The effect of attention and reward on the pupil dilation response during speech processing in noise

Dr. Thomas Koelewijn
Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery
VU University Medical Center

Date: 29 March 2019, FRIDAY
Time: 14:00
Location: P2.246, Blauwe Patio, UMCG
Broadcasting link: http://tinyurl.com/29-03-19-AudSeminar
Organized by: Drs. Leanne Nagels

Summary:

Following a conversation in a noisy environment is often effortful, especially for people with a hearing impairment. The pupil dilation response is a well-validated measure to quantify mental effort. Studies show larger pupil dilations in response to more challenging listening conditions (e.g. with interfering speech) compared to easier listening situations (stationary noise). Recent research shows that processes like working-memory, attention, and extrinsic motivation are associated with the pupil dilation response. In this talk, I will briefly introduce pupillometry as a method for quantifying listening effort and I will show results of recent studies on the effect of attention and reward on the pupil dilation response during speech processing in noise. To what degree processes affect cognitive load differently in people with hearing loss compared to normally hearing adults with acquired brain injury will be addressed as well.

Research and Practice at Audiology and ENT Department at Hacettepe University

Prof. Gonca Sennaroğlu
Audiology
Hacettepe University, Turkey

Date: 23 November 2018, FRIDAY
Time: 10:00 hr (PLEASE NOTE DIFFERING TIME)
Location: UMCG, Onderwijscentrum Lokaal 5
Broadcasting link: https://tinyurl.com/23-11-18-AudSeminar

Musical rhythm perception and movement: Neural, cognitive and kinematic findings

Dr. Rebecca Schaefer
Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC)
Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Leiden University

Date: 09 November 2018, FRIDAY
Time: 13:30 hr (PLEASE NOTE DIFFERING TIME)
Location: UMCG, KNO Colloquium P3.210
Broadcasting link:  https://tinyurl.com/09-11-2018-AuditorySeminar
Organized by: Elif Kaplan (for inquiries: e.c.kaplan@umcg.nl)

Abstract:
Moving to music is not only intuitive, automatic, and often enjoyable; it also has great clinical potential, for instance in movement rehabilitation. However, the underlying mechanisms of cueing movement with musical rhythm, or indeed the effects of auditory cueing on learning a new movement, are still largely unknown. To better design effective clinical interventions, more knowledge is needed focusing on how to optimise opportunities for movement learning. This includes considering specific aspects of the musical cues that may matter, taking into account the difficulty or complexity of the movement, and the cognitive resources that may be needed to adequately make use of this cue. I will give a brief overview of some recent work focusing on this topic, using measures of neural function, cognitive functioning and movement registration.

Vocal Communication Workshop (VoCoGro)
29 October 2018
UMCG Rode Zaal

‘Vocal Communication’ Workshop (VoCoGro), will take place on Monday, October 29, 2018 at the UMCG. The workshop will serve as a kick-off event for Deniz’s VICI grant, “It takes two to communicate: Voice perception and linguistic content,” and Terrin’s VENI grant, “More than words: Uncovering the effects of talkers’ voices on real-life speech perception by cochlear implant users.” Many outstanding researchers will give lectures on vocal communication in humans, animals, and robots.

Join us for a day full of wonderful scientific discussions.

Confirmed speakers include:
Jan Wouters, University of Leuven, Belgium
Carolyn McGettigan, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
Khiet Truong, University of Twente, Netherlands
Marco Gamba, University of Torino, Italy
Anara Sandygulova, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan
Roger K. Moore, University of Sheffield, UK
Ella Z. Lattenkamp, Max Planck Institute, NL

Event Details:
Date: Monday, 29 October 2018
Time: 9:30-17:00
Location: Rode Zaal, UMCG, Groningen, Netherlands

To sign up:
https://vocogro.nl/2018/

For further information please contact:
Dr. Terrin Tamati, t.n.tamati@umcg.nl

Organizing Committee:
Terrin Tamati
Etienne Gaudrain
Leanne Nagels
Floor Arts
Deniz Başkent

The degree and time course of benefit for cochlear implantation for patients with single-sided deafness depends on the point of reference

Dr. John Galvin
House Ear Institute, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Date: 22 June 2018, FRIDAY
Time: 10:00 hr (PLEASE NOTE DIFFERING TIME)
Location: UMCG, KNO Colloquium P3.210
Broadcasting link:  https://tinyurl.com/22-06-18-AudSeminar

The effects of attention and visual input on noninvasive electrophysiological indices of natural speech processing at different hierarchical levels

Date: 25 May 2018, FRIDAY, 10:00 hr
Location: UMCG, Onderwijscentrum, Lokaal 04

Broadcasting link: https://tinyurl.com/25-05-18-AudSeminar

Dr. Edmund Lalor
University of Rochester

Abstract
How the human brain extracts meaning from the dynamic patterns of sound that constitute speech remains poorly understood. This is especially true in natural environments where the speech signal has to be processed against a complex mixture of background sounds. In this talk I will outline efforts over the last few years to derive noninvasive indices of natural speech processing in the brain. I will discuss how these indices are affected by attention and visual input and how attentional selection and multisensory integration can be “decoded” from EEG data. I will outline work showing that EEG and MEG are sensitive not just to the low-level acoustic properties of speech, but also to higher-level linguistic aspects of this most important of signals. This will include demonstrating that these signals reflect processing at the level of phonetic features. And, based on our most recent work, it will also include evidence that EEG is exquisitely sensitivity to the semantic processing of natural, running speech in a way that is very strongly affected by attention and intelligibility. While showcasing these findings, I will outline a number of paradigms and methodological approaches for eliciting noninvasive indices of speech-specific processing that should be useful in advancing our understanding of receptive speech processing in particular populations.