The effects of selective attention training on sound processing in the brain and listening in everyday life

Adam Tierney (primary)
Psychological Sciences
Birkbeck
Maria Chait (secondary)
The Ear Institute
University College London

Abstract

Tracking a single sound source among competing sounds is vital for successfully navigating everyday life (for example, following a conversation in a noisy restaurant). This project will investigate the neural and perceptual consequences of attention training. Participants will be trained to attend to certain sounds while trying to actively ignore other irrelevant sounds. Functional brain imaging  (EEG and fMRI) will be used to investigate how attention changes the brain’s processing of sound, and how these changes are linked to individual differences in the ability to perceive speech in noisy environments.


References

1. Riecke L, et al. (2017) Frequency-selective attention in auditory scenes recruits frequency representations throughout human superior temporal cortex. Cerebral Cortex 27, 3002-3014.

2. Lakatos P, et al. (2016) Global dynamics of selective attention and its lapses in primary auditory cortex. Nature Neuroscience 19, 1707-1717.


BBSRC Area
Genes, development and STEM* approaches to biology
Area of Biology
Cell Biology
Techniques & Approaches
Image ProcessingMicroscopy / Electrophysiology