During the fellowship period the following work has been completed:
1. Planned experimental paradigm and completed ethics application for the main experiment.
2. Selected appropriate texts (poems and stories), recorded the stimuli, and extracted audio features from these stimuli.
3. Acquired knowledge on audio signal processing techniques and applied this knowledge in the current project.
4. Completed Certified User (CU) training for MRI and TMS. EEG training focused on the combined EEG-TMS methodology.
5. Acquired knowledge on targeting TMS sites with Neuronavigation technology and applied this knowledge in the current experiment.
6. Programmed the experimental loop and implemented it for specific laboratory hardware restrictions.
7. Preparation for the experiment was completed: a) Setting up EEG paradigm, b) Piloting and optimising parameters, c) Organising procedures, d)Training student interns and volunteers on the setup and running of the experiment.
8. Prepared behavioural experiment: a) trained an Erasmus+ trainee and a master student from the collaborator’s lab in theory, experimental design, paradigm, and analysis methods, b) supervised the master student who programmed the behavioural experiment, and c) supervised the Erasmus+ trainee during piloting and running the first few sessions of the behavioural experiment.
9. Collected behavioural data – work not completed because of a cyber-attack at Maastricht University in December 2019 and the COVID-19 crisis.
10. Acquired MRI data to define the TMS target regions individually for each participant.
11. Acquired EEG data for three TMS conditions in three separate sessions for 10 control participants and 2 musicians.
12. Analysed EEG data using the multivariate Temporal Response Function analysis to correlate beat-related audio features to EEG data.
13. Disseminated the new approach of modelling EEG data at the annual meeting of the Society for the Neurobiology of Language.
14. Published a commentary on neural oscillations in speech and language.
15. Presented talks and workshops in local and international schools, student events, expert, and general public audience.
16. Organised Pint of Science festival in Maastricht in 2019.
17. Completed teaching requirements as part of academic training at Maastricht University (10%).
Main results
The project’s main objective was to investigate whether musical rhythm expertise affects speech rhythm in speech comprehension. To this end, we combined computational analysis of stimulus features with neurophysiological, continuous EEG data analysis using cutting-edge analysis methods (multivariate Temporal Response Function). Even though both behavioural and EEG data collection is not yet complete, we have developed all necessary analysis tools to correlate the rhythmic quantities in the audio signal with EEG data.
Based on the preliminary analysis of 9 non-musician datasets, findings suggest that down-regulating activity of the supplementary motor area (SMA) with TMS affects processing of regular rhythm in poems. More datasets in both the musician and non-musician populations will reveal whether this effect is significant and whether musicianship interacts with this TMS-induced effect.
With regard to the behavioural results, based on 15 datasets, we found that the high number of peaks on different frequencies of the speech signal correlates with the perception of rhythmic regularity on a behavioural level. Including more datasets in the analysis, and especially increasing the amount of musician datasets will reveal if the results are robust and affected by musicianship.
Journal publications
Kandylaki, K.D. & Kotz S.A. (2020). Distinct cortical rhythms in speech and language processing and some more: a commentary on Meyer, Sun, & Martin (2019). Language, Cognition, and Neuroscience.
https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2020.1757729(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre).
Invited talks
Kandylaki, K. D. (2019, October). Rhythm: from music to speech to the brain. Music and Language Meeting, Athens, Greece.
Kandylaki, K. D. (2018, December). How to "go natural" in the neurobiology of language. Neurolinguistics Colloquium, Philipps-University Marburg, Germany.
Conference talks
Kandylaki, K. D. (2019, October). Why and how to employ ecologically valid tests in the neurobiology of language. 28th Meeting of the Hellenic Society for Neuroscience (HSfN), Heraklion Crete.
Kandylaki, K. D. (2018, June). Exploring the neurobiology of language with naturalistic experimental paradigms. 7th biannual conference on Language Disorders in Greek, Athens.
Conference posters
Kandylaki, K. D., Lykartsis, A., Lampe, K., Kotz, S. A. (2019, August). Modelling EEG responses with the audio signal: a methodological investigation. Annual Meeting of the Society for the Neurobiology of Language, Helsinki.
