title: Selective Attention Enhances Beta-Band Cortical Oscillation to Speech under "Cocktail-Party" Listening Conditions.
abstract: Human listeners are able to selectively attend to target speech in a noisy environment with multiple-people talking. Using recordings of scalp electroencephalogram (EEG), this study investigated how selective attention facilitates the cortical representation of target speech under a simulated "cocktail-party" listening condition with speech-on-speech masking. The result shows that the cortical representation of target-speech signals under the multiple-people talking condition was specifically improved by selective attention relative to the non-selective-attention listening condition, and the beta-band activity was most strongly modulated by selective attention. Moreover, measured with the Granger Causality value, selective attention to the single target speech in the mixed-speech complex enhanced the following four causal connectivities for the beta-band oscillation: the ones (1) from site FT7 to the right motor area, (2) from the left frontal area to the right motor area, (3) from the central frontal area to the right motor area, and (4) from the central frontal area to the right frontal area. However, the selective-attention-induced change in beta-band causal connectivity from the central frontal area to the right motor area, but not other beta-band causal connectivities, was significantly correlated with the selective-attention-induced change in the cortical beta-band representation of target speech. These findings suggest that under the "cocktail-party" listening condition, the beta-band oscillation in EEGs to target speech is specifically facilitated by selective attention to the target speech that is embedded in the mixed-speech complex. The selective attention-induced unmasking of target speech may be associated with the improved beta-band functional connectivity from the central frontal area to the right motor area, suggesting a top-down attentional modulation of the speech-motor process.
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yayue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical UniversityBeijing, China; Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical UniversityBeijing, China.
authors.forename: Changming
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Computer Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology Harbin, China.
authors.forename: Haifeng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Machine Intelligence, Peking UniversityBeijing, China; Key Laboratory on Machine Perception - Ministry of Education, Speech and Hearing Research Center, Peking UniversityBeijing, China.
authors.forename: Xihong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Machine Intelligence, Peking UniversityBeijing, China; Key Laboratory on Machine Perception - Ministry of Education, Speech and Hearing Research Center, Peking UniversityBeijing, China.
authors.forename: Tianshu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking UniversityBeijing, China; Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical UniversityBeijing, China; Department of Machine Intelligence, Peking UniversityBeijing, China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: informational masking; long-term neural activities; motor theory; neural network; selective attention; speech unmasking