scholarly journals The Influence of Tone Inventory on ERP without Focal Attention: A Cross-Language Study

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong-Ying Zheng ◽  
Gang Peng ◽  
Jian-Yong Chen ◽  
Caicai Zhang ◽  
James W. Minett ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Feature Detection ◽  
Category Effect ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Electrophysiological Response ◽  
Language Background ◽  
Speech Stimuli ◽  
Focal Attention ◽  
Electrophysiological Responses ◽  
Pitch Contours

This study investigates the effect of tone inventories on brain activities underlying pitch without focal attention. We find that the electrophysiological responses to across-category stimuli are larger than those to within-category stimuli when the pitch contours are superimposed on nonspeech stimuli; however, there is no electrophysiological response difference associated with category status in speech stimuli. Moreover, this category effect in nonspeech stimuli is stronger for Cantonese speakers. Results of previous and present studies lead us to conclude that brain activities to the same native lexical tone contrasts are modulated by speakers’ language experiences not only in active phonological processing but also in automatic feature detection without focal attention. In contrast to the condition with focal attention, where phonological processing is stronger for speech stimuli, the feature detection (pitch contours in this study) without focal attention as shaped by language background is superior in relatively regular stimuli, that is, the nonspeech stimuli. The results suggest that Cantonese listeners outperform Mandarin listeners in automatic detection of pitch features because of the denser Cantonese tone system.

scholarly journals Constructing the Mandarin Phonological Network: Novel Syllable Inventory Used to Identify Schematic Segmentation

Complexity ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl D. Neergaard ◽  
Chu-Ren Huang
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Network Science ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
Selection Procedure ◽  
Clustering Coefficient ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Syllable Segmentation

The purpose of this study was to construct, measure, and identify a schematic representation of phonological processing in the tonal language Mandarin Chinese through the combination of network science and psycholinguistic tasks. Two phonological association tasks were performed with native Mandarin speakers to identify an optimal phonological annotation system. The first task served to compare two existing syllable inventories and to construct a novel system where either performed poorly. The second task validated the novel syllable inventory. In both tasks, participants were found to manipulate lexical items at each possible syllable location, but preferring to maintain whole syllables while manipulating lexical tone in their search through the mental lexicon. The optimal syllable inventory was then used as the basis of a Mandarin phonological network. Phonological edit distance was used to construct sixteen versions of the same network, which we titled phonological segmentation neighborhoods (PSNs). The sixteen PSNs were representative of every proposal to date of syllable segmentation. Syllable segmentation and whether or not lexical tone was treated as a unit both affected the PSNs’ topologies. Finally, reaction times from the second task were analyzed through a model selection procedure with the goal of identifying which of the sixteen PSNs best accounted for the mental target during the task. The identification of the tonal complex-vowel segmented PSN (C_V_C_T) was indicative of the stimuli characteristics and the choices participants made while searching through the mental lexicon. The analysis revealed that participants were inhibited by greater clustering coefficient (interconnectedness of words according to phonological similarity) and facilitated by lexical frequency. This study illustrates how network science methods add to those of psycholinguistics to give insight into language processing that was not previously attainable.

Amiloride sensitivity of chorda tympani response to NaCl in Fischer 344 and Wistar rats

1991 ◽  
Vol 261 (2) ◽  
pp. R329-R333 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. L. Bernstein ◽  
A. Longley ◽  
E. M. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Sodium Transport ◽  
Wistar Rats ◽  
Strain Differences ◽  
Chorda Tympani ◽  
Gustatory System ◽  
Electrophysiological Response ◽  
Fischer 344 ◽  
Electrophysiological Responses ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Amiloride Hydrochloride

Fischer 344 (F-344) rats fail to prefer NaCl solutions to water at any concentration and avoid NaCl solutions preferred by other strains, including Wistar rats. Behavioral and electrophysiological responses of the mammalian gustatory system to NaCl have been shown to depend on a sodium transport system that is specifically blocked by lingual application of the sodium-transport blocker amiloride. The present study examined whether strain differences exist between F-344 and Wistar rats in the amiloride sensitivity of the chorda tympani (CT) electrophysiological response to NaCl. Whole nerve CT recordings were obtained from adult F-344 and Wistar rats during chemical stimulation of the anterior tongue. Responses to NaCl solutions ranging from 0.01 to 1.0 M were examined both before and after pretreatment with amiloride hydrochloride. Integrated whole nerve responses to NaCl solutions were expressed relative to the response to 0.5 M NH4Cl. Strain differences in the response to NaCl solutions emerged, with F-344 animals showing a significantly larger amplitude of the tonic response to NaCl, relative to NH4Cl, than Wistars. F-344 rats were also more sensitive to the sodium-channel blocker amiloride. These results suggest that strain differences in amiloride sensitive signals mediated by the CT nerve may contribute to the NaCl aversion displayed by F-344 rats.

Tunes and Tones: Music, Language, and Inhibitory Control

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 104-123
Author(s):  
Robert E. Graham ◽  
Usha Lakshmanan
Keyword(s):  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Pitch Contour ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Cognitive Benefits ◽  
Pitch Contours ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Stroop Tasks

Abstract A debate is underway regarding the perceptual and cognitive benefits of bilingualism and musical experience. This study contributes to the debate by investigating auditory inhibitory control in English-speaking monolingual musicians, non-musicians, tone language bilinguals, and non-tone language bilinguals. We predicted that musicians and tone language bilinguals would demonstrate enhanced processing relative to monolinguals and other bilinguals. Groups of monolinguals (N = 22), monolingual musicians (N = 19), non-tone language bilinguals (N = 20) and tone language bilinguals (N = 18) were compared on auditory Stroop tasks to assess domain-transferable processing benefits (e.g. auditory inhibitory control) resulting from potentially shared underlying cognitive mechanisms (Patel, 2003; Bialystok & DePape, 2009). In one task, participants heard the words “high” and “low” presented in high or low pitches, and responded regarding the pitch of the stimuli as quickly as possible. In another task, participants heard the words “rise” or “fall” presented in rising or falling pitch contours, and responded regarding the contour of the stimuli as quickly as possible. Results suggest transferable auditory inhibitory control benefits for musicians across pitch and contour processing, but any possible enhanced processing for speakers of tone languages may be task-dependent, as lexical tone activation may interfere with pitch contour processing.

Taste responses in neurons in the nucleus of the solitary tract that do and do not project to the parabrachial pons

1995 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 249-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Monroe ◽  
P. M. Di Lorenzo
Keyword(s):  
Neural Coding ◽  
Stainless Steel Electrode ◽  
Solitary Tract ◽  
Neural Pathway ◽  
Electrophysiological Response ◽  
Steel Electrode ◽  
Response Characteristics ◽  
Electrophysiological Responses ◽  
Electrical Pulses ◽  
General Response

1. Mechanisms of neural coding of gustatory stimuli were studied in the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS), the first relay in the neural pathway for gustation, in anesthetized rats. Taste-responsive NTS units were identified as "relay" or "nonrelay" based on the electrophysiological response to electrical pulses delivered to the parabrachial nucleus of the pons (PbN), the second relay in the neural pathway for gustation. Coding mechanisms in each group were analyzed separately. 2. Taste responses to sapid solutions of NaCl (0.1 M), HCl (0.01 M), quinine HCl (0.01 M), sucrose (0.5 M) and Na-saccharin (0.004 M) were recorded in single units in the NTS. After gustatory stimulation, electrophysiological responses to electrical stimulation of the taste-responsive part of the ipsilateral PbN were recorded. A 0.2-ms pulse was delivered at 75-250 microA at a rates of 1, 25, 50 and 100 pps through a bipolar stainless steel electrode. An antidromic response was defined as a time-locked spike that occurred at a fixed latency after PbN stimulation that followed high stimulation frequencies. A collision test also was performed. 3. Of 42 taste-responsive NTS units, 19 (45%) were relay units, 22 (52%) were nonrelay and 1 unit was activated orthodromically by PbN stimulation. Latencies of evoked spikes ranged from 1.75 to 4.0 ms 2.1 +/- 0.2 ms (mean +/- SE, median, 1.75 ms). 4. Examination of general response characteristics revealed few differences among relay and nonrelay units.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

scholarly journals Speaking Style Influences the Brain's Electrophysiological Response to Grammatical Errors in Speech Comprehension

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 1132-1146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malte C. Viebahn ◽  
Mirjam Ernestus ◽  
James M. McQueen
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Electrophysiological Study ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
Speech Comprehension ◽  
Brain Response ◽  
Electrophysiological Response ◽  
Electrophysiological Responses ◽  
Grammatical Errors ◽  
Casual Speech ◽  
Speaking Style

This electrophysiological study asked whether the brain processes grammatical gender violations in casual speech differently than in careful speech. Native speakers of Dutch were presented with utterances that contained adjective–noun pairs in which the adjective was either correctly inflected with a word-final schwa (e.g., een spannende roman, “a suspenseful novel”) or incorrectly uninflected without that schwa ( een spannend roman). Consistent with previous findings, the uninflected adjectives elicited an electrical brain response sensitive to syntactic violations when the talker was speaking in a careful manner. When the talker was speaking in a casual manner, this response was absent. A control condition showed electrophysiological responses for carefully as well as casually produced utterances with semantic anomalies, showing that listeners were able to understand the content of both types of utterance. The results suggest that listeners take information about the speaking style of a talker into account when processing the acoustic–phonetic information provided by the speech signal. Absent schwas in casual speech are effectively not grammatical gender violations. These changes in syntactic processing are evidence of contextually driven neural flexibility.

scholarly journals The phonological determinants of tone in English loanwords in Mandarin

Phonology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-239
Author(s):  
Eleanor Glewwe
Keyword(s):  
Maximum Entropy ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
The Other ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Loanword Adaptation ◽  
Maximum Entropy Models ◽  
Pitch Contours ◽  
Adaptation Experiment ◽  
Complex Cases

This paper presents the results of a corpus study and an online loanword adaptation experiment examining the tonal adaptation of English loanwords in Mandarin. Using maximum entropy models, I control for the substantial influences of lexical tone distributions and standardisation, and uncover phonological determinants of tone beyond these lexical and conventional factors. The most important phonological determinant of tone in the corpus was English voicing, while in the experiment it was English stress-aligned pitch contours. I argue that these distinct tonal adaptation patterns constitute two different perceptual mappings, one from F0 perturbations to tone and the other from English intonation to tone, both arising due to particular borrowing contexts. I suggest that increasingly close contact between English and Mandarin may lead to more intonation-driven tonal adaptation in the latest wave of borrowing. The maximum entropy approach holds promise for the analysis of complex cases of tonal adaptation in other languages.

Bimodal Benefits Revealed by Categorical Perception of Lexical Tones in Mandarin-Speaking Kindergarteners With a Cochlear Implant and a Contralateral Hearing Aid

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (12) ◽  
pp. 4238-4251
Author(s):  
Hao Zhang ◽  
Jing Zhang ◽  
Gang Peng ◽  
Hongwei Ding ◽  
Yang Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Categorical Perception ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Linear Mixed Effects ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Speech Stimuli ◽  
Direct Benefits ◽  
Hearing Thresholds ◽  
Mandarin Tone

Purpose Pitch reception poses challenges for individuals with cochlear implants (CIs), and adding a hearing aid (HA) in the nonimplanted ear is potentially beneficial. The current study used fine-scale synthetic speech stimuli to investigate the bimodal benefit for lexical tone categorization in Mandarin-speaking kindergarteners using a CI and an HA in opposite ears. Method The data were collected from 16 participants who were required to complete two classical tasks for speech categorical perception (CP) with CI + HA device condition and CI alone condition. Linear mixed-effects models were constructed to evaluate the identification and discrimination scores across different device conditions. Results The bimodal kindergarteners showed CP for the continuum varying from Mandarin Tone 1 and Tone 2. Moreover, the additional acoustic information from the contralateral HA contributes to improved lexical tone categorization, with a steeper slope, a higher discrimination score of between-category stimuli pair, and an improved peakedness score (i.e., an increased benefit magnitude for discriminations of between-category over within-category pairs) for the CI + HA condition than the CI alone condition. The bimodal kindergarteners with better residual hearing thresholds at 250 Hz level in the nonimplanted ear could perceive lexical tones more categorically. Conclusion The enhanced CP results with bimodal listening provide clear evidence for the clinical practice to fit a contralateral HA in the nonimplanted ear in kindergarteners with unilateral CIs with direct benefits from the low-frequency acoustic hearing.

scholarly journals Simultaneous retinal and cortical visually evoked electrophysiological responses in between migraine attacks

Cephalalgia ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 32 (12) ◽  
pp. 896-907 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bao N Nguyen ◽  
Allison M McKendrick ◽  
Algis J Vingrys
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Pattern Reversal ◽  
Cortical Function ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Electrophysiological Response ◽  
Retinal Processing ◽  
Electrophysiological Responses ◽  
Information Studies

Purpose: People with migraine often report aversion to flickering lights and show abnormal results on behavioural tasks that require the processing of temporal visual information. Studies have reported that the cortically evoked electrophysiological response to a flickering visual stimulus is abnormal; however, none have considered whether there is an underlying pre-cortical abnormality. In this cross-sectional study, we consider whether people with migraine have retinal and cortical electrophysiological abnormalities to flickering stimuli. Methods: Monocular transient (1 Hz) and steady-state (8.3 Hz) pattern reversal electroretinograms (PERGs) and pattern visual evoked responses (PVERs) were measured simultaneously in 45 people with migraine (26 without aura, 19 with aura) and 30 non-headache controls at a time between migraine attacks. Results: PERG amplitude and timing did not differ significantly between groups. Transient PVER amplitude was significantly reduced (28%) in the migraine with aura group compared to the controls F(2,72) = 3.6, p = 0.03). Both migraine groups showed significant reductions (32%, 39%) in steady-state PVER amplitude relative to controls (F(2,70) = 4.3, p = 0.02). Conclusions: This study finds normal retinal processing of flickering stimuli in the presence of abnormal cortical function between migraine attacks.

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