Syntactic and auditory spatial processing in the human temporal cortex: An MEG study

Event Abstract Back to Event Interaction of syntax, prosody and spatial lateralization during the processing of language Björn Herrmann1*, Burkhard Maess1, Anja Hahne1, Erich Schröger2 and Angela Friederici1 1 Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Germany 2 University of Leipzig, Germany Syntactic processing during sentence comprehension is believed to be a higher cognitive function which recruits regions outside primary sensory cortices. The primary cortices, on the other hand, are supposed to be restricted to the processing of perceptual information. In a recent visual sentence processing study this view was challenged by showing sensitivity of the visual sensory cortex to syntactic anomalies, a finding introduced as part of a "sensory hypothesis". The present study aimed to test the sensory hypothesis in the auditory domain by localizing the neuronal generators underlying syntactic processing. We also sought to localize the processing of a perceptual feature in order to have a true perceptual reference. Using whole head magnetoencephalography (MEG) and distributed source modeling, we investigated the processing of congruent sentences, sentences that were either syntactically/prosodically incongruent, included an interaural time difference (ITD) change or both deviations. A number of early effects were observed. Very early activations (50 – 90 ms) of superior temporal gyrus (STG) were found for processing of syntactic/prosodic and spatial anomalies. These effects were interpreted to reflect a stimulus filtering mechanism "gating in" important information. Following these effects, syntactically/prosodically incongruent sentences elicited activations in the anterior STG around 110 – 160 ms, whereas infrequent ITD changes elicited activations located more posterior in the STG. Hence, our results do not support the sensory hypothesis in its simplest form as activations were found outside primary auditory sensory areas. The present findings, however, provide clear evidence for a dissociation of speech-related processes and the processing of auditory spatial information in the superior temporal cortex. Conference: Biomag 2010 - 17th International Conference on Biomagnetism , Dubrovnik, Croatia, 28 Mar - 1 Apr, 2010. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Language Citation: Herrmann B, Maess B, Hahne A, Schröger E and Friederici A (2010). Interaction of syntax, prosody and spatial lateralization during the processing of language. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: Biomag 2010 - 17th International Conference on Biomagnetism . doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2010.06.00206 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 30 Mar 2010; Published Online: 30 Mar 2010. * Correspondence: Björn Herrmann, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany, bherrmann@cbs.mpg.de Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Björn Herrmann Burkhard Maess Anja Hahne Erich Schröger Angela Friederici Google Björn Herrmann Burkhard Maess Anja Hahne Erich Schröger Angela Friederici Google Scholar Björn Herrmann Burkhard Maess Anja Hahne Erich Schröger Angela Friederici PubMed Björn Herrmann Burkhard Maess Anja Hahne Erich Schröger Angela Friederici Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Benefits of intensive speech treatment have been documented for a range of speech signs in English speakers with Parkinson's Disease (PD). However, the answer to a critical question that whether the same treatment benefits speech variables including intelligibility in Mandarin speakers is still unclear. In order to develop a targeted speech treatment for Mandarin speakers with PD, we reviewed the efficacy of intensive speech treatment to improve vocal loudness and functional communication and discuss possible explanations for efficacy on Mandarin speakers with PD. Literatures about intensive speech treatment for Mandarin speakers with PD were retrieved from PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang and Weipu Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals (VIP) Database. Search strategy was (voice therapy OR speech therapy OR voice treatment OR speech treatment OR voice training OR speech training OR voice rehabilitation OR speech rehabilitation OR Lee Silverman voice treatment OR intensive speech treatment) and (Parkinson's disease) and (Mandarin speakers OR Chinese OR Chinese people). Five randomized controlled trials were selected and possible explanations for efficacy on individuals with PD are discussed. Further research directions are suggested. The existing evidence from treatment efficacy studies of intensive speech treatment provides support for improving vocal loudness, speech intelligibility, pitch and rate in Mandarin speakers with PD. Our future research will continue to work to conduct a large sample multicenter randomized controlled trial to provide high quality evidence and understand the basic mechanisms accompanying treatment-related change.

Speech perception is a central component of social communication. Although principally an auditory process, accurate speech perception in everyday settings is supported by meaningful information extracted from visual cues. Visual speech modulates activity in cortical areas subserving auditory speech perception including the superior temporal gyrus (STG). However, it is unknown whether visual modulation of auditory processing is a unitary phenomenon or, rather, consists of multiple functionally distinct processes. To explore this question, we examined neural responses to audiovisual speech measured from intracranially implanted electrodes in 21 patients with epilepsy. We found that visual speech modulated auditory processes in the STG in multiple ways, eliciting temporally and spatially distinct patterns of activity that differed across frequency bands. In the theta band, visual speech suppressed the auditory response from before auditory speech onset to after auditory speech onset (-93 to 500 ms) most strongly in the posterior STG. In the beta band, suppression was seen in the anterior STG from -311 to -195 ms before auditory speech onset and in the middle STG from -195 to 235 ms after speech onset. In high gamma, visual speech enhanced the auditory response from -45 to 24 ms only in the posterior STG. We interpret the visual-induced changes prior to speech onset as reflecting crossmodal prediction of speech signals. In contrast, modulations after sound onset may reflect a decrease in sustained feedforward auditory activity. These results are consistent with models that posit multiple distinct mechanisms supporting audiovisual speech perception.

Posterior superior temporal gyrus in schizophrenia: grey matter changes and clinical correlates

Activations of human auditory cortex to phonemic and nonphonemic vowels during discrimination and memory tasks

Interaural time difference (ITD) detection plays a critical role in sound localization. Some neurophysiology experiments found that the ITD discrimination threshold for single neuron in medial superior olive (MSO) is about 20 μs. In order to reveal the ITD coding mechanism essentially, an ITD detection model has been proposed in this paper based on the anatomical structure of the mammalian auditory system. Most previous research only discuss the relationship between the ITDs and the spike rate of the MSO neuron. In these results, the spike rate difference is under 1 spike/s when the ITD changes in 20 μs. It means the neuron needs more than 1 s to distinguish the ITD by spike rate coding. This explanation contradicts with the rapid and accurate sound localization response in animal psychoacoustics experiments. In our study, the neural coding in ITD detection model has been investigated via the approach of circle maps and symbolic dynamics. With these two methods, the ITDs under 20 μs can be detected in 1 s. This neural coding hypothesis agrees with the ITD detection response time in the animal behavior experiments.

Neurocognitive models and previous neuroimaging work posit that auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) arise due to increased activity in speech-sensitive regions of the left posterior superior temporal gyrus (STG). Here, we examined if patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) and AVH could be trained to down-regulate STG activity using real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging neurofeedback (rtfMRI-NF). We also examined the effects of rtfMRI-NF training on functional connectivity between the STG and other speech and language regions. Twelve patients with SCZ and treatment-refractory AVH were recruited to participate in the study and were trained to down-regulate STG activity using rtfMRI-NF, over four MRI scanner visits during a 2-week training period. STG activity and functional connectivity were compared pre- and post-training. Patients successfully learnt to down-regulate activity in their left STG over the rtfMRI-NF training. Post- training, patients showed increased functional connectivity between the left STG, the left inferior prefrontal gyrus (IFG) and the inferior parietal gyrus. The post-training increase in functional connectivity between the left STG and IFG was associated with a reduction in AVH symptoms over the training period. The speech-sensitive region of the left STG is a suitable target region for rtfMRI-NF in patients with SCZ and treatment-refractory AVH. Successful down-regulation of left STG activity can increase functional connectivity between speech motor and perception regions. These findings suggest that patients with AVH have the ability to alter activity and connectivity in speech and language regions, and raise the possibility that rtfMRI-NF training could present a novel therapeutic intervention in SCZ.

Superior temporal gyrus differences in childhood-onset schizophrenia

Auditory evoked magnetic fields in relation to interaural time delay and interaural correlation

Towards a fronto-temporal neural network for the decoding of angry vocal expressions

Losing the sound of concepts: Damage to auditory association cortex impairs the processing of sound-related concepts

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Many left hemisphere stroke survivors have a reading disorder (alexia), which is experienced as decreasing well-being. Therapies produce inconsistent results, demonstrating a need for treatment response predictors. We are investigating neural correlates of reading computational models to identify biomarkers to improve therapeutic outcomes. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Artificial neural network models of reading, mapping between orthography (visual word form), phonology (auditory word form), and semantics (word meaning), are trained to read single words at a healthy, adult capacity. The models are independently damaged to reflect the individual orthography-to-semantics, semantics-to-phonology, and orthography-to-phonology deficits of a sample of left hemisphere stroke survivors (n = 85). These deficits are measured with cognitive tests assessing the intactness of mappings between representations. Model damage is enacted by removing percentages of the connections between representations. For each type of deficit, the percentages of links removed are entered into a voxel-based lesion symptom mapping analysis to identify areas of cortex associated with that mapping. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: We anticipate that the neural correlates of model layers will be localized to a mostly left-lateralized network. Increased damage to the links between semantics and phonology in the model will likely be related to lesions involving the left posterior superior temporal sulcus and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Damaged orthography-to-semantic links will be related to the left fusiform gyrus (FG) and IFG. Finally, damage to the orthography-to-phonology links will be related to the left FG and superior temporal gyrus. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Mapping components of language models onto the brain will improve our understanding of the neural networks supporting language processing. Identifying these neural correlates may also produce biomarkers that can be used in predicting reading impairment at the acute stage or optimizing therapy in the chronic stage of stroke.

Changing the interaural time difference (ITD) of a continuous binaural noise causes a shift in the perceived lateralization of the noise and evokes a late auditory evoked potential with negative peak at 130 ms and a positive peak at 220 ms. The response is mainly evoked by stimulus frequencies below 2,000 Hz and is mediated through the middle and apical regions of the cochlea. The threshold for perceiving the lateralization reversal and for eliciting a clear evoked potential is approximately 15 dB higher than the intensity required to perceive the onset of the noise. Increasing the ITD up to 1.0 ms increases the amplitude of the evoked potential and the perceived lateralization of the noise. Further increases in the ITD decrease the amplitude of the evoked potential and make the perception of the sound less 'compact'. Decreasing the intensity of the sound in one ear decreases the response to a change in ITD, but recognizable responses occur with interaural intensity differences up to 30 dB.

Effects of interaural time differences on the responses of chinchilla inferior colliculus neurons to consonant-vowel syllables

Despite a large body of research, we continue to lack a detailed account of how auditory processing of continuous speech unfolds in the human brain. Previous research showed the propagation of low-level acoustic features of speech from posterior superior temporal gyrus toward anterior superior temporal gyrus in the human brain (Hullett et al., 2016). In this study, we investigate what happens to these neural representations past the superior temporal gyrus and how they engage higher-level language processing areas such as inferior frontal gyrus. We used low-level sound features to model neural responses to speech outside of the primary auditory cortex. Two complementary imaging techniques were used with human participants (both males and females): electrocorticography (ECoG) and fMRI. Both imaging techniques showed tuning of the perisylvian cortex to low-level speech features. With ECoG, we found evidence of propagation of the temporal features of speech sounds along the ventral pathway of language processing in the brain toward inferior frontal gyrus. Increasingly coarse temporal features of speech spreading from posterior superior temporal cortex toward inferior frontal gyrus were associated with linguistic features such as voice onset time, duration of the formant transitions, and phoneme, syllable, and word boundaries. The present findings provide the groundwork for a comprehensive bottom-up account of speech comprehension in the human brain.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We know that, during natural speech comprehension, a broad network of perisylvian cortical regions is involved in sound and language processing. Here, we investigated the tuning to low-level sound features within these regions using neural responses to a short feature film. We also looked at whether the tuning organization along these brain regions showed any parallel to the hierarchy of language structures in continuous speech. Our results show that low-level speech features propagate throughout the perisylvian cortex and potentially contribute to the emergence of "coarse" speech representations in inferior frontal gyrus typically associated with high-level language processing. These findings add to the previous work on auditory processing and underline a distinctive role of inferior frontal gyrus in natural speech comprehension.