Context-Dependent Encoding in the Human Auditory Brainstem Relates to Hearing Speech in Noise: Implications for Developmental Dyslexia

SummaryWe examined context-dependent encoding of speech in children with and without developmental dyslexia by measuring auditory brainstem responses to a speech syllable presented in a repetitive or variable context. Typically developing children showed enhanced brainstem representation of features related to voice pitch in the repetitive context, relative to the variable context. In contrast, children with developmental dyslexia exhibited impairment in their ability to modify representation in predictable contexts. From a functional perspective, we found that the extent of context-dependent encoding in the auditory brainstem correlated positively with behavioral indices of speech perception in noise. The ability to sharpen representation of repeating elements is crucial to speech perception in noise, since it allows superior “tagging” of voice pitch, an important cue for segregating sound streams in background noise. The disruption of this mechanism contributes to a critical deficit in noise-exclusion, a hallmark symptom in developmental dyslexia

Examining cortical tracking of the speech envelope in post-stroke aphasia

IntroductionPeople with aphasia have been shown to benefit from rhythmic elements for language production during aphasia rehabilitation. However, it is unknown whether rhythmic processing is associated with such benefits. Cortical tracking of the speech envelope (CTenv) may provide a measure of encoding of speech rhythmic properties and serve as a predictor of candidacy for rhythm-based aphasia interventions.MethodsElectroencephalography was used to capture electrophysiological responses while Spanish speakers with aphasia (n = 9) listened to a continuous speech narrative (audiobook). The Temporal Response Function was used to estimate CTenv in the delta (associated with word- and phrase-level properties), theta (syllable-level properties), and alpha bands (attention-related properties). CTenv estimates were used to predict aphasia severity, performance in rhythmic perception and production tasks, and treatment response in a sentence-level rhythm-based intervention.ResultsCTenv in delta and theta, but not alpha, predicted aphasia severity. Neither CTenv in delta, alpha, or theta bands predicted performance in rhythmic perception or production tasks. Some evidence supported that CTenv in theta could predict sentence-level learning in aphasia, but alpha and delta did not.ConclusionCTenv of the syllable-level properties was relatively preserved in individuals with less language impairment. In contrast, higher encoding of word- and phrase-level properties was relatively impaired and was predictive of more severe language impairments. CTenv and treatment response to sentence-level rhythm-based interventions need to be further investigated

Internal Flow Choking in Cardiovascular System: A Radical Theory in the Risk Assessment of Asymptomatic Cardiovascular Diseases

The theoretical discovery of Sanal flow choking in the cardiovascular system (CVS) demands for interdisciplinary studies and universal actions to propose modern medications and to discover new drugs to annul the risk of flow-choking leading to shock-wave generation causing asymptomatic-cardiovascular-diseases. In this chapter we show that when blood-pressure-ratio (BPR) reaches the lower-critical-hemorrhage-index (LCHI) the flow-choking could occur in the CVS with and without stent. The flow-choking is uniquely regulated by the biofluid/blood-heat-capacity-ratio (BHCR). The BHCR is well correlated with BPR, blood-viscosity and ejection-fraction. The closed-form analytical models reveal that the relatively high and the low blood-viscosity are cardiovascular-risk factors. In vitro data shows that nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide gases are predominant in fresh blood samples of the human being/Guinea-pig at a temperature range of 37–40 °C (98.6–104 °F). In silico results demonstrate the occurrence of Sanal flow choking leading to shock wave generation and pressure-overshoot in CVS without any apparent occlusion. We could conclude authoritatively, without any ex vivo or in vivo studies, that the Sanal flow choking in CVS leads to asymptomatic-cardiovascular-diseases. The cardiovascular-risk could be diminished by concurrently lessening the viscosity of biofluid/blood and flow-turbulence by increasing the thermal-tolerance level in terms of BHCR and/or by decreasing the BPR

The Derived Allele of ASPM Is Associated with Lexical Tone Perception

The ASPM and MCPH1 genes have been implicated in the adaptive evolution of the human brain [Mekel-Bobrov N. et al., 2005. Ongoing adaptive evolution of ASPM, a brain size determinant in homo sapiens. Science 309; Evans P.D. et al., 2005. Microcephalin, a gene regulating brain size, continues to evolve adaptively in humans. Science 309]. Curiously, experimental attempts have failed to connect the implicated SNPs in these genes with higher-level brain functions. These results stand in contrast with a population-level study linking the population frequency of their alleles with the tendency to use lexical tones in a language [Dediu D., Ladd D.R., 2007. Linguistic tone is related to the population frequency of the adaptive haplogroups of two brain size genes, ASPM and microcephalin. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 104]. In the present study, we found a significant correlation between the load of the derived alleles of ASPM and tone perception in a group of European Americans who did not speak a tone language. Moreover, preliminary results showed a significant correlation between ASPM load and hemodynamic responses to lexical tones in the auditory cortex, and such correlation remained after phonemic awareness, auditory working memory, and non-verbal IQ were controlled. As in previous studies, no significant correlation between ASPM and cognitive measures were found. MCPH1 did not correlate with any measures. These results suggest that the association between the recently derived allele of ASPM is likely to be specific and is tied to higher level brain functions in the temporal cortex related to human communication

A Panorama on Multiscale Geometric Representations, Intertwining Spatial, Directional and Frequency Selectivity

The richness of natural images makes the quest for optimal representations in image processing and computer vision challenging. The latter observation has not prevented the design of image representations, which trade off between efficiency and complexity, while achieving accurate rendering of smooth regions as well as reproducing faithful contours and textures. The most recent ones, proposed in the past decade, share an hybrid heritage highlighting the multiscale and oriented nature of edges and patterns in images. This paper presents a panorama of the aforementioned literature on decompositions in multiscale, multi-orientation bases or dictionaries. They typically exhibit redundancy to improve sparsity in the transformed domain and sometimes its invariance with respect to simple geometric deformations (translation, rotation). Oriented multiscale dictionaries extend traditional wavelet processing and may offer rotation invariance. Highly redundant dictionaries require specific algorithms to simplify the search for an efficient (sparse) representation. We also discuss the extension of multiscale geometric decompositions to non-Euclidean domains such as the sphere or arbitrary meshed surfaces. The etymology of panorama suggests an overview, based on a choice of partially overlapping "pictures". We hope that this paper will contribute to the appreciation and apprehension of a stream of current research directions in image understanding.Comment: 65 pages, 33 figures, 303 reference

Experience-dependent plasticity in the preattentive processing of linguistic pitch contours: Evidence from crosslanguage and crossdomain studies

Using the mismatch negativity (MMN), a cortical index of preattentive change-detection, it is well established that language experience influences the automatic cortical processing of segmental information in speech, i.e. consonants and vowels. The studies included in this dissertation shed light on the nature and limits of experience-dependent plasticity related to processing of linguistic pitch, a suprasegmental cue. Study 1 measured MMN responses from Chinese and English listeners listening to sequences of Mandarin tones in a speech context. The results suggest that cortical processing of linguistic pitch contours may be shaped by the saliency of acoustic dimensions underlying the pitch patterns of a particular language. Study 2 examined the number and relative weighting of dimensions underlying the preattentive processing of lexical tones by applying multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis on the MMN responses from Chinese and English listeners. MDS revealed two dimensions common to Chinese and English, interpretively labeled as ‘height’ and ‘contour.’ The ‘contour’ dimension was found to be more important for Chinese than English participants suggesting that specific pitch dimensions are differentially weighted by language experience. In study 3, we examined whether experience-dependent plasticity is specific to speech by eliciting MMN responses to nonspeech iterative ripple noise (IRN) stimuli in a crosslanguage (Chinese, English) design. Results from support the notion that experience-dependent plasticity is not restricted to the speech-domain. Study 4, using a crosslanguage design, explored the extent to which acoustic versus phonetic change detection processes contribute to experience-dependent plasticity of linguistic pitch contours at attention-dependent and preattentive stages of processing. Findings suggest that acoustic features of pitch contours, regardless of their categorical status, may drive experience-dependent neural plasticity at early cortical stages of processing. At attentive stages of processing, however, perception is strongly influenced by tonal categories. Studies 5 and 6 were designed to examine whether neuroplasticity to linguistic pitch is domain-specific. The two studies examined MMN responses in a cross-domain design (Chinese, musicians) to nonspeech Mandarin linear and curvilinear pitch contours. Results show that neuroplasticity to time-varying pitch contours is highly sensitive to the context of the long-term experience (music vs. language)

Effects of Speech Clarity on Recognition Memory for Spoken Sentences

Extensive research shows that inter-talker variability (i.e., changing the talker) affects recognition memory for speech signals. However, relatively little is known about the consequences of intra-talker variability (i.e. changes in speaking style within a talker) on the encoding of speech signals in memory. It is well established that speakers can modulate the characteristics of their own speech and produce a listener-oriented, intelligibility-enhancing speaking style in response to communication demands (e.g., when speaking to listeners with hearing impairment or non-native speakers of the language). Here we conducted two experiments to examine the role of speaking style variation in spoken language processing. First, we examined the extent to which clear speech provided benefits in challenging listening environments (i.e. speech-in-noise). Second, we compared recognition memory for sentences produced in conversational and clear speaking styles. In both experiments, semantically normal and anomalous sentences were included to investigate the role of higher-level linguistic information in the processing of speaking style variability. The results show that acoustic-phonetic modifications implemented in listener-oriented speech lead to improved speech recognition in challenging listening conditions and, crucially, to a substantial enhancement in recognition memory for sentences.Linguistic

Stable, flexible, common, and distinct behaviors support rule-based and information-integration category learning

Abstract The ability to organize variable sensory signals into discrete categories is a fundamental process in human cognition thought to underlie many real-world learning problems. Decades of research suggests that two learning systems may support category learning and that categories with different distributional structures (rule-based, information-integration) optimally rely on different learning systems. However, it remains unclear how the same individual learns these different categories and whether the behaviors that support learning success are common or distinct across different categories. In two experiments, we investigate learning and develop a taxonomy of learning behaviors to investigate which behaviors are stable or flexible as the same individual learns rule-based and information-integration categories and which behaviors are common or distinct to learning success for these different types of categories. We found that some learning behaviors are stable in an individual across category learning tasks (learning success, strategy consistency), while others are flexibly task-modulated (learning speed, strategy, stability). Further, success in rule-based and information-integration category learning was supported by both common (faster learning speeds, higher working memory ability) and distinct factors (learning strategies, strategy consistency). Overall, these results demonstrate that even with highly similar categories and identical training tasks, individuals dynamically adjust some behaviors to fit the task and success in learning different kinds of categories is supported by both common and distinct factors. These results illustrate a need for theoretical perspectives of category learning to include nuances of behavior at the level of an individual learner