Delta- and theta-band cortical tracking and phase-amplitude coupling to sung speech by infants

Adam Attaheri; Áine Ní Choisdealbha; Giovanni M. Di Liberto; Sinead Rocha; Perrine Brusini; Natasha Mead; Helen Olawole-Scott; Panagiotis Boutris; Samuel Gibbon; Isabel Williams; Christina Grey; Sheila Flanagan; Usha Goswami

NeuroImage (Feb 2022)

Delta- and theta-band cortical tracking and phase-amplitude coupling to sung speech by infants

Adam Attaheri,
Áine Ní Choisdealbha,
Giovanni M. Di Liberto,
Sinead Rocha,
Perrine Brusini,
Natasha Mead,
Helen Olawole-Scott,
Panagiotis Boutris,
Samuel Gibbon,
Isabel Williams,
Christina Grey,
Sheila Flanagan,
Usha Goswami

Affiliations

Adam Attaheri: Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom; Corresponding author.
Áine Ní Choisdealbha: Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom
Giovanni M. Di Liberto: Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs, UMR 8248, CNRS, France; Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL University, France; Department of Mechanical, Trinity Centre for Biomedical Engineering and Trinity Institute of Neuroscience, Manufacturing and Biomedical Engineering, Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Ireland; School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and UCD Centre for Biomedical Engineering, University College Dublin, Ireland
Sinead Rocha: Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom
Perrine Brusini: Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom; Institute of Population Health, Waterhouse Building, Block B, Brownlow Street, Liverpool L69 3GF, United Kingdom
Natasha Mead: Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom
Helen Olawole-Scott: Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom
Panagiotis Boutris: Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom
Samuel Gibbon: Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom
Isabel Williams: Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom
Christina Grey: Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom
Sheila Flanagan: Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom
Usha Goswami: Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3 EB, United Kingdom

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 247
p. 118698

Abstract

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The amplitude envelope of speech carries crucial low-frequency acoustic information that assists linguistic decoding at multiple time scales. Neurophysiological signals are known to track the amplitude envelope of adult-directed speech (ADS), particularly in the theta-band. Acoustic analysis of infant-directed speech (IDS) has revealed significantly greater modulation energy than ADS in an amplitude-modulation (AM) band centred on ∼2 Hz. Accordingly, cortical tracking of IDS by delta-band neural signals may be key to language acquisition. Speech also contains acoustic information within its higher-frequency bands (beta, gamma). Adult EEG and MEG studies reveal an oscillatory hierarchy, whereby low-frequency (delta, theta) neural phase dynamics temporally organize the amplitude of high-frequency signals (phase amplitude coupling, PAC). Whilst consensus is growing around the role of PAC in the matured adult brain, its role in the development of speech processing is unexplored.Here, we examined the presence and maturation of low-frequency (<12 Hz) cortical speech tracking in infants by recording EEG longitudinally from 60 participants when aged 4-, 7- and 11- months as they listened to nursery rhymes. After establishing stimulus-related neural signals in delta and theta, cortical tracking at each age was assessed in the delta, theta and alpha [control] bands using a multivariate temporal response function (mTRF) method. Delta-beta, delta-gamma, theta-beta and theta-gamma phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) was also assessed. Significant delta and theta but not alpha tracking was found. Significant PAC was present at all ages, with both delta and theta -driven coupling observed.

Published in NeuroImage

ISSN: 1053-8119 (Print); 1095-9572 (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: United States
LCC subjects: Medicine: Internal medicine: Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Website: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/neuroimage

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