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Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations
Published on: July 1, 2015
Emotion modulates early auditory response to speech.
Jade Wang1, Trent Nicol, Erika Skoe
1Department of Neuroscience, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60201, USA. j-wang@northwestern.edu
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
|October 16, 2008
Summary
Emotional state significantly impacts auditory processing. Negative emotions affect responses early (20ms), while valence intensity influences later responses (30-130ms), especially in highly emotional individuals.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Auditory Neuroscience
- Affective Neuroscience
Background:
- Emotional states can modulate sensory processing.
- Understanding the timing and neural correlates of emotion's influence on auditory perception is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how emotional states, induced by visual stimuli, affect electrophysiological responses to auditory stimuli.
- To determine the temporal dynamics and cortical distribution of emotion-induced effects on auditory processing.
Main Methods:
- 32-channel electroencephalography (EEG) was used to record evoked responses (ERPs).
- Participants viewed International Affective Picture System (IAPS) images varying in valence (positive, negative, neutral).
- An unchanging auditory stimulus ('danny') was presented while ERPs were collected.
Main Results:
- Negative emotion pictures elicited early effects at 20ms.
- A significant time window for robust emotion effects was identified between 30.4-129.0ms.
- High valence intensity subjects showed larger, globally distributed divergent bivalent effects compared to low valence intensity subjects, particularly in left temporal areas.
Conclusions:
- Emotional state influences auditory processing early in the sensory stream.
- Divergent bivalent effects on auditory ERPs are dependent on subjective emotional intensity.
- Emotion can modulate auditory function, with effects varying based on valence and individual emotional intensity.
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