Early Parallel Processing of Auditory Word and Voice Information

Abstract

The present study investigates the relationship of linguistic (phonetic) and extralinguistic (voice) information in preattentive auditory processing. We provide neurophysiological data, which show for the first time that both kinds of information are processed in parallel at an early preattentive stage. In order to establish the temporal and spatial organization of the underlying neuronal processes, we studied the conjunction of voice and word deviations in a mismatch negativity experiment, whereby the listener's brain responses were collected using magnetoencephalography. The stimuli consisted of single spoken words, whereby the deviants manifested a change of the word, of the voice, or both word and voice simultaneously (combined). First, we identified the N100m (overlain by mismatch field, MMF) and localized its generators, analyzing N100m/MMF latency, dipole localization, and dipole strength. While the responses evoked by deviant stimuli were more anterior than the standard, localization differences between the deviants could not be shown. The dipole strength was larger for deviants than the standard stimulus, but again, no differences between the deviants could be established. There was no difference in the hemispheric lateralization of the responses. However, a difference between the deviants was observed in the latencies. The N100m/MMF revealed a significantly shorter and less variant latency for the combined stimulus compared to all other experimental conditions. The data suggest an integral parallel processing model, which describes the early extraction of phonetic and voice information from the speech signal as parallel and contingent processes. © 2002 Elsevier Science (USA)

The effects of stimulus complexity on the preattentive processing of self-generated and nonself voices: An ERP study

“…3 Illustration of grand average Braw^waveforms for the SGV and NSV standard and deviant stimuli, in both the VCC and WCC Miller, 2004;Belin et al, 2011;Belin et al, 2004;Kaganovich et al, 2006;Schweinberger et al, 2014). Importantly, the concurrent processing of vocal information was found to take place in early stages of information processing-that is, within the first 200 ms after voice stimulus onset (Beauchemin et al, 2006;Charest et al, 2009;Holeckova, Fischer, Giard, Delpuech, & Morlet, 2006;Kaganovich et al, 2006;Knösche, Lattner, Maess, Schauer, & Friederici, 2002;Titova & Näätänen, 2001). Besides the parallel processing of voice information, MMN studies demonstrated that concurrent linguistic processes (e.g., phonological, lexical, semantic, grammatical, and pragmatic) occur very early in the information-processing stream within the MMN time window (Kujala et al, 2010;Kujala, Tervaniemi, & Schröger, 2007;Näätänen et al, 2007;Pakarinen et al, 2009;E.…”

Opposite patterns of hemisphere dominance for early auditory processing of lexical tones and consonants

“…The dipole analysis was conducted by using a rotating dipole model (mirror dipoles). Seed points were set for all of the subjects in the same location in the bilateral superior temporal gyri (28)(29)(30). The maximal distance from the seed points was 30 mm, and the minimal distance between two dipoles was 90 mm.…”

The specificity of perceptual learning in speech processing

“…However, there was an asymmetry such that variation in voice caused more interference with phoneme classification than vice versa. Given this asymmetry, Mullennix and Pisoni concluded that linguistic processing is contingent on voice processing-more specifically, that talker information is extracted from the signal first and then influences phonetic processing (see also Green, Tomiak, & Kuhl, 1997;Knösche, Lattner, Maess, Schauer, & Friederici, 2002;Lattner, 2002).…”