The effects of attention on speech perception: An fMRI study

Hugdahl, Kenneth; Thomsen, Tormod; Ersland, Lars; Rimol, Lars M.; Niemi, Jussi

doi:10.1016/s0093-934x(02)00500-x

Cited by 84 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…This general attentional effect is consistent with numerous auditory ERP studies (Hillyard et al, 1973;Woldorff et al, 1993; as well as with prior imaging studies using various speech (Grady et al, 1997;Hashimoto et al, 2000;Hugdahl et al, 2000;Hugdahl et al, 2003;Jancke et al, 2001;Jancke et al, 1999;O'Leary et al, 1997;Pugh et al, 1996;Vingerhoets & Luppens, 2001) and nonspeech (Hall et al, 2000;Jancke et al, 2003) auditory stimuli. Contrasts emphasizing speech sound processing (Speech-Rotated) and lexical processing (Word-Pseudoword) showed not only main effects of these stimulus variables but also strong interactions between attention and stimulus type.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Attentional and linguistic interactions in speech perception

et al. 2008

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The role of attention in speech comprehension is not well understood. We used fMRI to study the neural correlates of auditory word, pseudoword, and nonspeech (spectrally-rotated speech) perception during a bimodal (auditory, visual) selective attention task. In three conditions, Attend Auditory (ignore visual), Ignore Auditory (attend visual), and Visual (no auditory stimulation), 28 subjects performed a one-back matching task in the assigned attended modality. The visual task, attending to rapidly presented Japanese characters, was designed to be highly demanding in order to prevent attention to the simultaneously presented auditory stimuli. Regardless of stimulus type, attention to the auditory channel enhanced activation by the auditory stimuli (Attend Auditory > Ignore Auditory) in bilateral posterior superior temporal regions and left inferior frontal cortex. Across attentional conditions, there were main effects of speech processing (word + pseudoword > rotated speech) in left orbitofrontal cortex and several posterior right hemisphere regions, though these areas also showed strong interactions with attention (larger speech effects in the Attend Auditory than in the Ignore Auditory condition) and no significant speech effects in the Ignore Auditory condition. Several other regions, including the postcentral gyri, left supramarginal gyrus, and temporal lobes bilaterally, showed similar interactions due to the presence of speech effects only in the Attend Auditory condition. Main effects of lexicality (word > pseudoword) were isolated to a small region of the left lateral prefrontal cortex. Examination of this region showed significant word > pseudoword activation only in the Attend Auditory condition. Several other brain regions, including left ventromedial frontal lobe, left dorsal prefrontal cortex, and left middle temporal gyrus, showed attention × lexicality interactions due to the presence of lexical activation only in the Attend Auditory condition. These results support a model in which neutral speech presented in an unattended sensory channel undergoes relatively little processing beyond the early perceptual level. Specifically, processing of phonetic and lexical-semantic information appears to be very limited in such circumstances, consistent with prior behavioral studies.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Attentional and linguistic interactions in speech perception

et al. 2008

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“…It is only brain regions more distant from auditory cortex, probably supporting higher-level processes, that show attentional modulation. Response patterns in primary auditory regions did not depend on attention (i.e., there was no interaction), despite a reliable main effect consistent with other studies of auditory attention Hugdahl et al, 2003;Petkov et al, 2004;Fritz et al, 2007). This suggest that early auditory cortical processing of speech is largely automatic and independent of attention, but can be enhanced (or suppressed) by attention.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Effortful Listening: The Processing of Degraded Speech Depends Critically on Attention

et al. 2012

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The conditions of everyday life are such that people often hear speech that has been degraded (e.g., by background noise or electronic transmission) or when they are distracted by other tasks. However, it remains unclear what role attention plays in processing speech that is difficult to understand. In the current study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess the degree to which spoken sentences were processed under distraction, and whether this depended on the acoustic quality (intelligibility) of the speech. On every trial, adult human participants attended to one of three simultaneously presented stimuli: a sentence (at one of four acoustic clarity levels), an auditory distracter, or a visual distracter. A postscan recognition test showed that clear speech was processed even when not attended, but that attention greatly enhanced the processing of degraded speech. Furthermore, speech-sensitive cortex could be parcellated according to how speech-evoked responses were modulated by attention. Responses in auditory cortex and areas along the superior temporal sulcus (STS) took the same form regardless of attention, although responses to distorted speech in portions of both posterior and anterior STS were enhanced under directed attention. In contrast, frontal regions, including left inferior frontal gyrus, were only engaged when listeners were attending to speech and these regions exhibited elevated responses to degraded, compared with clear, speech. We suggest this response is a neural marker of effortful listening. Together, our results suggest that attention enhances the processing of degraded speech by engaging higher-order mechanisms that modulate perceptual auditory processing.

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“…In particular, the frontoparietal network, involved in supramodal attention demands (Duncan, 2010), may be recruited by the attention demands of the counting task. The recruitment of the association auditory cortex (middle/superior temporal gyri) has been observed in attention-guided selective processing of linguistic stimuli (Hugdahl et al, 2003), much like the attention to specific words required by our mental task. Furthermore, the superior temporal, premotor, and inferior prefrontal frontal cortex, have been implicated in speech perception and production (Peelle et al, 2010), processes likely recruited by a subvocal rehearsal of the target words, which may facilitate their maintenance in shortterm memory.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Brain's Silent Messenger: Using Selective Attention to Decode Human Thought for Brain-Based Communication

et al. 2013

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The interpretation of human thought from brain activity, without recourse to speech or action, is one of the most provoking and challenging frontiers of modern neuroscience. In particular, patients who are fully conscious and awake, yet, due to brain damage, are unable to show any behavioral responsivity, expose the limits of the neuromuscular system and the necessity for alternate forms of communication. Although it is well established that selective attention can significantly enhance the neural representation of attended sounds, it remains, thus far, untested as a response modality for brain-based communication. We asked whether its effect could be reliably used to decode answers to binary (yes/no) questions. Fifteen healthy volunteers answered questions (e.g., "Do you have brothers or sisters?") in the fMRI scanner, by selectively attending to the appropriate word ("yes" or "no"). Ninety percent of the answers were decoded correctly based on activity changes within the attention network. The majority of volunteers conveyed their answers with less than 3 min of scanning, suggesting that this technique is suited for communication in a reasonable amount of time. Formal comparison with the current best-established fMRI technique for binary communication revealed improved individual success rates and scanning times required to detect responses. This novel fMRI technique is intuitive, easy to use in untrained participants, and reliably robust within brief scanning times. Possible applications include communication with behaviorally nonresponsive patients.

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The effects of attention on speech perception: An fMRI study

Cited by 84 publications

References 20 publications

Attentional and linguistic interactions in speech perception

Attentional and linguistic interactions in speech perception

Effortful Listening: The Processing of Degraded Speech Depends Critically on Attention

The Brain's Silent Messenger: Using Selective Attention to Decode Human Thought for Brain-Based Communication

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