Download PDF
Methods Inf Med 2015; 54(06): 500-504
DOI: 10.3414/ME15-01-0005
Original Articles
Schattauer GmbH

Alpha EEG Frontal Asymmetries during Audiovisual Perception in Cochlear Implant Users

A Study with Bilateral and Unilateral Young Users
A. G. Maglione
1   Department of Anatomy, Histology, Forensic Medicine and Orthopedics, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
,
A. Scorpecci
2   Centro Impianti Cocleari, IRCCS Ospedale Pediatrico „Bambino Gesù“, Rome, Italy
,
P. Malerba
3   Cochlear Italia s.r.l., Bologna, Italy
,
P. Marsella
2   Centro Impianti Cocleari, IRCCS Ospedale Pediatrico „Bambino Gesù“, Rome, Italy
,
S. Giannantonio
2   Centro Impianti Cocleari, IRCCS Ospedale Pediatrico „Bambino Gesù“, Rome, Italy
,
A. Colosimo
1   Department of Anatomy, Histology, Forensic Medicine and Orthopedics, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
,
F. Babiloni
4   Department of Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
5   IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
,
G. Vecchiato
6   Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

received: 07 January 2015

accepted: 27 March 2015

Publication Date:
23 January 2018 (online)

    Permissions and Reprints

Summary

Objectives: The aim of the present study is to investigate the variations of the electroencephalographic (EEG) alpha rhythm in order to measure the appreciation of bilateral and unilateral young cochlear implant users during the observation of a musical cartoon. The cartoon has been modified for the generation of three experimental conditions: one with the original audio, another one with a distorted sound and, finally, a mute version.

Methods: The EEG data have been recorded during the observation of the cartoons in the three experimental conditions. The frontal alpha EEG imbalance has been calculated as a measure of motivation and pleasantness to be compared across experimental populations and conditions.

Results: The EEG frontal imbalance of the alpha rhythm showed significant variations during the perception of the different cartoons. In particular, the pattern of activation of normal-hearing children is very similar to the one elicited by the bilateral implanted patients. On the other hand, results related to the unilateral subjects do not present significant variations of the imbalance index across the three cartoons.

Conclusion: The presented results suggest that the unilateral patients could not appreciate the difference in the audio format as well as bilaterally implanted and normal hearing subjects. The frontal alpha EEG imbalance is a useful tool to detect the differences in the appreciation of audiovisual stimuli in cochlear implant patients.

Keywords

Electroencephalography - frontal asymmetry - cochlear implant - young users
 

  • References

  • 1 Gfeller K, Christ A, Knutson JF, Witt S, Murray KT, Tyler RS. Musical backgrounds, listening habits, and aesthetic enjoyment of adult cochlear implant recipients. J Am Acad Audiol 2000; 11: 390-406
    Article in Thieme ConnectPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 2 McDermott HJ. Music perception with cochlear implants: a review. Trends Amplif 2004; 8: 49-82
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 3 Veekmans K, Ressel L, Mueller J, Vischer M, Brockmeier SJ. Comparison of music perception in bilateral and unilateral cochlear implant users and normalhearing subjects. Audiol Neurootol 2009; 14: 315-326
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 4 Galvin JJI, Fu QJ, Nogaki G. Melodic contour identification by cochlear implant listeners. Ear Hear 2007; 28: 302-319
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 5 Gfeller K, Jiang D, Oleson JJ, Driscoll V, Olszewski C, Knutson JF, Turner C, Gantz B. The effects of musical and linguistic components in recognition of real-world musical excerpts by cochlear implant recipients and normal-hearing adults. J Music Ther 2012; 49 (01) 68-101
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 6 Gfeller K, Turner C, Oleson J, Zhang X, Gantz B, Froman R, Olszewski C. Accuracy of cochlear implant recipients on pitch perception, melody recognition and speech reception in noise. Ear and Hearing 2007; 28 (03) 412
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 7 Kong Y, Cruz R, Jones J, Zeng F. Music perception with temporal cues in acoustic and electric hearing. Ear and Hearing 2004; 25 (02) 173-185
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 8 Gfeller K, Olszewski C, Rychener M, Sena K, Knutson JF, Witt S. et al. Recognition of “real-world” musical excerpts by cochlear implant recipients and normal-hearing adults. Ear Hear 2005; 26: 237-250
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 9 Looi V, Radford CJ. A comparison of the speech recognition and pitch ranking abilities of children using a unilateral cochlear implant, bimodal stimulation or bilateral hearing aids. Int J Ped Otorhinolaryngol 2011; 75: 472-482
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 10 Scorpecci A, Zagari F, Mari G, Giannantonio S, D’Alatri L, Di Nardo W. et al. Investigation on the music perception skills of Italian children with cochlear implants. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 2012; 76: 1507-1514
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 11 Mitani C, Nakata T, Trehub SE, Kanda Y, Kumagami H, Takasaki K. et al. Music recognition, music listening, and word recognition by deaf children with cochlear implants. Ear Hear 2007; 28: 29S-33S
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 12 Vongpaisal T, Trehub SE, Schellenberg EG. Song recognition by children and adolescents with cochlear implants. J Speech Lang Hear Res 2006; 49: 1091-1103
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 13 Hopyan T, Gordon KA, Papsin BC. Identifying emotions in music through electrical hearing in deaf children using cochlear implants. Cochlear Implants Int 2011; 12: 21-26
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 14 Mauss IB, Robinson MD. Measures of emotion: A review. Cogn Emot 2009; 23 (02) 209-237
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 15 Davidson RJ. Anxiety and affective style: role of prefrontal cortex and amygdala. Biol Psychiatry 2002; 51 (01) 68-80
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 16 Davidson RJ. Affective style, psychopathology, and resilience: brain mechanisms and plasticity. Am Psychologist 2000; 55 (11) 1196-1214
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 17 Davidson RJ. Neuropsychological perspectives on affective styles and their cognitive consequences. In Dalgleish T, Power MJ. editors. Handbook of cognition and emotion. New York: Wiley; 1999: 103-123
    Google Scholar
  • 18 Davidson RJ, Irwin W. The functional neuroanatomy of emotion and affective style. Trends Cogn Sci 1999; 3 (01) 11-21
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 19 Heller AS, Lapate RC, Mayer K, Davidson RJ. The Face of Negative Affect: Trial-by-Trial Corrugator Responses to Negative Pictures Are Positively Associated with Amygdala and Negatively Associated with Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Activity. J Cogn Neurosci 2014; 26 (09) 2102-2110
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 20 Shenhav A, Greene JD. Integrative moral judgment: dissociating the roles of the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. J Neurosci 2014; 34 (13) 4741-4749
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 21 Vecchiato G, Astolfi L, De Vico Fallani F, Toppi J, Aloise F, Bez F, Wei D, Kong W, Dai J, Cincotti F, Mattia D, Babiloni F. On the use of EEG or MEG brain imaging tools in neuromarketing research. Comput Intell Neurosci 2011; 2011: 643489 doi: 10.1155/2011/643489.
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 22 Motzkin JC, Philippi CL, Wolf RC, Baskaya MK, Koenigs M. Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Is Critical for the Regulation of Amygdala Activity in Humans. Biol Psychiatry 2015; 77 (03) 276-284
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 23 Hooker CI, Benson TL, Gyurak A, Yin H, Tully LM, Lincoln SH. Neural activity to positive expressions predicts daily experience of schizophrenia-spectrum symptoms in adults with high social anhedonia. J Abnorm Psychol 2014; 123 (01) 190-204
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 24 Lin CH, Tuan HP, Chiu YC. Medial frontal activity in brand-loyal consumers: a behavior and near-infrared ray study. J Neurosci Psychol Econ 2010; 3: 59-73
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 25 Li X, Lu ZL, D’argembeau A, Ng M. , Bechara A. The Iowa gambling task in fMRI images. Hum Brain Mapp 2010; 31: 410-423
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 26 Santos JP, Seixas D, Brandão S, Moutinho L.. Investigating the role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in the assessment of brands. Frontiers in Neuroscience 2011; 5 77
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 27 Davidson RJ. What does the prefrontal cortex “do” in affect: perspectives on frontal EEG asymmetry research. Biol Psychol 2004; 67 (1-2) 219-233
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 28 Klimesch W. EEG alpha and theta oscillations reflect cognitive and memory performance: a review and analysis. Brain Res Brain Res Rev 1999; 29: 169-195
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 29 Welch PD. The Use of Fast Fourier Transform for the Estimation of Power Spectra: A Method Based on Time Averaging Over Short, Modified Periodograms. IEEE Trans Audio Electroacoustics 1967; 15: 70-73
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 30 Vecchiato G, Cherubino P, Maglione AG, Herrero MT, Marinozzi F, Bini F, Trettel A, Babiloni F.. How to Measure Cerebral Correlates of Emotions in Marketing Relevant Tasks. Cogn Comput 2014. doi: 10.1007/s12559-014-9304-x.
    Google Scholar
  • 31 Marsella P, Scorpecci A, Vecchiato G, Maglione AG, Colosimo A, Babiloni F. Neuroelectrical imaging investigation of cortical activity during listening to music in prelingually deaf children with cochlear implants. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 2014; 78 (05) 737-743 doi: 10.1016/ j.ijporl.2014.01.030
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 32 Astolfi L, Vecchiato G, De Vico Fallani F, Salinari S, Cincotti F, Aloise F, Mattia D, Marciani MG, Bianchi L, Soranzo R, Babiloni F. The track of brain activity during the observation of TV commercials with the high-resolution EEG technology. Comput Intell Neurosci. 2009: 652078 doi: 10.1155/2009/652078.
    Google Scholar
  • 33 Maglione AG, Vecchiato G, Leone CA, Grassia R, Mosca F, Colosimo A, Malerba P, Babiloni F. Different perception of musical stimuli in patients with monolateral and bilateral cochlear implants. Comput Math Methods Med 2014; 2014: 876290 doi: 10.1155/2014/876290.
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 34 Vecchiato G, Maglione AG, Scorpecci A, Malerba P, Marsella P, Di Francesco G, Vitiello S, Colosimo A, Babiloni F. EEG frontal asymmetry related to pleasantness of music perception in healthy children and cochlear implanted users. Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc 2012; 2012: 4740-4713 doi: 10.1109/EMBC.2012.6347026.
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 35 Vecchiato G, Toppi J, Astolfi L, De Vico Fallani F, Cincotti F, Mattia D, Bez F, Babiloni F. Spectral EEG frontal asymmetries correlate with the experienced pleasantness of TV commercial advertisements. Med Biol Eng Comput 2011; 49 (05) 579-583
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 36 Vecchiato G, Kong W, Maglione AG, Wei D. Understanding the Impact of TV Commercials: Electrical Neuroimaging. IEEE Pulse 2012; 3 (03) 42-47
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 37 Toppi J, De Vico Fallani F, Vecchiato G, Maglione AG, Cincotti F, Mattia D, Salinari S, Babiloni F, Astolfi L.. How the Statistical Validation of Functional Connectivity Patterns Can Prevent Erroneous Definition of Small-World Properties of a Brain Connectivity Network. Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine vol 2012, Article ID 130985 13 doi:10.1155/2012/130985.
    Google Scholar
  • 38 Toppi J, Babiloni F, Vecchiato G., Cincotti F, De Vico Fallani F, Mattia D, Salinari S, Astolfi L.. Testing the asymptotic statistic for the assessment of the significance of partial directed coherence connectivity patterns. Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc 2011; 5016-5019 doi: 10.1109/IEMBS. 2011.6091243
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 39 De Vico Fallani F, Costa Lda F, Rodriguez FA, Astolfi L, Vecchiato G, Toppi J, Borghini G, Cincotti F, Mattia D, Salinari S, Isabella R, Babiloni F. A graph-theoretical approach in brain functional networks. Possible implications in EEG studies. Nonlinear Biomed Phys 2010; 4 Suppl (Suppl. 01) S8 doi: 10.1186/1753-4631-4-S1-S8.
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar