Speech onsets and sustained speech contribute differentially to delta and theta speech tracking in auditory cortex

Chalas, N., Daube, C., Kluger, D. S., Abbasi, O., Nitsch, R. and Gross, J. (2023) Speech onsets and sustained speech contribute differentially to delta and theta speech tracking in auditory cortex. Cerebral Cortex, 33(10), pp. 6273-6281. (doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhac502) (PMID:36627246)

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Abstract

When we attentively listen to an individual’s speech, our brain activity dynamically aligns to the incoming acoustic input at multiple timescales. Although this systematic alignment between ongoing brain activity and speech in auditory brain areas is well established, the acoustic events that drive this phase-locking are not fully understood. Here, we use magnetoencephalographic recordings of 24 human participants (12 females) while they were listening to a 1 h story. We show that whereas speech–brain coupling is associated with sustained acoustic fluctuations in the speech envelope in the theta-frequency range (4–7 Hz), speech tracking in the low-frequency delta (below 1 Hz) was strongest around onsets of speech, like the beginning of a sentence. Crucially, delta tracking in bilateral auditory areas was not sustained after onsets, proposing a delta tracking during continuous speech perception that is driven by speech onsets. We conclude that both onsets and sustained components of speech contribute differentially to speech tracking in delta- and theta-frequency bands, orchestrating sampling of continuous speech. Thus, our results suggest a temporal dissociation of acoustically driven oscillatory activity in auditory areas during speech tracking, providing valuable implications for orchestration of speech tracking at multiple time scales.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:The authors acknowledge support by the Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research (IZKF) of the medical faculty of Münster (grant number Gro3/001/19). JG was further supported by the DFG (GR 2024/5-1) and RN was supported by a grant from the German Science Foundation (CRC 1451/A07).
Keywords:Auditory cortex, magnetoencephalography, mutual-information, speech perception, speech-brain coupling.
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Gross, Professor Joachim and Daube, Dr Christoph
Authors: Chalas, N., Daube, C., Kluger, D. S., Abbasi, O., Nitsch, R., and Gross, J.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
Journal Name:Cerebral Cortex
Publisher:Oxford University Press
ISSN:1047-3211
ISSN (Online):1460-2199
Published Online:10 January 2023
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2022 The Authors
First Published:First published in Cerebral Cortex 33(10): 6273-6281
Publisher Policy:Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy

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