93 research outputs found
Training of Working Memory Impacts Neural Processing of Vocal Pitch Regulation
Working memory training can improve the performance of tasks that were not trained. Whether auditory-motor integration for voice control can benefit from working memory training, however, remains unclear. The present event-related potential (ERP) study examined the impact of working memory training on the auditory-motor processing of vocal pitch. Trained participants underwent adaptive working memory training using a digit span backwards paradigm, while control participants did not receive any training. Before and after training, both trained and control participants were exposed to frequency-altered auditory feedback while producing vocalizations. After training, trained participants exhibited significantly decreased N1 amplitudes and increased P2 amplitudes in response to pitch errors in voice auditory feedback. In addition, there was a significant positive correlation between the degree of improvement in working memory capacity and the post-pre difference in P2 amplitudes. Training-related changes in the vocal compensation, however, were not observed. There was no systematic change in either vocal or cortical responses for control participants. These findings provide evidence that working memory training impacts the cortical processing of feedback errors in vocal pitch regulation. This enhanced cortical processing may be the result of increased neural efficiency in the detection of pitch errors between the intended and actual feedback
Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Alters Auditory-motor Integration For Voice Control
Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common drug-refractory focal epilepsy in adults. Previous research has shown that patients with TLE exhibit decreased performance in listening to speech sounds and deficits in the cortical processing of auditory information. Whether TLE compromises auditory-motor integration for voice control, however, remains largely unknown. To address this question, event-related potentials (ERPs) and vocal responses to vocal pitch errors (1/2 or 2 semitones upward) heard in auditory feedback were compared across 28 patients with TLE and 28 healthy controls. Patients with TLE produced significantly larger vocal responses but smaller P2 responses than healthy controls. Moreover, patients with TLE exhibited a positive correlation between vocal response magnitude and baseline voice variability and a negative correlation between P2 amplitude and disease duration. Graphical network analyses revealed a disrupted neuronal network for patients with TLE with a significant increase of clustering coefficients and path lengths as compared to healthy controls. These findings provide strong evidence that TLE is associated with an atypical integration of the auditory and motor systems for vocal pitch regulation, and that the functional networks that support the auditory-motor processing of pitch feedback errors differ between patients with TLE and healthy controls
Simulation of CSSTs astrometric capability
The China Space Station Telescope (CSST) will enter a low Earth orbit around
2024 and operate for 10 years, with seven of those years devoted to surveying
the area of the median-to-high Galactic latitude and median-to-high Ecliptic
latitude of the sky. To maximize the scientific output of CSST, it is important
to optimize the survey schedule. We aim to evaluate the astrometric capability
of CSST for a given survey schedule and to provide independent suggestions for
the optimization of the survey strategy. For this purpose, we first construct
the astrometric model and then conduct simulated observations based on the
given survey schedule. The astrometric solution is obtained by analyzing the
simulated observation data. And then we evaluate the astrometric capability of
CSST by analyzing the properties of the astrometric solution. We find that the
accuracy of parallax and proper motion of CSST is better than 1 mas( yr1) for
the sources of 18-22 mag in g band, and about 1-10 mas( yr1) for the sources of
22-26 mag in g band, respectively. The results from real survey could be worse
since the assumptions are optimistic and simple. We find that optimizing the
survey schedule can improve the astrometric accuracy of CSST. In the future, we
will improve the astrometric capability of CSST by continuously iterating and
optimizing the survey schedule.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figure
Training of Working Memory Impacts Neural Processing of Vocal Pitch Regulation
Working memory training can improve the performance of tasks that were not trained. Whether auditory-motor integration for voice control can benefit from working memory training, however, remains unclear. The present event-related potential (ERP) study examined the impact of working memory training on the auditory-motor processing of vocal pitch. Trained participants underwent adaptive working memory training using a digit span backwards paradigm, while control participants did not receive any training. Before and after training, both trained and control participants were exposed to frequency-altered auditory feedback while producing vocalizations. After training, trained participants exhibited significantly decreased N1 amplitudes and increased P2 amplitudes in response to pitch errors in voice auditory feedback. In addition, there was a significant positive correlation between the degree of improvement in working memory capacity and the post-pre difference in P2 amplitudes. Training-related changes in the vocal compensation, however, were not observed. There was no systematic change in either vocal or cortical responses for control participants. These findings provide evidence that working memory training impacts the cortical processing of feedback errors in vocal pitch regulation. This enhanced cortical processing may be the result of increased neural efficiency in the detection of pitch errors between the intended and actual feedback
Photometric Metallicity Calibration with SDSS and SCUSS and its Application to distant stars in the South Galactic Cap
Based on SDSS g, r and SCUSS (South Galactic Cap of u-band Sky Survey)
photometry, we develop a photometric calibration for estimating the stellar
metallicity from and colors by using the SDSS spectra of 32,542 F-
and G-type main sequence stars, which cover almost deg in the
south Galactic cap. The rms scatter of the photometric metallicity residuals
relative to spectrum-based metallicity is dex when , and
dex when . Due to the deeper and more accurate magnitude of SCUSS
band, the estimate can be used up to the faint magnitude of . This
application range of photometric metallicity calibration is wide enough so that
it can be used to study metallicity distribution of distant stars. In this
study, we select the Sagittarius (Sgr) stream and its neighboring field halo
stars in south Galactic cap to study their metallicity distribution. We find
that the Sgr stream at the cylindrical Galactocentric coordinate of
kpc, kpc exhibits a relative rich metallicity
distribution, and the neighboring field halo stars in our studied fields can be
modeled by two-Gaussian model, with peaks respectively at [Fe/H] and
[Fe/H].Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRA
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