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Ossandón JP, Stange L, Gudi-Mindermann H, Rimmele JM, Sourav S, Bottari D, Kekunnaya R, Röder B. The development of oscillatory and aperiodic resting state activity is linked to a sensitive period in humans. Neuroimage 2023; 275:120171. [PMID: 37196987 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120171] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2023] [Revised: 04/27/2023] [Accepted: 05/15/2023] [Indexed: 05/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Congenital blindness leads to profound changes in electroencephalographic (EEG) resting state activity. A well-known consequence of congenital blindness in humans is the reduction of alpha activity which seems to go together with increased gamma activity during rest. These results have been interpreted as indicating a higher excitatory/inhibitory (E/I) ratio in visual cortex compared to normally sighted controls. Yet it is unknown whether the spectral profile of EEG during rest would recover if sight were restored. To test this question, the present study evaluated periodic and aperiodic components of the EEG resting state power spectrum. Previous research has linked the aperiodic components, which exhibit a power-law distribution and are operationalized as a linear fit of the spectrum in log-log space, to cortical E/I ratio. Moreover, by correcting for the aperiodic components from the power spectrum, a more valid estimate of the periodic activity is possible. Here we analyzed resting state EEG activity from two studies involving (1) 27 permanently congenitally blind adults (CB) and 27 age-matched normally sighted controls (MCB); (2) 38 individuals with reversed blindness due to bilateral, dense, congenital cataracts (CC) and 77 age-matched sighted controls (MCC). Based on a data driven approach, aperiodic components of the spectra were extracted for the low frequency (Lf-Slope 1.5 to 19.5 Hz) and high frequency (Hf-Slope 20 to 45 Hz) range. The Lf-Slope of the aperiodic component was significantly steeper (more negative slope), and the Hf-Slope of the aperiodic component was significantly flatter (less negative slope) in CB and CC participants compared to the typically sighted controls. Alpha power was significantly reduced, and gamma power was higher in the CB and the CC groups. These results suggest a sensitive period for the typical development of the spectral profile during rest and thus likely an irreversible change in the E/I ratio in visual cortex due to congenital blindness. We speculate that these changes are a consequence of impaired inhibitory circuits and imbalanced feedforward and feedback processing in early visual areas of individuals with a history of congenital blindness.
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Affiliation(s)
- José P Ossandón
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
| | - Liesa Stange
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Helene Gudi-Mindermann
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany; Institute of Public Health and Nursing Research, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
| | - Johanna M Rimmele
- Department of Neuroscience, Max-Planck-Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt, Germany; Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany; Max Planck NYU Center for Language, Music, and Emotion Frankfurt am Main, Germany, New York, NY, USA
| | - Suddha Sourav
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Davide Bottari
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany; IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Italy
| | - Ramesh Kekunnaya
- Child Sight Institute, Jasti V Ramanamma Children's Eye Care Center, LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, India
| | - Brigitte Röder
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany; Child Sight Institute, Jasti V Ramanamma Children's Eye Care Center, LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, India
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Lubinus C, Keitel A, Obleser J, Poeppel D, Rimmele JM. Explaining flexible continuous speech comprehension from individual motor rhythms. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20222410. [PMID: 36855868 PMCID: PMC9975658 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.2410] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/02/2023] Open
Abstract
When speech is too fast, the tracking of the acoustic signal along the auditory pathway deteriorates, leading to suboptimal speech segmentation and decoding of speech information. Thus, speech comprehension is limited by the temporal constraints of the auditory system. Here we ask whether individual differences in auditory-motor coupling strength in part shape these temporal constraints. In two behavioural experiments, we characterize individual differences in the comprehension of naturalistic speech as function of the individual synchronization between the auditory and motor systems and the preferred frequencies of the systems. Obviously, speech comprehension declined at higher speech rates. Importantly, however, both higher auditory-motor synchronization and higher spontaneous speech motor production rates were predictive of better speech-comprehension performance. Furthermore, performance increased with higher working memory capacity (digit span) and higher linguistic, model-based sentence predictability-particularly so at higher speech rates and for individuals with high auditory-motor synchronization. The data provide evidence for a model of speech comprehension in which individual flexibility of not only the motor system but also auditory-motor synchronization may play a modulatory role.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christina Lubinus
- Department of Neuroscience and Department of Cognitive Neuropsychology, Max-Planck-Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, 60322 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Anne Keitel
- Psychology, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HN, UK
| | - Jonas Obleser
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Center for Brain, Behavior, and Metabolism, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - David Poeppel
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA
- Max Planck NYU Center for Language, Music, and Emotion, New York, NY, USA
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute for Neuroscience (in Cooperation with Max Planck Society), Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Johanna M. Rimmele
- Department of Neuroscience and Department of Cognitive Neuropsychology, Max-Planck-Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, 60322 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Max Planck NYU Center for Language, Music, and Emotion, New York, NY, USA
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Rimmele JM, Sun Y, Michalareas G, Ghitza O, Poeppel D. Dynamics of Functional Networks for Syllable and Word-Level Processing. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2023; 4:120-144. [PMID: 37229144 PMCID: PMC10205074 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2021] [Accepted: 11/07/2022] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Speech comprehension requires the ability to temporally segment the acoustic input for higher-level linguistic analysis. Oscillation-based approaches suggest that low-frequency auditory cortex oscillations track syllable-sized acoustic information and therefore emphasize the relevance of syllabic-level acoustic processing for speech segmentation. How syllabic processing interacts with higher levels of speech processing, beyond segmentation, including the anatomical and neurophysiological characteristics of the networks involved, is debated. In two MEG experiments, we investigate lexical and sublexical word-level processing and the interactions with (acoustic) syllable processing using a frequency-tagging paradigm. Participants listened to disyllabic words presented at a rate of 4 syllables/s. Lexical content (native language), sublexical syllable-to-syllable transitions (foreign language), or mere syllabic information (pseudo-words) were presented. Two conjectures were evaluated: (i) syllable-to-syllable transitions contribute to word-level processing; and (ii) processing of words activates brain areas that interact with acoustic syllable processing. We show that syllable-to-syllable transition information compared to mere syllable information, activated a bilateral superior, middle temporal and inferior frontal network. Lexical content resulted, additionally, in increased neural activity. Evidence for an interaction of word- and acoustic syllable-level processing was inconclusive. Decreases in syllable tracking (cerebroacoustic coherence) in auditory cortex and increases in cross-frequency coupling between right superior and middle temporal and frontal areas were found when lexical content was present compared to all other conditions; however, not when conditions were compared separately. The data provide experimental insight into how subtle and sensitive syllable-to-syllable transition information for word-level processing is.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johanna M. Rimmele
- Departments of Neuroscience and Cognitive Neuropsychology, Max-Planck-Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Max Planck NYU Center for Language, Music and Emotion, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; New York, NY, USA
| | - Yue Sun
- Departments of Neuroscience and Cognitive Neuropsychology, Max-Planck-Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Georgios Michalareas
- Departments of Neuroscience and Cognitive Neuropsychology, Max-Planck-Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Oded Ghitza
- Departments of Neuroscience and Cognitive Neuropsychology, Max-Planck-Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- College of Biomedical Engineering & Hearing Research Center, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - David Poeppel
- Departments of Neuroscience and Cognitive Neuropsychology, Max-Planck-Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA
- Max Planck NYU Center for Language, Music and Emotion, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; New York, NY, USA
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute for Neuroscience, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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Weise A, Grimm S, Maria Rimmele J, Schröger E. Auditory representations for long lasting sounds: Insights from event-related brain potentials and neural oscillations. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2023; 237:105221. [PMID: 36623340 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2022.105221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2021] [Revised: 12/26/2022] [Accepted: 12/27/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
The basic features of short sounds, such as frequency and intensity including their temporal dynamics, are integrated in a unitary representation. Knowledge on how our brain processes long lasting sounds is scarce. We review research utilizing the Mismatch Negativity event-related potential and neural oscillatory activity for studying representations for long lasting simple versus complex sounds such as sinusoidal tones versus speech. There is evidence for a temporal constraint in the formation of auditory representations: Auditory edges like sound onsets within long lasting sounds open a temporal window of about 350 ms in which the sounds' dynamics are integrated into a representation, while information beyond that window contributes less to that representation. This integration window segments the auditory input into short chunks. We argue that the representations established in adjacent integration windows can be concatenated into an auditory representation of a long sound, thus, overcoming the temporal constraint.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annekathrin Weise
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany; Wilhelm Wundt Institute for Psychology, Leipzig University, Germany.
| | - Sabine Grimm
- Wilhelm Wundt Institute for Psychology, Leipzig University, Germany.
| | - Johanna Maria Rimmele
- Department of Neuroscience, Max-Planck-Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Germany; Center for Language, Music and Emotion, New York University, Max Planck Institute, Department of Psychology, 6 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003, United States.
| | - Erich Schröger
- Wilhelm Wundt Institute for Psychology, Leipzig University, Germany.
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Mortazavi M, Aigner K, Antono JE, Gambacorta C, Nahum M, Levi DM, Föcker J. Intramodal cortical plastic changes after moderate visual impairment in human amblyopia. iScience 2022; 25:104871. [PMID: 36034215 PMCID: PMC9403333 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104871] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2021] [Revised: 06/08/2022] [Accepted: 07/29/2022] [Indexed: 10/28/2022] Open
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Rączy K, Hölig C, Guerreiro MJS, Lingareddy S, Kekunnaya R, Röder B. Typical resting state activity of the brain requires visual input during an early sensitive period. Brain Commun 2022; 4:fcac146. [PMID: 35836836 PMCID: PMC9275761 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcac146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2021] [Revised: 03/02/2022] [Accepted: 06/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Sensory deprivation, following a total loss of one sensory modality e.g. vision, has been demonstrated to result in compensatory plasticity. It is yet not known to which extent neural changes, e.g. higher resting-state activity in visual areas (cross-modal plasticity) as a consequence of blindness, reverse, when sight is restored. Here, we used functional MRI to acquire blood oxygen level-dependent resting-state activity during an eyes open and an eyes closed state in congenital cataract-reversal individuals, developmental cataract-reversal individuals, congenitally permanently blind individuals and sighted controls. The amplitude of low frequency fluctuation of the blood oxygen level-dependent signal—a neural marker of spontaneous brain activity during rest—was analyzed. In accordance with previous reports, in normally sighted controls we observed an increase in amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation during rest with the eyes open compared with rest with eyes closed in visual association areas and in parietal cortex but a decrease in auditory and sensorimotor regions. In congenital cataract-reversal individuals, we found an increase of the amplitude of slow blood oxygen level-dependent fluctuations in visual cortex during rest with eyes open compared with rest with eyes closed too but this increase was larger in amplitude than in normally sighted controls. In contrast, congenital cataract-reversal individuals lagged a similar increase in parietal regions and did not show the typical decrease of amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation in auditory cortex. Congenitally blind individuals displayed an overall higher amplitude in slow blood oxygen level-dependent fluctuations in visual cortex compared with sighted individuals and compared with congenital cataract-reversal individuals in the eyes closed condition. Higher amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation in visual cortex of congenital cataract-reversal individuals than in normally sighted controls during eyes open might indicate an altered excitatory–inhibitory balance of visual neural circuits. By contrast, the lower parietal increase and the missing downregulation in auditory regions suggest a reduced influence of the visual system on multisensory and the other sensory systems after restoring sight in congenitally blind individuals. These results demonstrate a crucial dependence of visual and multisensory neural system functioning on visual experience during a sensitive phase in human brain development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katarzyna Rączy
- University of Hamburg Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, , 20146 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Cordula Hölig
- University of Hamburg Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, , 20146 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Maria J. S. Guerreiro
- University of Hamburg Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, , 20146 Hamburg, Germany
- Biological Psychology, Department of Psychology, Carl Von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg , 26111, Oldenburg, Germany
| | | | - Ramesh Kekunnaya
- Child Sight Institute, LV Prasad Eye Institute Jasti V Ramanamma Children's Eye Care Center, , 500034 Hyderabad, India
| | - Brigitte Röder
- University of Hamburg Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, , 20146 Hamburg, Germany
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Kern P, Assaneo MF, Endres D, Poeppel D, Rimmele JM. Preferred auditory temporal processing regimes and auditory-motor synchronization. Psychon Bull Rev 2021; 28:1860-1873. [PMID: 34100222 PMCID: PMC8642338 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-021-01933-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Decoding the rich temporal dynamics of complex sounds such as speech is constrained by the underlying neuronal-processing mechanisms. Oscillatory theories suggest the existence of one optimal perceptual performance regime at auditory stimulation rates in the delta to theta range (< 10 Hz), but reduced performance in the alpha range (10-14 Hz) is controversial. Additionally, the widely discussed motor system contribution to timing remains unclear. We measured rate discrimination thresholds between 4 and 15 Hz, and auditory-motor coupling strength was estimated through a behavioral auditory-motor synchronization task. In a Bayesian model comparison, high auditory-motor synchronizers showed a larger range of constant optimal temporal judgments than low synchronizers, with performance decreasing in the alpha range. This evidence for optimal processing in the theta range is consistent with preferred oscillatory regimes in auditory cortex that compartmentalize stimulus encoding and processing. The findings suggest, remarkably, that increased auditory-motor synchronization might extend such an optimal range towards faster rates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pius Kern
- Department of Neuroscience, Max-Planck-Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Grüneburgweg 14, 60322, Frankfurt/M, Germany
| | - M Florencia Assaneo
- Instituto de Neurobiologia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Juriquilla, Campus UNAM 3001, 76230, Juriquilla, Qro., Mexico
| | - Dominik Endres
- Department of Psychology, Philipps University Marburg, Gutenbergstraße 18, 35032, Marburg, Germany
| | - David Poeppel
- Department of Neuroscience, Max-Planck-Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Grüneburgweg 14, 60322, Frankfurt/M, Germany
- Department of Psychology, New York University, 6 Washington Place, New York, NY, 10003, USA
- Max Planck NYU Center for Language, Music, and Emotion, Frankfurt/M, Germany, NY, USA
| | - Johanna M Rimmele
- Department of Neuroscience, Max-Planck-Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Grüneburgweg 14, 60322, Frankfurt/M, Germany.
- Max Planck NYU Center for Language, Music, and Emotion, Frankfurt/M, Germany, NY, USA.
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