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Electrophysiological investigations of natural speech and language processing in the human brain

Edmund Lalor

Humanities Center Room D

Speech is central to human life. However, how the human brain extracts meaning from the dynamic patterns of sound that constitute speech remains poorly understood. It is generally accepted that this ability is underpinned by hierarchical processing in the human brain, with much of the evidence in support of this idea having come from neuropsychology or brain imaging studies. However, both of these approaches have limitations with respect to studying the neurophysiological processing of many of the rapid, dynamic features of speech. In this talk I will discuss a series of studies aimed at using a model-based framework to analyze EEG responses to naturalistic speech stimuli. This will include describing our attempts to dissociate the general auditory processing of speech sounds from the linguistic processing of speech units and the process of language comprehension. I will also discuss some of our efforts to explore the effects of attention and multisensory input on speech and language processing at different hierarchical levels.

This event will take place in person and via zoom. If participating online, please register in advance:

https://rochester.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcsd-iuqD8tG9SEvQTZ9m9LcikHj4bJCYHE