Language-dependent pitch encoding advantage in the brainstem is not limited to acceleration rates that occur in natural speech

Krishnan, Ananthanarayan; Gandour, Jackson T.; Smalt, Christopher J.; Bidelman, Gavin M.

doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2010.05.004

Cited by 32 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 31 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Δ F 0 from turning point to offset was fixed across stimuli at 30.84 Hz (4.6 st; 0.38 octaves). This Δ F 0 value is comparable to that of an exemplary Tone 2 citation form (Krishnan et al, 2010) and is an effective cue for the perception of isolated Tone 2 (Moore & Jongman, 1997). The turning point was located at about ≈26% of the duration of the F 0 contour (40 ms, T2_150; 53 ms, T2_200; 66 ms, T2_250).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 61%

“…The average velocity rates (in st/s), calculated from the turning point to F 0 offset, for T2_250 (25.6), T2_200 (32.1), and T2_150 (42.7) fall within the physiological limits of speed of rising pitch changes. As reflected by FFR responses in the brainstem (Krishnan, Gandour, Smalt, & Bidelman, 2010, p. 96, Figs. 2–3), a scaled variant of Tone 2 with a velocity rate of 51.94 st/s falls within the bounds of the normal voice range.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Cortical pitch response components index stimulus onset/offset and dynamic features of pitch contours

et al. 2014

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Voice pitch is an important information-bearing component of language that is subject to experience dependent plasticity at both early cortical and subcortical stages of processing. We’ve already demonstrated that pitch onset component (Na) of the cortical pitch response (CPR) is sensitive to flat pitch and its salience. In regards to dynamic pitch, we do not yet know whether the multiple pitch-related transient components of the CPR reflect specific temporal attributes of such stimuli. Here we examine the sensitivity of the multiple transient components of CPR to changes in pitch acceleration associated with the Mandarin high rising lexical tone. CPR responses from Chinese listeners were elicited by three citation forms varying in pitch acceleration and duration. Results showed that the pitch onset component (Na) was invariant to changes in acceleration. In contrast, Na-Pb and Pb-Nb showed a systematic increase in the interpeak latency and decrease in amplitude with increase in pitch acceleration that followed the time course of pitch change across the three stimuli. A strong correlation with pitch acceleration was observed for these two components only – a putative index of pitch-relevant neural activity associated with the more rapidly-changing portions of the pitch contour. Pc-Nc marks unambiguously the stimulus offset. We therefore propose that in the early stages of cortical sensory processing, a series of neural markers flag different temporal attributes of a dynamic pitch contour: onset of temporal regularity (Na); changes in temporal regularity between onset and offset (Na-Pb, Pb-Nb); and offset of temporal regularity (Pc-Nc). At the temporal electrode sites, the stimulus with the most gradual change in pitch acceleration evoked a rightward asymmetry. Yet within the left hemisphere, stimuli with more gradual change were indistinguishable. These findings highlight the emergence of early hemispheric preferences and their functional roles as related to sensory and cognitive properties of the stimulus.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 61%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cortical pitch response components index stimulus onset/offset and dynamic features of pitch contours

et al. 2014

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Δ F 0 from turning point to offset was fixed across stimuli at 30.84 Hz (4.6 st; 0.38 octaves). This Δ F 0 value is comparable to that of an exemplary Tone 2 citation form (Krishnan, Gandour, Smalt, et al, 2010) and is an effective cue for the perception of isolated Tone 2 (Moore & Jongman, 1997). The turning point was located at about ≈26% of the duration of the F 0 contour (40 ms, T2_150; 53 ms, T2_200; 66 ms, T2_250).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 61%

Language experience enhances early cortical pitch-dependent responses

Krishnan¹,

Gandour²,

Ananthakrishnan³

et al. 2015

Journal of Neurolinguistics

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Pitch processing at cortical and subcortical stages of processing is shaped by language experience. We recently demonstrated that specific components of the cortical pitch response (CPR) index the more rapidly-changing portions of the high rising Tone 2 of Mandarin Chinese, in addition to marking pitch onset and sound offset. In this study, we examine how language experience (Mandarin vs. English) shapes the processing of different temporal attributes of pitch reflected in the CPR components using stimuli representative of within-category variants of Tone 2. Results showed that the magnitude of CPR components (Na-Pb and Pb-Nb) and the correlation between these two components and pitch acceleration were stronger for the Chinese listeners compared to English listeners for stimuli that fell within the range of Tone 2 citation forms. Discriminant function analysis revealed that the Na-Pb component was more than twice as important as Pb-Nb in grouping listeners by language affiliation. In addition, a stronger stimulus-dependent, rightward asymmetry was observed for the Chinese group at the temporal, but not frontal, electrode sites. This finding may reflect selective recruitment of experience-dependent, pitch-specific mechanisms in right auditory cortex to extract more complex, time-varying pitch patterns. Taken together, these findings suggest that long-term language experience shapes early sensory level processing of pitch in the auditory cortex, and that the sensitivity of the CPR may vary depending on the relative linguistic importance of specific temporal attributes of dynamic pitch.

show abstract

“…This heightened sensitivity to sections characterized by rapid changes in pitch is maintained even in severely degraded stimuli (Krishnan et al, 2010a). Particularly relevant here are our previous results (Krishnan et al, 2010b) that exhibit more robust brainstem representation of pitch relevant information in Chinese listeners, relative to English, across a four-step acceleration rate continuum where the lowest rate was equivalent to Mandarin Tone 2 (T2) and the fastest rate fell well outside the normal range of dynamic pitch. Regardless of language group, neural periodicity strength was greater in response to acceleration rates within or proximal to natural speech relative to those beyond its range.…”

mentioning

confidence: 77%

“…Results showed that the magnitude of CPR components (Na-Pb and Pb-Nb) were larger for Chinese listeners in response to pitch stimuli, all of which fell within the range of T2 citation forms. It remains to be determined whether language-dependent effects on CPR components will extend across a range of acceleration rates, including those that exceed the normal pitch range as reported in the auditory brainstem (Krishnan et al, 2010b). Though it is true that both brainstem and CPR responses are of a sensory nature, they index pitch-relevant neural activity at lower and higher structural levels of the brain, respectively.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Experience-dependent enhancement of pitch-specific responses in the auditory cortex is limited to acceleration rates in normal voice range

Krishnan¹,

Gandour²,

Suresh³

2015

Neuroscience

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The aim of this study is to determine how pitch acceleration rates within and outside the normal pitch range may influence latency and amplitude of cortical pitch-specific responses (CPR) as a function of language experience (Chinese, English). Responses were elicited from a set of four pitch stimuli chosen to represent a range of acceleration rates (two each inside and outside the normal voice range) imposed on the high rising Mandarin Tone 2. Pitch-relevant neural activity, as reflected in the latency and amplitude of scalp-recorded CPR components, varied depending on language-experience and pitch acceleration of dynamic, time-varying pitch contours. Peak latencies of CPR components were shorter in the Chinese than the English group across stimuli. Chinese participants showed greater amplitude than English for CPR components at both frontocentral and temporal electrode sites in response to pitch contours with acceleration rates inside the normal voice pitch range as compared to pitch contours with acceleration rates that exceed the normal range. As indexed by CPR amplitude at the temporal sites, a rightward asymmetry was observed for the Chinese group only. Only over the right temporal site was amplitude greater in the Chinese group relative to the English. These findings may suggest that the neural mechanism(s) underlying processing of pitch in the right auditory cortex reflect experience-dependent modulation of sensitivity to acceleration in just those rising pitch contours that fall within the bounds of one’s native language. More broadly, enhancement of native pitch stimuli and stronger rightward asymmetry of CPR components in the Chinese group is consistent with the notion that long-term experience shapes adaptive, distributed hierarchical pitch processing in the auditory cortex, and reflects an interaction with higher-order, extrasensory processes beyond the sensory memory trace.

show abstract

Language-dependent pitch encoding advantage in the brainstem is not limited to acceleration rates that occur in natural speech

Cited by 32 publications

References 31 publications

Cortical pitch response components index stimulus onset/offset and dynamic features of pitch contours

Cortical pitch response components index stimulus onset/offset and dynamic features of pitch contours

Language experience enhances early cortical pitch-dependent responses

Experience-dependent enhancement of pitch-specific responses in the auditory cortex is limited to acceleration rates in normal voice range

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About