Intonation processing deficits among Mandarin Chinese speakers with congenital amusia: An ERP study

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Intonation processing deficits among Mandarin Chinese speakers with congenital amusia: An ERP study Xuejing Lu1, 2, Daxing Wu2*, Fang Liu3 and William Forde Thompson1 1 Macquarie University, Department of Psychology, Australia 2 The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Medical Psychological Institute, China 3 The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, China Background: Congenital amusia, a disorder that affects the processing of musical pitch, offers a new perspective to investigate the extent to which pitch processing is shared between music and language. If melodic and linguistic pitch processing draws on partly shared mechanisms, then the melodic pitch processing impairments seen in amusia may be accompanied by deficits in linguistic pitch processing. In the current study, we examined the neural mechanism of intonation processing among mandarin speakers with or without amusia (see also, Wu et al, 2013). Method: 20 amusics and 22 matched controls were asked to discriminate whether the intonation (statement/question) of a pair of disyllabic Chinese words were same or different. EEG was recorded during the tasks. Results: Amusics were impaired at discriminating the intonation of speech (p<0.05). However, there was also a significant main effect of Intonation Pair (p<0.001) and no interaction with group, suggesting that both amusics and controls found certain intonation pair conditions more difficult than others. Furthermore, our sample of amusics showed no impairments on early auditory processing, as suggested by normal P1 and N1 (ps>0.05), but they exhibited a smaller amplitude in ERP in the time window 1200-1500ms (p<0.05). Conclusion: Mandarin-speaking amusics were impaired at discriminating intonation, but the two groups exhibited a similar pattern of performance across intonation pair conditions, and amusics showed no impairments on early auditory processing. Thus, amusics may have normal neural circuitry for processing differences in pitch, but this early processing of pitch apparently does not lead to an advanced and consciousness-involved processing phase. The results may inform discussions of the different levels of processing at which music and language share neural resources. Keywords: Pitch Perception, ERP, Congenital Amusia, intonation processing, Shared neural resources Conference: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 27 Jul - 31 Jul, 2014. Presentation Type: Poster Topic: Language Citation: Lu X, Wu D, Liu F and Thompson W (2015). Intonation processing deficits among Mandarin Chinese speakers with congenital amusia: An ERP study. Conference Abstract: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.217.00209 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 19 Feb 2015; Published Online: 24 Apr 2015. * Correspondence: Prof. Daxing Wu, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Medical Psychological Institute, Changsha, China, wudaxing2017@csu.edu.cn Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Xuejing Lu Daxing Wu Fang Liu William Forde Thompson Google Xuejing Lu Daxing Wu Fang Liu William Forde Thompson Google Scholar Xuejing Lu Daxing Wu Fang Liu William Forde Thompson PubMed Xuejing Lu Daxing Wu Fang Liu William Forde Thompson Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.