The Cingulo-Opercular Network Provides Word-Recognition Benefit

Abstract

Recognizing speech in difficult listening conditions requires considerable focus of attention that is often demonstrated by elevated activity in putative attention systems, including the cingulo-opercular network. We tested the prediction that elevated cingulo-opercular activity provides word-recognition benefit on a subsequent trial. Eighteen healthy, normal-hearing adults (10 females; aged 20 -38 years) performed word recognition (120 trials) in multi-talker babble at ϩ3 and ϩ10 dB signal-to-noise ratios during a sparse sampling functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment. Blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) contrast was elevated in the anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula, and frontal operculum in response to poorer speech intelligibility and response errors. These brain regions exhibited significantly greater correlated activity during word recognition compared with rest, supporting the premise that word-recognition demands increased the coherence of cingulo-opercular network activity. Consistent with an adaptive control network explanation, general linear mixed model analyses demonstrated that increased magnitude and extent of cingulo-opercular network activity was significantly associated with correct word recognition on subsequent trials. These results indicate that elevated cinguloopercular network activity is not simply a reflection of poor performance or error but also supports word recognition in difficult listening conditions.

Acoustic cue selection and discrimination under degradation: Differential contributions of the inferior parietal and posterior temporal cortices

“…Furthermore, BOLD activity under degradation showed additional clusters in the anterior cingulate cortex. There is by now a long list of studies highlighting the cinguloopercular network's role in diverse scenarios of effortful cognitive processing and decision making (e.g., Eckert et al, 2009;Engström et al, 2013;Erb et al, 2012;Mulert et al, 2008;Vaden et al, 2013). Highlighting the link of the non-speech categorization challenges and speech processing, our results also corroborate the findings of Eckert et al (2009), Erb et al (2013), and Vaden et al (2013).…”

Hearing Impairment and Cognitive Energy: The Framework for Understanding Effortful Listening (FUEL)

“…Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging • fMRI uses blood-oxygen-level-dependent contrast imaging to provide an estimate of brain activity based on the hemodynamic response to increased neuronal demand for oxygenated blood during a task. Notably, frontal brain regions in younger and older adults demonstrate an elevated hemodynamic response when listening tasks are challenging (Vaden et al 2013(Vaden et al , 2015. One interpretation of these kinds of blood-oxygen-level-dependent results related to task demands is that the elevated activity, particularly in the cingulate cortex, reflects a decision-making process about the expected value of working to optimize performance given the potential value realized from the task.…”

Comprehending auditory speech: previous and potential contributions of functional MRI

“…By fractionating neural activity into multiple statistically independent components, ICA allows network activity associated with cognitive control and attention networks to be cleanly separated from lower level sensory processing. This may be a useful approach for studying effortful listening, which has previously been shown to engage both domain-general attentional and domain-specific sensory systems (Binder et al, 2004;Evans et al, 2016;Vaden et al, 2013;Wild et al, 2012). Furthermore, the ability to de-mix neural signals into functionally independent networks may be of particular benefit in complex experimental designs in which multiple events occur simultaneously within a trial, for example in "cocktail party listening" or speaking in noise (Braga et al, 2013;Evans et al, 2016;Kamourieh et al, 2015;Meekings et al, 2016).…”