MMN to stress change in speech: rule or regularity?

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event MMN to stress change in speech: rule or regularity? Ferenc Honbolygó1* and V. Csépe1 1 Research Institute for Psychology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences , Hungary In a series of experiments we investigated the event-related brain potential (ERP) correlates of the processing of suprasegmental speech cues. Currently, the literature about the processing of these cues is scarce as compared to well-studied segmental properties, in spite of the fact that the acoustic-phonetic information available in speech input is provided both by segmental and suprasegmental cues. One of the suprasegmental cues, the word stress is of particular importance, as it plays a crucial role in segmenting the speech stream and sub-serving lexical access. The aim of the study was to shed light on the processing characteristics of stress pattern, assumed to depend on a) the speech-likeness of the word (speech vs. non-speech stimuli), and b) the intelligibility of the word (word vs. non-word), by using the method of ERPs. In a passive oddball paradigm we contrasted two words differing in their stress pattern (stress on the first syllable vs. stress on the second syllable, the later being unviable in Hungarian) in three different conditions. In Condition 1, we used a meaningful Hungarian word, in Condition 2, we used the low-pass filtered version of the stimuli applied in Condition 1 and in Condition 3, we used a meaningless word. Low-pass filtering renders speech stimuli unintelligible, but keeps the suprasegmental information intact. The word with stress on the first syllable served always as standard, and the word with stress on the second syllable served as deviant. As a result, we obtained the mismatch negativity (MMN) component in two of the three conditions. The deviant stimulus in Conditions 1 and 3 elicited two MMNs: one as a response to the lack of stress as compared to the standard stimulus, and another to the additional stress. However, the first MMN was missing in Condition 2. We interpret this finding as a possible brain correlate of crucial differences between the two processes: rule and regularity-based for speech uninfluenced by lexicality, and only regularity-based for non-speech. This means that the processing of word and word-like stimuli is governed by both salient acoustic features and rule applications, leading to strong expectations about the place of stress. However, these expectations are speech-specific, as they do not seem to operate for words loosing their “speechness” via low-pass filtering. Conference: MMN 09 Fifth Conference on Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and its Clinical and Scientific Applications, Budapest, Hungary, 4 Apr - 7 Apr, 2009. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Poster Presentations Citation: Honbolygó F and Csépe V (2009). MMN to stress change in speech: rule or regularity?. Conference Abstract: MMN 09 Fifth Conference on Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and its Clinical and Scientific Applications. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.05.081 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: 25 Mar 2009; Published Online: 25 Mar 2009. * Correspondence: Ferenc Honbolygó, Research Institute for Psychology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary, hf@cogpsyphy.hu 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 Ferenc Honbolygó V. Csépe Google Ferenc Honbolygó V. Csépe Google Scholar Ferenc Honbolygó V. Csépe PubMed Ferenc Honbolygó V. Csépe 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.