Testing Native Language Neural Commitment at the Subcortical Level

Language Development Clinical Trial

Official title:

Testing Native Language Neural Commitment at the Subcortical Level: Links Between Brainstem Frequency Following Responses and Behavioral Perception for Lexical Tones

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02774356
• Other study ID #: 1505M69162
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: June 9, 2015
• Last updated: January 17, 2017
• Start date: July 2015
• Est. completion date: December 2016

Study information

• Verified date: January 2017
• Source: University of Minnesota - Clinical and Translational Science Institute
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Observational

Clinical Trial 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.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 36
• Est. completion date: December 2016
• Est. primary completion date: December 2016
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 50 Years

Eligibility

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.

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.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Language Development

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Zhang Lab at Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences	Minneapolis	Minnesota

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Minnesota - Clinical and Translational Science Institute

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

References & Publications (5)

Bidelman GM, Gandour JT, Krishnan A. Musicians and tone-language speakers share enhanced brainstem encoding but not perceptual benefits for musical pitch. Brain Cogn. 2011 Oct;77(1):1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2011.07.006. — View Citation

Krishnan A, Xu Y, Gandour J, Cariani P. Encoding of pitch in the human brainstem is sensitive to language experience. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 2005 Sep;25(1):161-8. — View Citation

Marmel F, Linley D, Carlyon RP, Gockel HE, Hopkins K, Plack CJ. Subcortical neural synchrony and absolute thresholds predict frequency discrimination independently. J Assoc Res Otolaryngol. 2013 Oct;14(5):757-66. doi: 10.1007/s10162-013-0402-3. — View Citation

Xu Q, Gong Q. Frequency difference beyond behavioral limen reflected by frequency following response of human auditory Brainstem. Biomed Eng Online. 2014 Aug 9;13:114. doi: 10.1186/1475-925X-13-114. — View Citation

Zhang Y, Kuhl PK, Imada T, Kotani M, Tohkura Y. Effects of language experience: neural commitment to language-specific auditory patterns. Neuroimage. 2005 Jul 1;26(3):703-20. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Pitch strength of Brainstem EEG (electroencephalography) responses	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.	Outcome will be measured at one 1.5-hr session after the participant is recruited.
Primary	Reaction time in millesecond for speech perception of syllables with varying pitch contour	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.	Outcome will be measured at one 1.5-hr session after the participant is recruited.
Primary	Correlation between the EEG and the Behavioral measures		Outcome will be measured at one 1.5-hr session after the participant is recruited.
Primary	Pitch tracking accuracy of Brainstem EEG (electroencephalography) responses	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.	Outcome will be measured at one 1.5-hr session after the participant is recruited.
Primary	Duration estimate of syllables with varying pitch contour	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.	Outcome will be measured at one 1.5-hr session after the participant is recruited.