Department of Functional Brain Imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer (IDAC), Tohoku University, Japan.
Division of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer (IDAC), Tohoku University, Japan.
Brain Res. 2020 Jul 1;1738:146821. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2020.146821. Epub 2020 Apr 4.
Can we identify what two people are saying at the same time? Although it is difficult to perfectly repeat two or more simultaneous messages, listeners can report information from both speakers. In a concurrent/divided listening task, enhanced attention and segregation of speech can be required rather than selection and suppression. However, the neural mechanisms of concurrent listening to multi-speaker concurrent speech has yet to be clarified. The present study utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural responses of healthy young adults listening to concurrent male and female speakers in an attempt to reveal the mechanism of concurrent listening. After practice and multiple trials testing concurrent listening, 31 participants achieved performance comparable with that of selective listening. Furthermore, compared to selective listening, concurrent listening induced greater activation in the anterior cingulate cortex, bilateral anterior insula, frontoparietal regions, and the periaqueductal gray region. In addition to the salience network for multi-speaker listening, attentional modulation and enhanced segregation of these signals could be used to achieve successful concurrent listening. These results indicate the presence of a potential mechanism by which one can listen to two voices with enhanced attention to saliency signals.
我们能否识别两个人同时说的话?尽管完美地重复两个或更多同时的信息是很困难的,但听众可以从两个说话者那里报告信息。在并发/分离听力任务中,可能需要增强注意力和言语分离,而不是选择和抑制。然而,多说话者同时说话的并发听力的神经机制尚未阐明。本研究利用功能磁共振成像来研究健康年轻成年人同时听男性和女性说话者的神经反应,试图揭示并发听力的机制。经过练习和多次试验测试并发听力后,31 名参与者的表现与选择性听力相当。此外,与选择性听力相比,并发听力在前扣带皮层、双侧前岛叶、额顶叶区域和导水管周围灰质区域引起更大的激活。除了多说话者聆听的突显网络外,对这些信号的注意力调节和增强分离也可用于实现成功的并发聆听。这些结果表明,存在一种潜在的机制,可以使人在增强对突显信号的注意力的情况下同时听两个声音。