Holeckova Irena, Fischer Catherine, Giard Marie-Hélène, Delpuech Claude, Morlet Dominique
Neurological Hospital, Functional Neurology and Epileptology Department, Lyon F-69003, France.
Brain Res. 2006 Apr 12;1082(1):142-52. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2006.01.089.
Hearing one's own first name automatically elicits a robust electrophysiological response, even in conditions of reduced consciousness like sleep. In a search for objective clues to superior cognitive functions in comatose patients, we looked for an optimal auditory stimulation paradigm mobilizing a large population of neurons. Our hypothesis was that wider ERPs would be obtained in response to the subject's own name (SON) when a familiar person uttered it. In 15 healthy awake volunteers, we tested a passive oddball paradigm with three different novels presented with the same probability (P = 0.02): SON uttered by a familiar voice (FV) or by an unknown voice (NFV) and a non-vocal stimulus (NV) which preserved most of the physical characteristics of SON FV. ERP (32 electrodes) and scalp current density (SCD) maps were analyzed. SON appeared to generate more robust responses related to involuntary attention switching (MMN/N2b, novelty P3) than NV. When uttered by a familiar person, the SON elicited larger response amplitudes in the late phase of novelty P3 (after 300 ms). Most important differences were found in the late slow waves where two components could be temporally and spatially dissociated. A larger parietal component for FV than for NFV suggested deeper high-level processing, even if the subjects were not required to explicitly differentiate or recognize the voices. This passive protocol could therefore provide a valuable tool for clinicians to test residual superior cognitive functions in uncooperative patients.
即使在睡眠等意识减弱的状态下，听到自己的名字也会自动引发强烈的电生理反应。为了寻找昏迷患者高级认知功能的客观线索，我们寻找一种能调动大量神经元的最佳听觉刺激范式。我们的假设是，当熟悉的人说出受试者自己的名字（SON）时，会获得更广泛的事件相关电位（ERP）。在15名清醒的健康志愿者中，我们测试了一种被动的oddball范式，呈现三种概率相同的不同新奇刺激（P = 0.02）：由熟悉声音（FV）或陌生声音（NFV）说出的SON，以及一种保留了SON FV大部分物理特征的非语音刺激（NV）。分析了ERP（32个电极）和头皮电流密度（SCD）图。与NV相比，SON似乎能产生与非自愿注意力转换相关的更强反应（失匹配负波/ N2b，新奇P3）。当由熟悉的人说出时，SON在新奇P3的后期（300毫秒后）引发更大的反应幅度。在晚期慢波中发现了最重要的差异，其中两个成分在时间和空间上可以分离。FV比NFV产生更大的顶叶成分，这表明即使受试者不需要明确区分或识别声音，也存在更深层次的高级加工。因此，这种被动方案可以为临床医生提供一个有价值的工具，用于测试不合作患者残留的高级认知功能。
