The Connectivity of Musical Aptitude and Foreign Language Learning Skills: Neural and Behavioural Evidence

Given the structural and acoustical similarities between speech and music, and possible overlapping cerebral structures in speech and music processing, a possible relationship between musical aptitude and linguistic abilities, especially in terms of second language pronunciation skills, was investigated. Moreover, the laterality effect of the mother tongue was examined with both adults and children by means of dichotic listening scores. Finally, two event-related potential studies sought to reveal whether children with advanced second language pronunciation skills and higher general musical aptitude differed from children with less-advanced pronunciation skills and less musical aptitude in accuracy when preattentively processing mistuned triads and music / speech sound durations. The results showed a significant relationship between musical aptitude, English language pronunciation skills, chord discrimination ability, and sound-change-evoked brain activation in response to musical stimuli (durational differences and triad contrasts). Regular music practice may also have a modulatory effect on the brain’s linguistic organization and cause altered hemispheric functioning in those who have regularly practised music for years. Based on the present results, it is proposed that language skills, both in production and discrimination, are interconnected with perceptual musical skills.Siirretty Doriast

Early and Late Stage Mechanisms for Vocalization Processing in the Human Auditory System

The human auditory system is able to rapidly process incoming acoustic information, actively filtering, categorizing, or suppressing different elements of the incoming acoustic stream. Vocalizations produced by other humans (conspecifics) likely represent the most ethologically-relevant sounds encountered by hearing individuals. Subtle acoustic characteristics of these vocalizations aid in determining the identity, emotional state, health, intent, etc. of the producer. The ability to assess vocalizations is likely subserved by a specialized network of structures and functional connections that are optimized for this stimulus class. Early elements of this network would show sensitivity to the most basic acoustic features of these sounds; later elements may show categorically-selective response patterns that represent high-level semantic organization of different classes of vocalizations. A combination of functional magnetic resonance imaging and electrophysiological studies were performed to investigate and describe some of the earlier and later stage mechanisms of conspecific vocalization processing in human auditory cortices. Using fMRI, cortical representations of harmonic signal content were found along the middle superior temporal gyri between primary auditory cortices along Heschl\u27s gyri and the superior temporal sulci, higher-order auditory regions. Additionally, electrophysiological findings also demonstrated a parametric response profile to harmonic signal content. Utilizing a novel class of vocalizations, human-mimicked versions of animal vocalizations, we demonstrated the presence of a left-lateralized cortical vocalization processing hierarchy to conspecific vocalizations, contrary to previous findings describing similar bilateral networks. This hierarchy originated near primary auditory cortices and was further supported by auditory evoked potential data that suggests differential temporal processing dynamics of conspecific human vocalizations versus those produced by other species. Taken together, these results suggest that there are auditory cortical networks that are highly optimized for processing utterances produced by the human vocal tract. Understanding the function and structure of these networks will be critical for advancing the development of novel communicative therapies and the design of future assistive hearing devices

The Impact of Childhood Music Experience on Speech Perception and Processing: A Systematic Review

Objective: The purpose of this investigation was to conduct a systematic review of the literature that addresses the impact of childhood musical experience on speech perception and processing abilities. Specifically, this review assessed how musical training impacted scores on both objective and behavioral tests of speech perception/processing in children. This analysis contributes to a better understanding of the effects of individual musical experience in childhood on our ability to perceive and process speech in a variety of listening conditions. This analysis also determined the clinical implications of such findings. Methods: A comprehensive search utilizing the Web of Science database accessible through the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center Library was conducted to identify relevant studies published after 2000. Inclusion criteria included the evaluation speech perception and/or processing in children utilizing objective and/or behavioral outcome measures. Results: Sixteen studies met the inclusion criteria for this systematic review. The studies utilized a variety of outcome measures, which were categorized as objective or behavioral. All included studies found a significant positive relationship between musical experience and speech perception and/or processing abilities in children for both behavioral and objective outcome measures. Discussion: Significant effects of musical training in childhood were noted across outcome measures suggesting a positive effect on speech perception and processing. Effects on speech perception and processing were noted when both behavioral and objective measures were utilized. Furthermore, studies comparing behavioral and objective outcome measures reported similar findings between the two methods. Conclusion: The positive effect of childhood musical experience on speech perception and processing abilities is present throughout the literature reviewed when both objective and behavioral outcome measures are utilized. As a result, formal musical training in childhood should be considered as a viable option for auditory training when the goal is improved speech perception and/or processing. The results of these studies should also support the benefit of music classes in school curriculums to help children overcome communication challenges (such as listening in the presence of noise, distance, and poor acoustics) that are frequently found inside and outside of the classroom. Future research should address the limitations of the included studies, such as utilizing a standard musical training program, replicating the large proportion of research on this topic that originated from the Northwestern University Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, and the utilization of a quasi-experimental or randomized clinical trial design

Structural Processing Of Language Components: Detection And Comprehension

Although music and language share many perceptually functional characteristics, research endeavors are still focusing on the underlying neural circuitry. Past research has indicated a distinction of hemispheric lateralization between music and language processing. Recently, efforts have shifted to the notion of an initial general shared pathway in the brain with auditory stimuli differentiated in later processing to specialized regions. Therefore, both linguistic and musical components have been examined in numerous experiments to discern the possible influence of music and language components on auditory perception and comprehension, including their potential interaction. However, the effects of sentential prosody on early language structural processing and short-term working memory have yet to be examined from a linguistic perspective. Sixteen subjects participated in an experiment using behavioral and electroencephalography (EEG) data to assess the effects of sentential prosody variation on syntactic detection and language memory. Findings from this experiment could support current therapy techniques in speech-language pathology and provide an avenue for the development of new therapy techniques using multiple communication modalities

ERP study on emotional prosody

Ming Lui.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2003.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 44-53).Abstracts in English and Chinese.Introduction --- p.6-22Method --- p.23-30Results --- p.31-34Discussion --- p.35-42References --- p.43-51Tables --- p.52-55Figure Caption --- p.56Figures --- p.57-6

Neural correlates of emotion word processing: the complex relation between emotional valence and arousal

Poster Session 1: no. 2The Conference's website is located at http://events.unitn.it/en/psb2010Emotion is characterised by a two-dimensional structure: valence describes the extent to which an emotion is positive or negative, whereas arousal refers to the intensity of an emotion, how exciting or calming it is. Emotional content of verbal material influences cognitive processing during lexical decision, naming, emotional Stroop task and many others. Converging findings showed that emotionally valenced words (positive or negative) are processed faster than neutral words, as shown by reaction time and ERP measures, suggesting a prioritisation of emotional …published_or_final_versio