Age-Related Differences in Auditory Cortex Activity During Spoken Word Recognition
AbstractUnderstanding spoken words requires the rapid matching of a complex acoustic stimulus with stored lexical representations. The degree to which brain networks supporting spoken word recognition are affected by adult aging remains poorly understood. In the current study we used...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The MIT Press
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Neurobiology of Language |
| Online Access: | https://direct.mit.edu/nol/article/1/4/452/95863/Age-Related-Differences-in-Auditory-Cortex |
| _version_ | 1818947822433599488 |
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| author | Chad S. Rogers Michael S. Jones Sarah McConkey Brent Spehar Kristin J. Van Engen Mitchell S. Sommers Jonathan E. Peelle |
| author_facet | Chad S. Rogers Michael S. Jones Sarah McConkey Brent Spehar Kristin J. Van Engen Mitchell S. Sommers Jonathan E. Peelle |
| author_sort | Chad S. Rogers |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
AbstractUnderstanding spoken words requires the rapid matching of a complex acoustic stimulus with stored lexical representations. The degree to which brain networks supporting spoken word recognition are affected by adult aging remains poorly understood. In the current study we used fMRI to measure the brain responses to spoken words in two conditions: an attentive listening condition, in which no response was required, and a repetition task. Listeners were 29 young adults (aged 19–30 years) and 32 older adults (aged 65–81 years) without self-reported hearing difficulty. We found largely similar patterns of activity during word perception for both young and older adults, centered on the bilateral superior temporal gyrus. As expected, the repetition condition resulted in significantly more activity in areas related to motor planning and execution (including the premotor cortex and supplemental motor area) compared to the attentive listening condition. Importantly, however, older adults showed significantly less activity in probabilistically defined auditory cortex than young adults when listening to individual words in both the attentive listening and repetition tasks. Age differences in auditory cortex activity were seen selectively for words (no age differences were present for 1-channel vocoded speech, used as a control condition), and could not be easily explained by accuracy on the task, movement in the scanner, or hearing sensitivity (available on a subset of participants). These findings indicate largely similar patterns of brain activity for young and older adults when listening to words in quiet, but suggest less recruitment of auditory cortex by the older adults. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T08:37:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-029dd9c54f4842dd97429f31bb6a12f6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2641-4368 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T08:37:01Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | The MIT Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Neurobiology of Language |
| spelling | doaj.art-029dd9c54f4842dd97429f31bb6a12f62022-12-21T19:46:32ZengThe MIT PressNeurobiology of Language2641-43682020-01-011445247310.1162/nol_a_00021Age-Related Differences in Auditory Cortex Activity During Spoken Word RecognitionChad S. Rogers0http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4845-7128Michael S. Jones1http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4311-1347Sarah McConkey2http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0138-9439Brent Spehar3http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8300-1118Kristin J. Van Engen4http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9069-5464Mitchell S. Sommers5Jonathan E. Peelle6http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9194-854XDepartment of Psychology, Union College, Schenectady, NY, USADepartment of Otolaryngology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USADepartment of Otolaryngology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USADepartment of Otolaryngology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USADepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USADepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USADepartment of Otolaryngology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA AbstractUnderstanding spoken words requires the rapid matching of a complex acoustic stimulus with stored lexical representations. The degree to which brain networks supporting spoken word recognition are affected by adult aging remains poorly understood. In the current study we used fMRI to measure the brain responses to spoken words in two conditions: an attentive listening condition, in which no response was required, and a repetition task. Listeners were 29 young adults (aged 19–30 years) and 32 older adults (aged 65–81 years) without self-reported hearing difficulty. We found largely similar patterns of activity during word perception for both young and older adults, centered on the bilateral superior temporal gyrus. As expected, the repetition condition resulted in significantly more activity in areas related to motor planning and execution (including the premotor cortex and supplemental motor area) compared to the attentive listening condition. Importantly, however, older adults showed significantly less activity in probabilistically defined auditory cortex than young adults when listening to individual words in both the attentive listening and repetition tasks. Age differences in auditory cortex activity were seen selectively for words (no age differences were present for 1-channel vocoded speech, used as a control condition), and could not be easily explained by accuracy on the task, movement in the scanner, or hearing sensitivity (available on a subset of participants). These findings indicate largely similar patterns of brain activity for young and older adults when listening to words in quiet, but suggest less recruitment of auditory cortex by the older adults.https://direct.mit.edu/nol/article/1/4/452/95863/Age-Related-Differences-in-Auditory-Cortex |
| spellingShingle | Chad S. Rogers Michael S. Jones Sarah McConkey Brent Spehar Kristin J. Van Engen Mitchell S. Sommers Jonathan E. Peelle Age-Related Differences in Auditory Cortex Activity During Spoken Word Recognition Neurobiology of Language |
| title | Age-Related Differences in Auditory Cortex Activity During Spoken Word Recognition |
| title_full | Age-Related Differences in Auditory Cortex Activity During Spoken Word Recognition |
| title_fullStr | Age-Related Differences in Auditory Cortex Activity During Spoken Word Recognition |
| title_full_unstemmed | Age-Related Differences in Auditory Cortex Activity During Spoken Word Recognition |
| title_short | Age-Related Differences in Auditory Cortex Activity During Spoken Word Recognition |
| title_sort | age related differences in auditory cortex activity during spoken word recognition |
| url | https://direct.mit.edu/nol/article/1/4/452/95863/Age-Related-Differences-in-Auditory-Cortex |
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