Individual prediction tendencies facilitate cortical speech tracking

Abstract

Listening can be conceptualized as a process of active inference, in which the brain forms internal models to predict and integrate auditory information in a complex interaction of bottom-up and top-down processes. Whether inter-individual “prediction tendencies” shape listening experiences of real-world stimuli such as speech is, however, unknown. In the current study, we used a passive paradigm presenting tone sequences of varying entropy level, to independently quantify auditory prediction tendency (as the tendency to anticipate low-level acoustic features according to their contextual probability) for each individual. This measure was then used to predict the magnitude of cortical speech (envelope) tracking in a multi speaker listening task, where participants listened to audiobooks narrated by a target speaker in isolation or interfered by 1 or 2 distractors. Furthermore, rare semantic violations were introduced into the story, enabling us to also examine effects of word surprisal during continuous speech processing. Our results show that individual prediction tendency facilitates cortical speech tracking. Furthermore, we find interactions between individual prediction tendency and background noise as well as word surprisal in disparate brain regions. In sum, our findings suggest that individual prediction tendencies are generalizable across different listening situations and may serve as a valuable element to explain interindividual differences in natural listening experience.

Eye movements track prioritized auditory features in selective attention to natural speech

“…Anatomical landmarks (nasion and left/right pre-auricular points), HPI locations, and around 300 additional head shape points were then sampled using a Polhemus FASTTRAK. Recording sessions started with 5 min of resting state data (2.5 min eyes open / closed), followed by two blocks of passive listening to tone sequences of varying entropy level (as in Schubert et al, 2022) . Afterwards, one block of 10000 clicks at 60dB sound pressure level was presented to determine individual auditory brainstem responses (as in Schmidt et al, 2020) while participants watched a landscape movie (LoungeV Films, 2017).…”