Language & Cognition seminar - Dr Matt Davis

Endogenous Neural Oscillations Supporting Speech Perception

A popular framework for thinking about speech timing proposes that neural activity during speech perception is synchronised or “entrained” with ongoing speech. However, observing entrained brain responses with Magneto- or Electroencephalography (MEG/EEG), or perturbing speech perception using transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) does not specify the underlying mechanisms. Entrained responses to speech can be due to a sequence of evoked responses to a regular stimulus (a passive or driven neural mechanism), or due to active neural mechanisms that include endogenous (internally sustained) oscillations. These views are distinguished by showing perceptual and neural (MEG/EEG) after-effects of rhythmic speech presentation and sustained perturbation of speech perception after tACS. Together, these results lay the foundation for an account of speech perception which includes endogenous neural oscillations as a key underlying principle.