Gessa Elena, Valzolgher Chiara, Giovanelli Elena, Vescovi Massimo, Visentin Chiara, Prodi Nicola, Di Blasi Eloise, Sadler Viola, Pavani Francesco
Center for Mind/Brain Sciences- CIMeC, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy.
Acoustics Research Group, Department of Engineering, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
Exp Brain Res. 2025 May 31;243(7):163. doi: 10.1007/s00221-025-07117-5.
In challenging acoustic scenarios, speech processing is often linked to listening effort, which can be described as the balance between cognitive demands and motivation to understand speech. In such conditions, people usually rely on several behavioral strategies to support speech understanding and reduce listening effort (e.g., speech-reading behavior). Still, it is not clear what cognitive mechanisms underlie the use of behavioral strategies for listening. We hypothesized that the cognitive and motivational dimensions of listening effort may also drive speech-reading strategies spontaneously adopted in challenging conditions. Normal-hearing adults (N = 64) performed audiovisual speech-recognition in noise, in combination with a concurrent mnemonic task with low vs. high working memory engagement to set cognitive demands. Motivation was manipulated between-subjects through fixed or performance-related monetary rewards. Speech-reading was tracked with eye-movement, and pupil dilation served as a physiological measure of listening effort, confirming manipulation effectiveness. We found that exerted listening effort intensifies speech-reading behavior, with motivation playing a key role in this behavioral adaptation to enhanced cognitive demands. These findings document the association between internal mental processes and behavioral adaptation in the speech domain.
在具有挑战性的声学场景中，语音处理通常与听力努力相关联，听力努力可被描述为认知需求与理解语音的动机之间的平衡。在这种情况下，人们通常依靠多种行为策略来支持语音理解并减少听力努力（例如，唇读行为）。然而，尚不清楚使用听力行为策略的认知机制是什么。我们假设听力努力的认知和动机维度也可能驱动在具有挑战性的条件下自发采用的唇读策略。听力正常的成年人（N = 64）在噪声中进行视听语音识别，并结合一项工作记忆参与度低与高的并发记忆任务，以设定认知需求。通过固定或与表现相关的金钱奖励在受试者之间操纵动机。通过眼动追踪唇读情况，瞳孔扩张作为听力努力的生理指标，证实了操纵的有效性。我们发现，付出的听力努力会强化唇读行为，动机在这种对增强的认知需求的行为适应中起着关键作用。这些发现证明了语音领域内心理过程与行为适应之间的关联。
