Testing Native Language Neural Commitment at the Subcortical Level

Completed

• Conditions: Language Development

• Registration Number: NCT02774356
• Lead Sponsor: University of Minnesota

Brief Summary

This mentored student research project is funded by the Graduate Research Partnership Program with a projected timeline for data collection in the summer of 2015. Previous research has shown that language experience alters the way the human brain processes speech information. This phenomenon takes place very early in life and is referred to as Native Language Neural Commitment. For instance, as the Japanese language does not have the l-r speech sound contrast, Japanese infants start to show difficulty in hearing differences between the English l and r sounds at 12 months of age but not when they were at 6 months old. Learning the l-r distinction later in life proves to be very difficult for the Japanese school students and adults. Brain imaging studies have further revealed specific brain regions that are changed by language learning. But the evidence in support of the Native Language Neural Commitment theory is based on cortical-level measures. The proposed study extends the measurement to the subcortical level at the brainstem. The target language that the investigators are interested in studying is Mandarin Chinese, which is known for its use of lexical tones to express different words. For instance, the Chinese syllable "ma" means "mother" when it is spoken with a flat tone, and it means "hemp" when spoken with a rising tone. English, by contrast, does not employ lexical tones, and it is considered a non-tonal language. Does the Chinese learning experience fundamental change the way that pitch information is coded in the human brain? Does it happen at both cortical and subcortical levels? Previous research has shown evidence for a positive answer to both questions. But the direct evidence for brain-behavior correlations at the subcortical level is still missing.

The proposed cross-language study will test Chinese-speaking and English-speaking adults to investigate Native Language Neural Commitment at the subcortical level. The investigators are interested in differences in the two subject populations by examining the relationship between brainstem pitch tracking and behavioral pitch perception in linguistic and nonlinguistic stimuli.

The results of the proposed project will contribute to the understanding the role of the subcortical brainstem in Native Language Neural Commitment, which have significant implications for the development of auditory/speech training programs and assessment tools utilizing the brainstem frequency following measure to monitor progress in second language learning and test clinical populations.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2015-06-09
• Study Start: 2015-07
• Study First Submitted QC: 2016-05-12
• Study First Posted: 2016-05-17
• Primary Completion: 2016-12
• Study Completion: 2016-12
• Status Verified: 2017-01
• Last Update Submitted: 2017-01-17
• Last Update Posted: 2017-01-18

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 36

Inclusion Criteria

1. Native Mandarin Chinese speakers
2. Native English speakers
3. Non-musicians.
4. English speakers must have no prior experience with a tonal language.
5. Normal hearing
6. Age range to 18-50.

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Exclusion Criteria

1. Speech-language-hearing disorders, neurophysiological/psychiatric conditions, including stroke or brain injuries, which would prevent the subject from sitting still and performing the experimental tasks.
2. Subjects with three or more than three years of musical practice/training will be excluded.

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Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Pitch strength of Brainstem EEG (electroencephalography) responses	Outcome will be measured at one 1.5-hr session after the participant is recruited.	EEG signals to pitch changes in speech and nonspeech sounds are analyzed to obtain the brainstem frequency following responses (FFRs). Autocorrelation method will be applied to the FFRs to quantify each participant's brainstem pitch strength. Higher average autocorrelation value indicates greater pitch strength. This EEG measure is to see whether tonal-language speakers and nontonal language speakers differ in brainstem encoding of pitch information.
Reaction time in millesecond for speech perception of syllables with varying pitch contour	Outcome will be measured at one 1.5-hr session after the participant is recruited.	This behavioral measure in terms of syllable perception is to test whether syllabic perception is influenced by pitch information and whether tonal-language speakers' sensitivity towards pitch differences would affect the speech perception differently.
Correlation between the EEG and the Behavioral measures	Outcome will be measured at one 1.5-hr session after the participant is recruited.
Pitch tracking accuracy of Brainstem EEG (electroencephalography) responses	Outcome will be measured at one 1.5-hr session after the participant is recruited.	Strength of stimulus-to-response correlation will assessed. Higher correlation coefficient between the fundamental frequency of the stimulus and that of the FFR response will indicate greater accuracy of the brainstem pitch tracking. This EEG measure is to see whether tonal-language speakers and nontonal language speakers differ in brainstem encoding of pitch information.
Duration estimate of syllables with varying pitch contour	Outcome will be measured at one 1.5-hr session after the participant is recruited.	This behavioral measure in terms of syllable duration estimation is to test whether duration estimation is influenced by pitch information and whether tonal-language speakers' sensitivity towards pitch differences would affect the duration estimation differently.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Zhang Lab at Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences; 🇺🇸 Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States