Input to Verbal Working Memory
Preattentive Construction of the Central Speech Representation
Abstract
Abstract. Working memory uses central sound representations as an informational basis. The central sound representation is the temporally and feature-integrated mental representation that corresponds to phenomenal perception. It is used in (higher-order) mental operations and stored in long-term memory. In the bottom-up processing path, the central sound representation can be probed at the level of auditory sensory memory with the mismatch negativity (MMN) of the event-related potential. The present paper reviews a newly developed MMN paradigm to tap into the processing of speech sound representations. Preattentive vowel categorization based on F1-F2 formant information occurs in speech sounds and complex tones even under conditions of high variability of the auditory input. However, an additional experiment demonstrated the limits of the preattentive categorization of language-relevant information. It tested whether the system categorizes complex tones containing the F1 and F2 formant components of the vowel /a/ differently than six sounds with nonlanguage-like F1-F2 combinations. From the absence of an MMN in this experiment, it is concluded that no adequate vowel representation was constructed. This shows limitations of the capability of preattentive vowel categorization.
References
(1993). Phonetic invariance in the human auditory cortex. Neuroreport, 4(12), 1356– 1358
(1969). Stimulus repetition rate factors which influence the auditory potential in man. Psychophysiology, 5, 665– 672
(1995). Attention and memory: An integrated framework. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(1997). Electrophysiological correlates of categorical phoneme perception in adults. NeuroReport, 8, 919– 924
(1992). GPOWER: A priori, post-hoc, and compromise power analyses for MS-DOS [computer program].. Bonn, FRG: Bonn University, Dep. of Psychology.
(1995). The nature of pre-attentive storage in the auditory system. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 7, 81– 94
(1993). An evaluation of the automaticity of sensory processing using event-related potentials and brain-stem reflexes. Psychophysiology, 30, 415– 428
(1993). Interaction between representations of different features of auditory sensory memory. NeuroReport, 4, 1279– 1281
(2003). Pre-attentive memory-based comparison of sound intensity. Audiology & Neuro-Otology, 8(6), 338– 346
(2004). Pre-attentive auditory processing of lexicality. Brain and Language, 88, 54– 67
(2001). Is there pre-attentive memory-based comparison of pitch?. Psychophysiology, 38(4), 723– 727
(2003). Measuring duration mismatch negativity. Clinical Neurophysiology, 114(6), 1133– 1143
(2004). Pre-attentive phoneme perception from dynamic speech stimuli.. Psychophysiology, 41(4), 654– 659
(2003). Mismatch negativity to pitch change: Varied stimulus proportions in controlling effects of neural refractoriness on human auditory event-related brain potentials.. Neuroscience Letters, 344(2), 79– 82
(2004). Pre-attentive categorization of vowel formant structure in complex tones. Cognitive Brain Research, 20(3), 473– 479
(1995). Neurophysiologic bases of speech discrimination. Ear and Hearing, 16, 19– 37
(2000). Language, mind, and brain: Experience alters perception. In M. S. Gazzaniga (Ed.), The new cognitive neurosciences (pp. 99-115). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
(1992). Attention and brain function. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
(2001). The perception of speech sounds by the human brain as reflected by the mismatch negativity (MMN) and its magnetic equivalent (MMNm). Psychophysiology, 38(1), 1– 21
(1997). Higher-order processes in auditory-change detection. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2, 44– 45
(1978). Early selective attention reinterpreted. Acta Psychologica, 42, 313– 329
(1997). Language-specific phoneme representations revealed by electric and magnetic brain responses. Nature, 385, 432– 434
(1987). The N1 wave of the human electric and magnetic response to sound: A review and an analysis of the component structure. Psychophysiology, 24, 375– 425
(1988). Frequency and location specificity of the human vertex N1 wave. Electroencephalography & Clinical Neurophysiology, 69, 523– 531
(2001). “Primitive intelligence” in the auditory cortex. Trends in Neurosciences, 24, 282– 288
(1999). The concept of auditory stimulus representation in cognitive neuroscience. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 826– 859
(2000). Auditory cortex accesses phonological categories: An MEG mismatch study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 12, 1038– 1055
(1978). Human auditory sustained potentials: II. stimulus relationships. Electroencephalography & Clinical Neurophysiology, 45, 198– 210
(1999). Analysis of speech sounds is left-hemisphere predominant at 100-150 ms after sound onset. NeuroReport, 10, 1113– 1137
(1968). Orienting and habituation to auditory stimuli: A study of short term changes in average evoked responses. Electroencephalography & Clinical Neurophysiology, 25, 550– 556
(1997). Higher-order processes in auditory-change detection: a response to Näätänen and Alho. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2, 45– 46
(1998). Measurement and interpretation of the mismatch negativity. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments and Computers, 30, 131– 145
(1996). Mismatch response to changes in sound location. NeuroReport, 7, 3005– 3008
(2002). Abstract phoneme representations in the left temporal cortex: Magnetic mismatch negativity study. Neuroreport, 13, 1813– 1816
(1994). The nonlinear dynamics of speech categorization. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 20, 3– 16
(1998). Effects of token variability on our ability to distinguish between vowels. Perception & Psychophysics,, 60(4), 533– 543
(2001). Possible neuronal refractory or recovery artefacts associated with recording the mismatch negativity response. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, 12, 348– 356
(1999). Bootstrapping the distribution of the city-block distance between two repeated measures [on-line].. Available at www.uni-leipzig.de/~biopsych/widmann/minkowski.html.
(1999a). Brain responses reveal the learning of foreign language phonemes. Psychophysiology, 36, 638– 642
(1990). The effect of small variation of the frequent auditory stimulus on the event-related brain potential to the infrequent stimulus. Psychophysiology, 27, 228– 235