Musical Expertise Affects Audiovisual Speech Perception: Findings From Event-Related Potentials and Inter-trial Phase...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Auditory Perception
• Speech Processing

Background:

• Audiovisual speech perception utilizes visual cues from lip movements to predict auditory speech.
• This predictive mechanism influences neural responses like N1 and P2 amplitudes and latencies.
• Individual differences in audiovisual speech perception may be linked to prior sensory experiences, such as musical training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of musical training on audiovisual speech perception.
• To examine event-related potentials (ERPs) including N1 and P2 amplitudes and latencies.
• To assess inter-trial phase coherence (ITPC) in musicians and non-musicians during audiovisual speech perception.

Main Methods:

• Participants included trained musicians and non-musicians.
• The syllable /ba/ was presented in audio-only, video-only, and audiovisual conditions.
• Neural activity was measured using electroencephalography (EEG) to record ERPs and ITPC.

Main Results:

• Both groups showed reduced N1 latency and P2 amplitude/latency, and lower ITPC in delta, theta, and beta bands in audiovisual conditions compared to audio-only.
• Musicians demonstrated significantly suppressed N1 amplitude and alpha band desynchronization during audiovisual speech perception.
• These effects were not observed in the non-musician group.

Conclusions:

• Musical experience can modify early sensory processing in audiovisual speech perception.
• Distinct neural processing in musicians suggests a role for musical training in modulating speech perception.
• These findings may help explain variability in previous audiovisual speech perception studies.