Do Not Forget the Stimulus: A Missing Control in Naturalistic Studies of Neural Entrainment

Auteurs

López-Madrona VJ, Pesnot Lerousseau J, Morillon B

Les auteurs en lien sont membres de l'INS.

Équipes

D-CAP

Résumé

A main question in cognitive neuroscience is whether brain rhythms during speech perception reflect intrinsic neural oscillations or simply responses evoked by the acoustic signal. A recent intracranial study interpreted persistent auditory activity after acoustic edges as evidence for entrainment. We show that a similar rhythmic pattern is already present in the speech stimulus itself, supporting an evoked-response account instead. This highlights the need for routine stimulus–signal analyses as a critical control in studies of naturalistic speech processing.

A main question in cognitive neuroscience is whether brain rhythms during speech perception reflect intrinsic neural oscillations or simply responses evoked by the acoustic signal. A recent intracranial study interpreted persistent auditory activity after acoustic edges as evidence for entrainment. We show that a similar rhythmic pattern is already present in the speech stimulus itself, supporting an evoked-response account instead. This highlights the need for routine stimulus–signal analyses as a critical control in studies of naturalistic speech processing.

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