Auditory Dominance in Processing Chinese Semantic Abnormalities in Response to Competing Audio-visual Stimuli

Changfu Pei; Xunan Huang; Yuqin Li; Baodan Chen; Bin Lu; Yueheng Peng; Yajing Si; Xiabing Zhang; Tao Zhang; Dezhong Yao; Fali Li; Peng Xu

doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2022.08.017

Auditory Dominance in Processing Chinese Semantic Abnormalities in Response to Competing Audio-visual Stimuli

Neuroscience. 2022 Oct 15:502:1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2022.08.017. Epub 2022 Aug 27.

Authors

Changfu Pei¹, Xunan Huang², Yuqin Li¹, Baodan Chen¹, Bin Lu¹, Yueheng Peng¹, Yajing Si³, Xiabing Zhang¹, Tao Zhang⁴, Dezhong Yao¹, Fali Li⁵, Peng Xu⁶

Affiliations

¹ The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for NeuroInformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China; School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Information in BioMedicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China.
² The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for NeuroInformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China; School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Information in BioMedicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China; School of Foreign Languages, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Sichuan, Chengdu 611731, China.
³ School of Psychology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang 453003, China.
⁴ Mental Health Service and Education Center, School of Science, Xihua University, Chengdu 610039, China.
⁵ The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for NeuroInformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China; School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Information in BioMedicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China. Electronic address: fali.li@uestc.edu.cn.
⁶ The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for NeuroInformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China; School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Information in BioMedicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China. Electronic address: xupeng@uestc.edu.cn.

PMID: 36031089
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2022.08.017

Abstract

Language is a remarkable cognitive ability that can be expressed through visual (written language) or auditory (spoken language) modalities. When visual characters and auditory speech convey conflicting information, individuals may selectively attend to either one of them. However, the dominant modality in such a competing situation and the neural mechanism underlying it are still unclear. Here, we presented participants with Chinese sentences in which the visual characters and auditory speech convey conflicting information, while behavioral and electroencephalographic (EEG) responses were recorded. Results showed a prominent auditory dominance when audio-visual competition occurred. Specifically, higher accuracy (ACC), larger N400 amplitudes and more linkages in the posterior occipital-parietal areas were demonstrated in the auditory mismatch condition compared to that in the visual mismatch condition. Our research illustrates the superiority of the auditory speech over the visual characters, extending our understanding of the neural mechanisms of audio-visual competition in Chinese.

Keywords: Chinese; EEG; N400; auditory dominance; brain networks.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Acoustic Stimulation
China
Electroencephalography
Evoked Potentials / physiology
Female
Humans
Language
Male
Semantics*
Speech Perception* / physiology
Visual Perception / physiology