional Processes ◽  
Clinical Interventions ◽  
Speech In Noise ◽  
Behavioral Studies ◽  
Electrophysiological Studies

Communication in noise is a complex process requiring efficient neural encoding throughout the entire auditory pathway as well as contributions from higher-order cognitive processes (i.e., attention) to extract speech cues for perception. Thus, identifying effective clinical interventions for individuals with speech-in-noise deficits relies on the disentanglement of bottom-up (sensory) and top-down (cognitive) factors to appropriately determine the area of deficit; yet, how attention may interact with early encoding of sensory inputs remains unclear. For decades, attentional theorists have attempted to address this question with cleverly designed behavioral studies, but the neural processes and interactions underlying attention’s role in speech perception remain unresolved. While anatomical and electrophysiological studies have investigated the neurological structures contributing to attentional processes and revealed relevant brain–behavior relationships, recent electrophysiological techniques (i.e., simultaneous recording of brainstem and cortical responses) may provide novel insight regarding the relationship between early sensory processing and top-down attentional influences. In this article, we review relevant theories that guide our present understanding of attentional processes, discuss current electrophysiological evidence of attentional involvement in auditory processing across subcortical and cortical levels, and propose areas for future study that will inform the development of more targeted and effective clinical interventions for individuals with speech-in-noise deficits.

Neural plasticity in response to attention training in anxiety

2009 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 667-677 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Eldar ◽  
Y. Bar-Haim
Keyword(s):  
Neural Plasticity ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Mean Amplitude ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Attention Training ◽  
Training Procedure ◽  
Threat Bias ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Attentional Processes ◽  
Behavioral Studies

BackgroundBehavioral studies show that attention training can alter threat bias, influence vulnerability to stress and reduce clinical anxiety symptoms. The aim of this study was to examine which cognitive functions of attention processing are modulated by attention training, and how a priori anxiety interacts with the attention training procedure. Specifically, we expected modulation in the P1/N1 event-related potential (ERP) complex if early spatial attention was to be affected by training and modulation in later ERP components (P2, N2, P3) had training affected top-down attentional processes.MethodThirty anxious and 30 non-anxious adults performed a modified probe detection task. Electroencephalograms (EEGs) were recorded throughout for later ERP analyses. Half the participants in each anxiety group were randomly assigned to undergo a training procedure designed to divert their attention away from threat and the other half received placebo training.ResultsAnxious participants who were trained to avoid threat showed a linear reduction in response time (RT) to targets replacing neutral faces with the progression of training. This change in RT was not observed among non-anxious participants or among anxious participants who were exposed to placebo training. Following training, the anxious participants who were trained to avoid threat showed a reduction in P2 and P3 mean amplitudes and an enhancement in N2 mean amplitude.ConclusionsAttention training affects anxious participants whereas non-anxious participants seem not to respond to it. The ERP data suggest that attention training modulates top-down processes of attention control rather than processes of early attention orienting.

Neural Mechanisms of Music and Language

2019 ◽  
pp. 906-952
Author(s):  
Mattson Ogg ◽  
L. Robert Slevc
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Cortical Plasticity ◽  
Speaker Identification ◽  
Auditory Pathway ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Cross Domain ◽  
Music And Language ◽  
Cortical Regions

Music and language are uniquely human forms of communication. What neural structures facilitate these abilities? This chapter conducts a review of music and language processing that follows these acoustic signals as they ascend the auditory pathway from the brainstem to auditory cortex and on to more specialized cortical regions. Acoustic, neural, and cognitive mechanisms are identified where processing demands from both domains might overlap, with an eye to examples of experience-dependent cortical plasticity, which are taken as strong evidence for common neural substrates. Following an introduction describing how understanding musical processing informs linguistic or auditory processing more generally, findings regarding the major components (and parallels) of music and language research are reviewed: pitch perception, syntax and harmonic structural processing, semantics, timbre and speaker identification, attending in auditory scenes, and rhythm. Overall, the strongest evidence that currently exists for neural overlap (and cross-domain, experience-dependent plasticity) is in the brainstem, followed by auditory cortex, with evidence and the potential for overlap becoming less apparent as the mechanisms involved in music and speech perception become more specialized and distinct at higher levels of processing.

scholarly journals The Role of Primate Prefrontal Cortex in Bias and Shift Between Visual Dimensions

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farshad A Mansouri ◽  
Mark J Buckley ◽  
Daniel J Fehring ◽  
Keiji Tanaka
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Attentional Processes ◽  
Prefrontal Cortical ◽  
Frontopolar Cortex ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
Cortical Regions ◽  
Visual Cortical ◽  
Bilateral Lesions

Abstract Imaging and neural activity recording studies have shown activation in the primate prefrontal cortex when shifting attention between visual dimensions is necessary to achieve goals. A fundamental unanswered question is whether representations of these dimensions emerge from top-down attentional processes mediated by prefrontal regions or from bottom-up processes within visual cortical regions. We hypothesized a causative link between prefrontal cortical regions and dimension-based behavior. In large cohorts of humans and macaque monkeys, performing the same attention shifting task, we found that both species successfully shifted between visual dimensions, but both species also showed a significant behavioral advantage/bias to a particular dimension; however, these biases were in opposite directions in humans (bias to color) versus monkeys (bias to shape). Monkeys’ bias remained after selective bilateral lesions within the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), frontopolar cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), or superior, lateral prefrontal cortex. However, lesions within certain regions (ACC, DLPFC, or OFC) impaired monkeys’ ability to shift between these dimensions. We conclude that goal-directed processing of a particular dimension for the executive control of behavior depends on the integrity of prefrontal cortex; however, representation of competing dimensions and bias toward them does not depend on top-down prefrontal-mediated processes.

scholarly journals Musical training during early childhood enhances the neural encoding of speech in noise

2012 ◽  
Vol 123 (3) ◽  
pp. 191-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana L. Strait ◽  
Alexandra Parbery-Clark ◽  
Emily Hittner ◽  
Nina Kraus
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Neural Encoding ◽  
Speech In Noise

scholarly journals Neural Encoding of Speech and Music: Implications for Hearing Speech in Noise

2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (02) ◽  
pp. 129-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samira Anderson ◽  
Nina Kraus
Keyword(s):  
Neural Encoding ◽  
Speech In Noise

Informational Masking Effects of Speech Versus Nonspeech Noise on Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials

2021 ◽  
Vol 64 (10) ◽  
pp. 4014-4029
Author(s):  
Kathy R. Vander Werff ◽  
Christopher E. Niemczak ◽  
Kenneth Morse
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Auditory Evoked Potentials ◽  
Spectral Characteristics ◽  
Auditory Evoked Potential ◽  
Informational Masking ◽  
Neural Encoding ◽  
Speech Stimuli ◽  
Typical Morphology ◽  
Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials ◽  
Speech Information

Purpose Background noise has been categorized as energetic masking due to spectrotemporal overlap of the target and masker on the auditory periphery or informational masking due to cognitive-level interference from relevant content such as speech. The effects of masking on cortical and sensory auditory processing can be objectively studied with the cortical auditory evoked potential (CAEP). However, whether effects on neural response morphology are due to energetic spectrotemporal differences or informational content is not fully understood. The current multi-experiment series was designed to assess the effects of speech versus nonspeech maskers on the neural encoding of speech information in the central auditory system, specifically in terms of the effects of speech babble noise maskers varying by talker number. Method CAEPs were recorded from normal-hearing young adults in response to speech syllables in the presence of energetic maskers (white or speech-shaped noise) and varying amounts of informational maskers (speech babble maskers). The primary manipulation of informational masking was the number of talkers in speech babble, and results on CAEPs were compared to those of nonspeech maskers with different temporal and spectral characteristics. Results Even when nonspeech noise maskers were spectrally shaped and temporally modulated to speech babble maskers, notable changes in the typical morphology of the CAEP in response to speech stimuli were identified in the presence of primarily energetic maskers and speech babble maskers with varying numbers of talkers. Conclusions While differences in CAEP outcomes did not reach significance by number of talkers, neural components were significantly affected by speech babble maskers compared to nonspeech maskers. These results suggest an informational masking influence on neural encoding of speech information at the sensory cortical level of auditory processing, even without active participation on the part of the listener.

scholarly journals Response recovery in the locust auditory pathway

2016 ◽  
Vol 115 (1) ◽  
pp. 510-519
Author(s):  
Sarah Wirtssohn ◽  
Bernhard Ronacher
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Resolution ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Locusta Migratoria ◽  
Nonlinear Effects ◽  
Auditory Pathway ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Spike Timing ◽  
Waveform Analysis ◽  
Grasshopper Species ◽  
Response Recovery

Temporal resolution and the time courses of recovery from acute adaptation of neurons in the auditory pathway of the grasshopper Locusta migratoria were investigated with a response recovery paradigm. We stimulated with a series of single click and click pair stimuli while performing intracellular recordings from neurons at three processing stages: receptors and first and second order interneurons. The response to the second click was expressed relative to the single click response. This allowed the uncovering of the basic temporal resolution in these neurons. The effect of adaptation increased with processing layer. While neurons in the auditory periphery displayed a steady response recovery after a short initial adaptation, many interneurons showed nonlinear effects: most prominent a long-lasting suppression of the response to the second click in a pair, as well as a gain in response if a click was preceded by a click a few milliseconds before. Our results reveal a distributed temporal filtering of input at an early auditory processing stage. This set of specified filters is very likely homologous across grasshopper species and thus forms the neurophysiological basis for extracting relevant information from a variety of different temporal signals. Interestingly, in terms of spike timing precision neurons at all three processing layers recovered very fast, within 20 ms. Spike waveform analysis of several neuron types did not sufficiently explain the response recovery profiles implemented in these neurons, indicating that temporal resolution in neurons located at several processing layers of the auditory pathway is not necessarily limited by the spike duration and refractory period.

scholarly journals Auditory attention alterations in migraine: a behavioral and MEG/EEG study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rémy Masson ◽  
Yohana Lévêque ◽  
Geneviève Demarquay ◽  
Hesham ElShafei ◽  
Lesly Fornoni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Orienting Response ◽  
List Type ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Attention Task ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Attentional Processes ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
The Right ◽  
Task Irrelevant

AbstractObjectivesTo evaluate alterations of top-down and/or bottom-up attention in migraine and their cortical underpinnings.Methods19 migraineurs between attacks and 19 matched control participants performed a task evaluating jointly top-down and bottom-up attention, using visually-cued target sounds and unexpected task-irrelevant distracting sounds. Behavioral responses and MEG/EEG were recorded. Event-related potentials and fields (ERPs/ERFs) were processed and source reconstruction was applied to ERFs.ResultsAt the behavioral level, neither top-down nor bottom-up attentional processes appeared to be altered in migraine. However, migraineurs presented heightened evoked responses following distracting sounds (orienting component of the N1 and Re-Orienting Negativity, RON) and following target sounds (orienting component of the N1), concomitant to an increased recruitment of the right temporo-parietal junction. They also displayed an increased effect of the cue informational value on target processing resulting in the elicitation of a negative difference (Nd).ConclusionsMigraineurs appear to display increased bottom-up orienting response to all incoming sounds, and an enhanced recruitment of top-down attention.SignificanceThe interictal state in migraine is characterized by an exacerbation of the orienting response to attended and unattended sounds. These attentional alterations might participate to the peculiar vulnerability of the migraine brain to all incoming stimuli.HighlightsMigraineurs performed as well as healthy participants in an attention task.However, EEG markers of both bottom-up and top-down attention are increased.Migraine is also associated with a facilitated recruitment of the right temporo-parietal junction.

MODELING AUDITORY PATHWAY FOR INTELLIGENT INFORMATION ACQUISITION

2004 ◽  
Vol 01 (04) ◽  
pp. 345-356
Author(s):  
HYUNG-MIN PARK ◽  
JONG-HWAN LEE ◽  
TAESU KIM ◽  
UN-MIN BAE ◽  
BYUNG TAEK KIM ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Feature Extraction ◽  
Real World ◽  
Information Acquisition ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Auditory Pathway ◽  
Blind Signal Separation ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Auditory Model ◽  
Time Frequency ◽  
Binaural Processing

An auditory model has been developed for an intelligent speech information acquisition system in real-world noisy environment. The developed mathematical model of the human auditory pathway consists of three components, i.e. the nonlinear feature extraction from cochlea to auditory cortex, the binaural processing at superior olivery complex, and the top-down attention from higher brain to the cochlea. The feature extraction is based on information-theoretic sparse coding throughout the auditory pathway. Also, the time-frequency masking is incorporated as a model of the lateral inhibition in both time and frequency domain. The binaural processing is modeled as the blind signal separation and adaptive noise canceling based on the independent component analysis with hundreds of time-delays for noisy reverberated signals. The Top-Down (TD) attention comes from familiarity and/or importance of the sensory information, i.e. the sound, and a simple but efficient TD attention model had been developed based on the error backpropagation algorithm. Also, the binaural processing and top-down attention are combined for speech signals with heavy noises. This auditory model requires extensive computing, and special hardware had been developed for real-time applications. Experimental results demonstrate much better recognition performance in real-world noisy environments.

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