[THE INFLUENCE OF FATIGUE ON THE SENSORY GATING TEMPORAL PARAMETERS].

The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of central fatigue and motor activity on sensory gating characteristics. The P50 component in a standard paired-click paradigm was used as a sensory gating index. The main attention was devoted to the P50 peak latency change in the fatigue development. It was found that the sustained muscle load leading to the fatigue development significantly reduced sensory gating and the P50 peak latency in response to the second stimulus of the pair. This may be due to the inhibitory process suppression underlying the sensory gating in the development of central fatigue.

[Correlation between Sensory Gating P50, Mismatch Negativity, and Reaction Time].

This paper is about the correlation pre-attentive processes, such as P50 sensory gating (SG P50) and mismatch negativity (MMN) with each other and with sensorimotor reaction time (RT). SG P50 data were obtained in the standard paired-click paradigm, MMN was measured in the passive odd-ball paradigm sensorimotor reaction time was studied in an active odd-ball paradigm. Was obtained positive correlation sensory gating P50 with amplitude mismatch negativity, amplitude mismatch negativity with sensorimotor reaction time, sensory gating P50 with sensorimotor reaction time.

[Perception features of emotional intonation of short pseudowords].

Reaction time and recognition accuracy of speech emotional intonations in short meaningless words that differed only in one phoneme with background noise and without it were studied in 49 adults of 20-79 years old. The results were compared with the same parameters of emotional intonations in intelligent speech utterances under similar conditions. Perception of emotional intonations at different linguistic levels (phonological and lexico-semantic) was found to have both common features and certain peculiarities. Recognition characteristics of emotional intonations depending on gender and age of listeners appeared to be invariant with regard to linguistic levels of speech stimuli. Phonemic composition of pseudowords was found to influence the emotional perception, especially against the background noise. The most significant stimuli acoustic characteristic responsible for the perception of speech emotional prosody in short meaningless words under the two experimental conditions, i.e. with and without background noise, was the fundamental frequency variation.

[Perception of emotional intonation of noisy speech signal with different acoustic parameters by adults of different age and gender].

The listener-distinctive features of recognition of different emotional intonations (positive, negative and neutral) of male and female speakers in the presence or absence of background noise were studied in 49 adults aged 20-79 years. In all the listeners noise produced the most pronounced decrease in recognition accuracy for positive emotional intonation ("joy") as compared to other intonations, whereas it did not influence the recognition accuracy of "anger" in 65-79-year-old listeners. The higher emotion recognition rates of a noisy signal were observed for speech emotional intonations expressed by female speakers. Acoustic characteristics of noisy and clear speech signals underlying perception of speech emotional prosody were found for adult listeners of different age and gender.

[Influence of human personal features on acoustic correlates of speech emotional intonation characteristics].

Comparative study of acoustic correlates of emotional intonation was conducted on two types of speech material: sensible speech utterances and short meaningless words. The corpus of speech signals of different emotional intonations (happy, angry, frightened, sad and neutral) was created using the actor's method of simulation of emotions. Native Russian 20-70-year-old speakers (both professional actors and non-actors) participated in the study. In the corpus, the following characteristics were analyzed: mean values and standard deviations of the power, fundamental frequency, frequencies of the first and second formants, and utterance duration. Comparison of each emotional intonation with "neutral" utterances showed the greatest deviations of the fundamental frequency and frequencies of the first formant. The direction of these deviations was independent of the semantic content of speech utterance and its duration, age, gender, and being actor or non-actor, though the personal features of the speakers affected the absolute values of these frequencies.

[Experimental formation of visual-auditory associations in phoneme recognition].

In this study we investigated a question about a possibility to form auditory-visual associations during discrimination of speech sounds (phonemes) when they presented simultaneously with visual stimuli. It was used two types of static images--geometrical figures and images of hand gestures. We judge about formation of auditory-visual association by behavioural disturbance (reaction time, percentage of wrong reactions) after changes in experimental protocol viz. partial substitution of preceiding pairs of stimuli for the new combinations of previous images and sounds. It seems possible to get pronounced auditory-visual association when using images of hand gestures in combinnation with phoneme sounds. On the contrary, employment of images of geometrical figures instead of gestures produced only traces of auditory-visual association. We suggest that it is possible to explain the observed differencies by involvement of additional neuronal populations in auditory-visual assosiation that are preferentially responsive to biological motion.

Age-related features of the interaction of learning success and characteristics of auditory operative memory.

The characteristics of the interaction between learning success and measures of auditory operative memory were studied by psychoacoustic testing of 42 medical workers aged 20-65 years trained to work in areas new to them (information science). Three age groups were identified: 20-35 years, 36-50 years, and 51-65 years. The acoustic test consisted of a single presentation via headphones of 12 sequential target words from information science with subsequent presentation of 12 target and 12 masking words in random order. The subjects' task was to recognize the target words. Stepwise linear regression analysis identified a relationship between the efficiency with which the new material was learned and measures of auditory operative memory, whose role in learning success increased with age. Since subjects older than 35 years showed a reduction in remembering efficiency, it was suggested that age-related changes in the characteristics of auditory operative memory are one of the major reasons for degradation of the ability to learn new material.

[Age-related changes in the relationship between learning progress and auditory working memory characteristics].

In order to explore the relationship between learning progress and working memory characteristics, the psychoacoustic testing of 42 persons (20-65 years old) of medical staff taught a novel science (informatics) was carried out. The subjects were divided into three age groups: 20-35, 36-50, and 51-65-year-olds. Acoustical test consisted of a set of 12 target words (professional informatics terms) presented through headphones and subsequent presentation of a random succession of 12 target and 12 masking words (all of them being professional informatics terms). Listeners had to recognize the target words. The stepwise linear regression analysis revealed a link between the progress in acquisition of the new material and characteristics of acoustical working memory, whose role in learning progress increased with age. Because the memory efficiency reduction was found in subjects older than 35 years, it was supposed that age-related changes in characteristics of the acoustical working memory were responsible for the decline in ability to learn novel material.

Ontogenetic features of the psychophysiological mechanisms of perception of the emotional component of speech in musically gifted children.

The cerebral mechanisms underlying musical-artistic ability were addressed by studying psychophysical measures of the perception of emotional information contained in speech in musically gifted children. Studies involved 46 schoolchildren and 48 young musicians, in three age groups: 7-10, 11-13, and 14-17 years. A test sentence was presented with three emotional intonations (joy, anger, and unemotional) via headphones; subjects' responses identifying the type of emotion were recorded. Dispersion analysis revealed age and gender characteristics in the mechanisms of recognition of emotions: thus, boy musicians led their classmates in the development of these mechanisms by 4-6 years, while girl musicians led by 1-3 years. In girls, musical training facilitated increases in the role of the left hemisphere in processing the emotional intonation of speech, while in boys, the initially marked dominance of the left hemisphere was not retained during further training.

[Ontogenetic features of psychophysiological mechanisms of perception of speech emotional component in musically gifted children]. / Ontogeneticheskie osobennosti psikhofiziologicheskikh mekhanizmov vospriyatiia émotsional'nogo komponenta rechi u muzykal'no odarennykh detei.

Cerebral mechanisms of musical abilities were explored in musically gifted children. For this purpose, psychophysiological characteristics of perception of emotional speech information were experimentally studied in samples of gifted and ordinary children. Forty six schoolchildren and forty eight musicians of three age groups (7-10, 11-13 and 14-17 years old) participated in the study. In experimental session, a test sentence was presented to a subject through headphones with two emotional intonations (joy and anger) and without emotional expression. A subject had to recognize the type of emotion. His/her answers were recorded. The analysis of variance revealed age- and gender-related features of emotional recognition: boys musicians led the schoolchildren of the same age by 4-6 years in the development of mechanisms of emotional recognition, whereas girls musicians were 1-3 years ahead. Musical education in girls induced the shift of predominant activities for emotional perception in the left hemisphere; in boys, on the contrary, initial distinct dominance of the left hemisphere was not retained in the process of further education.

[Ontogeny-specific interaction of psychophysiological mechanisms of emotional perception and educational achievement in students]. / Ontogeneticheskie osobennosti vzaimosviazi psikhofiziologicheskikh mekhanizmov vospriiatiia émotsii i uspevaemosti u shkol'nikov.

In order to explore the process of adaptation of children to school environment psychophysiological characteristics of perception of emotional speech information and school progress were experimentally studied. Forty-six schoolchildren of three age groups (7-10, 11-13, and 14-17 years old) participated in the study. In experimental session, a test sentence was presented to a subject through headphones with two emotional intonations (joy and anger) and without emotional expression. A subject had to recognize the type of emotion. His/her answers were recorded. School progress was determined by year grades in Russian, foreign language, and mathematics. Analysis of variance and linear regression analysis showed that ontogenetic features of a correlation between psychophysiological mechanisms of emotion recognition and school progress were gender- and subject-dependent. This correlation was stronger in 7-13-year-old children than in senior children. This age boundary was passed by the girls earlier than by the boys.