Cortical plasticity in the sensorimotor control of voice induced by auditory cognitive training

Abstract

Multiple lines of evidence have shown that motor-related brain regions can be activated during passively musical listening or beat perception, indicating a connection between auditory and sensorimotor systems. In the present study, we sought to examine whether the neural processing of auditory-vocal integration can be shaped by short-term cognitive training related to auditory attention and working memory. Auditory cognitive training consisted of a ten-day backward digit span task, in which digits embedded in various noise at different SNR levels were presented and subjects were required to repeat the digits in the reverse order. Before and after the cognitive training, subjects also participated in a vocal motor task, in which they heard their pitch auditory feedback unexpectedly altered upwards (50 and 200 cents) during sustained vocalization and their neurophysiological responses were recorded. The results revealed a significantly improved performance on the backward digit span task after the training. Moreover, cortical responses indexed by P2 amplitude to pitch perturbations in voice auditory feedback were significantly increased after the training compared with those before the training. These findings provide evidence that plastic cortical changes in the sensorimotor control of voice can be caused by auditory cognitive training.