Auditory plasticity and speech motor learning

Sazzad M. Nasira and David J. Ostrya,
Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada H3A 1B1; and  Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT 06511

Edited by Michael M. Merzenich, University of California, San Francisco, CA, and approved September 24, 2009 (received for review June 28, 2009)

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Abstract


Is plasticity in sensory and motor systems linked? Here, in the context of speech motor learning and perception, we test the idea sensory function is modified by motor learning and, in particular, that speech motor learning affects a speaker's auditory map. We assessed speech motor learning by using a robotic device that displaced the jaw and selectively altered somatosensory feedback during speech. We found that with practice speakers progressively corrected for the mechanical perturbation and after motor learning they also showed systematic changes in their perceptual classification of speech sounds. The perceptual shift was tied to motor learning. Individuals that displayed greater amounts of learning also showed greater perceptual change. Perceptual change was not observed in control subjects that produced the same movements, but in the absence of a force field, nor in subjects that experienced the force field but failed to adapt to the mechanical load. The perceptual effects observed here indicate the involvement of the somatosensory system in the neural processing of speech sounds and suggest that speech motor learning results in changes to auditory perceptual function.

link to full text: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/10/30/0907032106.full.pdf

Researchers Unlock The 'Sound Of Learning' By Linking Sensory And Motor Systems

Medicalnewstoday, Article Date: 04 Nov 2009 - 0:00 PST

Learning to talk also changes the way speech sounds are heard, according to a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by scientists at Haskins Laboratories, a Yale-affiliated research laboratory. The findings could have a major impact on improving speech disorders. (read more)

Frataxin interacts with Isu1 through a conserved tryptophan in its beta-sheet.

Hum Mol Genet. 2009,  Nov 2.

Leidgens S, De Smet S, Foury F.

Unité de Biochimie Physiologique, Institut des Sciences de la Vie, Université Catholique de Louvain, Croix du Sud 5-15, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.

Keywords: Friedreich's ataxia, frataxin, iron-sulfur (Fe/S) clusters, Yfh1, Isu1, beta-sheet platform, Q129A, I130A, W131A(F), R141A, low aconitase activity, Gln-129, Trp-131, Arg-141, aromatic side chain.