Effects of language experience on early cortical and subcortical pitch encoding

语言经验对早期皮层和皮层下音调编码的影响

• 批准号: 8449650
• 负责人: ANANTHANARAYAN KRISHNAN
• 金额: $ 29.83万
• 依托单位: PURDUE UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-09-15 至 2017-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8449650
• 关键词: Acceleration; Address; Auditory; Auditory area; Auditory system; Behavioral; Brain Stem; Characteristics; Chinese People; Clinical; Cochlear Implants; Communication; Complex; Development; Dimensions; English Language; Frequencies; Hearing; Hearing Aids; Human; Impairment; Knowledge; Language; Maps; Metric; Monitor; Neurobiology; Noise; Outcome; Output; Pathway interactions; Perception; Pitch Perception; Positioning Attribute; Process; Protocols documentation; Recovery; Research; Role; Scalp structure; Sensory; Signal Transduction; Specificity; Speech; Staging; Stimulus; Structure; Target Populations; Thalamic structure; Weight; base; behavior measurement; clinically relevant; computerized data processing; experience; indexing; knowledge base; language processing; lexical; neuromechanism; novel; relating to nervous system; resilience; response; sound; tool

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cross language studies of tonal perception have suggested that language experience influences pitch processing at the cortical level. Our current research has focused on delineating the dimensions, and the underlying neural mechanisms of language experience-dependent enhancement of pitch in the human brainstem. Our long-term objective is to advance our knowledge of how pitch mechanisms at the two stages of processing interact to enhance encoding of behaviorally relevant sounds and to determine their respective roles in the hierarchical processing of the temporal structure of sound. A cross language approach utilizing a tonal language (Chinese) and a non-tonal control language (English) will permit us to distinguish between language-universal and language-dependent effects. Using speech and no speech stimuli varying in lexical status, pitch contour, and pitch salience, and recordings in quiet and adverse listening conditions will enable us to directly address questions of tone, feature, and contour specificity as well as the resilience of experience- dependent pitch representations to degradation in adverse listening conditions. We propose a novel electrophysiological approach to evaluate pitch representations at the brainstem (frequency following response, FFR) and auditory cortex (cortical pitch response, CPR) concurrently. Comparing these brainstem and cortical pitch representations with behavioral measures of pitch will allow us to determine if pitch-relevant neural activity contributes to the pitch percept. The specific aims are to assess (i) the sensitivity of the CPR to specific features of pitch; (ii) the characteristics of the language experience-dependent enhancement of pitch at the cortical level and its relationship with brainstem, and behavioral measures of pitch; and (iii) if experience- driven pitch mechanisms at the cortical and brainstem levels are more resilient to degradation in adverse listening conditions. Our hypothesis is that early, preattentive enhanced representation of pitch in the brainstem and auditory cortex of Chinese listeners reflects language-dependent influence of specific, linguistically-relevant parameters of the auditory signal, and that these robust and stable representations are less susceptible to degraded effects of noise and reverberation. Our findings promise to advance our knowledge about (i) how experience-driven pitch mechanisms in the brainstem and in the auditory cortex interact to enhance behaviorally relevant features of complex sounds important for pitch perception in quiet and degraded listening conditions. With this expanded knowledge base about the neurobiology of speech prosody in the human auditory system, we are in a better position to favorably influence the recovery from hearing-related impairments. Our scalp-recorded responses may be used as a new clinical tool to assess the integrity of pitch representation in a target population; monitor changes in pitch representation under a retraining protocol and/or in the development of optimal signal processing strategies for conventional hearing aids and/or cochlear implants.

描述（由申请人提供）：音调感知的跨语言研究表明，语言经验影响皮质水平的音调处理。我们目前的研究重点是描绘人类脑干中依赖于语言经验的音调增强的维度和潜在的神经机制。我们的长期目标是增进我们对处理两个阶段的音调机制如何相互作用的了解，以增强行为相关声音的编码，并确定它们在声音时间结构的分层处理中各自的作用。利用声调语言（中文）和非声调控制语言（英语）的跨语言方法将使我们能够区分语言通用效应和语言相关效应。使用词汇状态、音高轮廓和音高显着性不同的语音和无语音刺激，以及在安静和不利的听力条件下进行录音，将使我们能够直接解决语气、特征和轮廓特异性以及依赖于经验的弹性的问题。音高表示在不利的聆听条件下会退化。我们提出了一种新颖的电生理学方法来同时评估脑干（频率跟随响应，FFR）和听觉皮层（皮质音调响应，CPR）的音调表征。将这些脑干和皮质音调表征与音调行为测量进行比较，将使我们能够确定与音调相关的神经活动是否有助于音调感知。具体目的是评估 (i) CPR 对 音高的具体特征； (ii) 皮质层语言经验依赖性音调增强的特征及其与脑干的关系，以及音调的行为测量； (iii) 皮层和脑干水平的经验驱动音调机制是否对不利听力条件下的退化更有弹性。我们的假设是，中国听众脑干和听觉皮层中早期、前注意增强的音调表征反映了听觉信号的特定的、语言相关参数的语言依赖性影响，并且这些稳健且稳定的表征不易受到降级效应的影响。的噪音和混响。我们的研究结果有望增进我们对以下方面的认识：（i）脑干和听觉皮层中经验驱动的音调机制如何相互作用，以增强复杂声音的行为相关特征，这对于安静和退化的听力条件下的音调感知很重要。有了关于人类听觉系统中语音韵律神经生物学的扩展知识库，我们就能更好地影响听力相关障碍的恢复。我们的头皮记录反应可以用作新的临床工具来评估目标人群中音调表征的完整性；监测再训练协议下音高表征的变化和/或开发传统助听器和/或人工耳蜗的最佳信号处理策略。