Using event-related potentials to measure phrase boundary perception in English.

Varghese Peter,Genevieve Mcarthur,Stephen Crain

doi:10.1186/s12868-014-0129-z

Abstract

BackgroundThe closure positive shift (CPS) event related potential (ERP) is commonly used as a neural measure of phrase boundary perception in speech. The present study investigated whether the CPS was elicited by acoustic cues at phrase boundaries in English. ERPs were recorded when participants listened passively to sentences with either early or late phrase boundaries.ResultsThe closure positive shift (CPS) ERP was elicited at both early and late phrase boundaries. However, the latency, amplitude, and scalp distribution of these passive CPS ERPs in English sentences differed to active CPS ERPs measured in non-English sentences in previous studies.ConclusionsThese results show that acoustic cues at the phrase boundaries in English are sufficient to elicit the CPS, and suggest that different processes might be involved in the generation of the CPS in active and passive conditions.

Highlights

The closure positive shift (CPS) event related potential (ERP) is commonly used as a neural measure of phrase boundary perception in speech
0 ms) where the acoustic cues of phrase boundary are available from the ERPs effects that started after the onset of the second phrase (0 to 250 ms) where the N1-P2 response to the second phrase onset is overlapped with the ERP
ERPs were significantly more positive for the phrased condition compared to unphrased condition (0–200 ms: phrased M = −2.36, SE = 0.32, unphrased M = −2.90, SE = 0.28; 200–400 ms: phrased M = −2.00, SE = 0.30, unphrased M = −2.98, SE = 0.30; 400–600 ms: phrased M = −2.11, SE = 0.33, unphrased M = −2.95, SE = 0.31)

Summary

Introduction

The closure positive shift (CPS) event related potential (ERP) is commonly used as a neural measure of phrase boundary perception in speech. The present study investigated whether the CPS was elicited by acoustic cues at phrase boundaries in English. ERPs were recorded when participants listened passively to sentences with either early or late phrase boundaries. Most adults understand the speech of other people with little apparent effort. This is an amazing feat given the complexity of the speech signal, which contains a continuous stream of words that are seldom separated by perceptible gaps.

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