Abstract
Successful speech comprehension requires the listener to differentiate relevant from irrelevant sounds. Recent neurophysiological studies have typically addressed one of two candidate neural filter solutions for this problem: the selective neural tracking of speech in auditory cortex via the modulation of phase-locked cortical responses, or the suppression of irrelevant inputs via alpha power modulations in parieto-occipital cortex. However, empirical evidence on their relationship and direct relevance to behavior is scarce. Here, a large, age-varying sample (N=76, 39textendash70 years) underwent a challenging dichotic listening task. Irrespective of listeners’ age, measures of behavioral performance, neural speech tracking, and alpha power lateralization all increased in response to spatial-attention cues. Under most challenging conditions, individual listening success was predicted best by the synergistic interaction of these two distinct neural filter strategies. Trial-by-trial fluctuations of lateralized alpha power and ignored-speech tracking did not co-vary, which demonstrates two neurobiologically distinct filter mechanisms.
Originalsprache | Englisch |
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Zeitschrift | biorxiv |
DOIs | |
Publikationsstatus | Veröffentlicht - 01.2019 |
Strategische Forschungsbereiche und Zentren
- Forschungsschwerpunkt: Gehirn, Hormone, Verhalten - Center for Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM)