Central auditory system plasticity: Generalization to novel stimuli following listening training

TLDR

Listening training can generalize to novel stimuli, demonstrating transfer of learning and underlying neurophysiologic plasticity. Nine normal‑hearing adults were trained to identify a prevoiced labial stop, then tested on a prevoiced alveolar stop while mismatch negativity responses were recorded before and after training, with a matched control group for comparison. Training improved discrimination of an unfamiliar VOT contrast, transferred from labial to alveolar sounds, and was reflected in MMN changes—greater duration and area for trained stimuli, shorter onset latency for transferred stimuli, especially over the left hemisphere—demonstrating that auditory training generalizes beyond the trained stimuli and alters preattentive neurophysiology.

Abstract

Behavioral perceptual abilities and neurophysiologic changes observed after listening training can generalize to other stimuli not used in the training paradigm, thereby demonstrating behavioral “transfer of learning” and plasticity in underlying physiologic processes. Nine normal-hearing monolingual English-speaking adults were trained to identify a prevoiced labial stop sound (one that is not used phonemically in the English language). After training, the subjects were asked to discriminate and identify a prevoiced alveolar stop. Mismatch negativity cortical evoked responses (MMN) were recorded to both labial and alveolar stimuli before and after training. Behavioral performance and MMNs also were evaluated in an age-matched control group that did not receive training. Listening training improved the experimental group’s ability to discriminate and identify an unfamiliar VOT contrast. That enhanced ability transferred from one place of articulation (labial) to another (alveolar). The behavioral training effects were reflected in the MMN, which showed an increase in duration and area when elicited by the training stimuli as well as a decrease in onset latency when elicited by the transfer stimuli. Interestingly, changes in the MMN were largest over the left hemisphere. The results demonstrate that training can generalize to listening situations beyond those used in training sessions, and that the preattentive central neurophysiology underlying perceptual learning are altered through auditory training.