Stimulus complexity matters when you hear your own voice: Attention effects on self-generated voice processing

Publication date: Available online 13 August 2018Source: International Journal of PsychophysiologyAuthor(s): Tatiana Conde, Óscar F. Gonçalves, Ana P. PinheiroAbstractThe ability to discriminate self- and non-self voice cues is a fundamental aspect of self-awareness and subserves self-monitoring during verbal communication. Nonetheless, the neurofunctional underpinnings of self-voice perception and recognition are still poorly understood. Moreover, how attention and stimulus complexity influence the processing and recognition of one's own voice remains to be clarified. Using an oddball task, the current study investigated how self-relevance and stimulus type interact during selective attention to voices, and how they affect the representation of regularity during voice perception.Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 18 right-handed healthy males. Pre-recorded self-generated (SGV) and non-self (NSV) voices, consisting of a nonverbal vocalization (vocalization condition) or disyllabic word (word condition), were presented as either standard or target stimuli in different experimental blocks.The results showed increased N2 amplitude to SGV relative to NSV stimuli. Stimulus type modulated later processing stages only: P3 amplitude was increased for SGV relative to NSV words, whereas no differences between SGV and NSV were observed in the case of vocalizations. Moreover, SGV standards elicited reduced N1 and P2 amplitude relative to NSV standards.These findings rev...

Source: International Journal of Psychophysiology - August 13, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research