TY - JOUR
T1 - Stability and plasticity in neural encoding of linguistically relevant pitch patterns
AU - Xie, Zilong
AU - Reetzke, Rachel
AU - Chandrasekaran, Bharath
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (Grant R01 DC-013315 to B. Chandrasekaran) and an Undergraduate Research Fellowship to Whitney Barlow (mentored by B. Chandrasekaran and R. Reetzke). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 the American Physiological Society.
PY - 2017/3/1
Y1 - 2017/3/1
N2 - While lifelong language experience modulates subcor- tical encoding of pitch patterns, there is emerging evidence that short-term training introduced in adulthood also shapes subcortical pitch encoding. Here we use a cross-language design to examine the stability of language experience-dependent subcortical plasticity over multiple days. We then examine the extent to which behavioral relevance induced by sound-to-category training leads to plastic changes in subcortical pitch encoding in adulthood relative to adolescence, a period of ongoing maturation of subcortical and cortical auditor)' processing. Frequency-following responses (FFRs), which reflect phase-locked activity from subcortical neural ensembles, were elicited while participants passively listened to pitch patterns reflective of Mandarin tones. In experiment 7, FFRs were recorded across three consecutive days from native Chinese-speaking (n = 10) and English-speaking (n = 10) adults. In experiment 2, FFRs were recorded from native English-speaking adolescents (n = 20) and adults 0? = 15) before, during, and immediately after a session of sound-to-category training, as well as a day after training ceased. Experiment I demonstrated the stability of language experience- dependent subcortical plasticity in pitch encoding across multiple days of passive exposure to linguistic pitch patterns. In contrast, experiment 2 revealed an enhancement in subcortical pitch encoding that emerged a day after the sound-to-category training, with some developmental differences observed. Taken together, these findings suggest that behavioral relevance is a critical component for the observation of plasticity in the subcortical encoding of pitch.
AB - While lifelong language experience modulates subcor- tical encoding of pitch patterns, there is emerging evidence that short-term training introduced in adulthood also shapes subcortical pitch encoding. Here we use a cross-language design to examine the stability of language experience-dependent subcortical plasticity over multiple days. We then examine the extent to which behavioral relevance induced by sound-to-category training leads to plastic changes in subcortical pitch encoding in adulthood relative to adolescence, a period of ongoing maturation of subcortical and cortical auditor)' processing. Frequency-following responses (FFRs), which reflect phase-locked activity from subcortical neural ensembles, were elicited while participants passively listened to pitch patterns reflective of Mandarin tones. In experiment 7, FFRs were recorded across three consecutive days from native Chinese-speaking (n = 10) and English-speaking (n = 10) adults. In experiment 2, FFRs were recorded from native English-speaking adolescents (n = 20) and adults 0? = 15) before, during, and immediately after a session of sound-to-category training, as well as a day after training ceased. Experiment I demonstrated the stability of language experience- dependent subcortical plasticity in pitch encoding across multiple days of passive exposure to linguistic pitch patterns. In contrast, experiment 2 revealed an enhancement in subcortical pitch encoding that emerged a day after the sound-to-category training, with some developmental differences observed. Taken together, these findings suggest that behavioral relevance is a critical component for the observation of plasticity in the subcortical encoding of pitch.
KW - Adolescence
KW - Auditory training
KW - Experience-dependent plasticity
KW - Frequency-following response
KW - Pitch encoding
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U2 - 10.1152/JN.00445.2016
DO - 10.1152/JN.00445.2016
M3 - Article
C2 - 28077662
AN - SCOPUS:85024835275
SN - 0022-3077
VL - 117
SP - 1407
EP - 1422
JO - Journal of neurophysiology
JF - Journal of neurophysiology
IS - 3
ER -