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Eye movements track prioritized auditory features in selective attention to natural speech

Author

Listed:
  • Quirin Gehmacher

    (Department of Psychology, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience)

  • Juliane Schubert

    (Department of Psychology, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience)

  • Fabian Schmidt

    (Department of Psychology, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience)

  • Thomas Hartmann

    (Department of Psychology, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience)

  • Patrick Reisinger

    (Department of Psychology, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience)

  • Sebastian Rösch

    (Head and Neck Surgery, Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg)

  • Konrad Schwarz

    (MED-EL GmbH)

  • Tzvetan Popov

    (Department of Psychology, University of Zurich
    University of Konstanz)

  • Maria Chait

    (University College London)

  • Nathan Weisz

    (Department of Psychology, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience
    Christian Doppler University Hospital, Paracelsus Medical University)

Abstract

Over the last decades, cognitive neuroscience has identified a distributed set of brain regions that are critical for attention. Strong anatomical overlap with brain regions critical for oculomotor processes suggests a joint network for attention and eye movements. However, the role of this shared network in complex, naturalistic environments remains understudied. Here, we investigated eye movements in relation to (un)attended sentences of natural speech. Combining simultaneously recorded eye tracking and magnetoencephalographic data with temporal response functions, we show that gaze tracks attended speech, a phenomenon we termed ocular speech tracking. Ocular speech tracking even differentiates a target from a distractor in a multi-speaker context and is further related to intelligibility. Moreover, we provide evidence for its contribution to neural differences in speech processing, emphasizing the necessity to consider oculomotor activity in future research and in the interpretation of neural differences in auditory cognition.

Suggested Citation

  • Quirin Gehmacher & Juliane Schubert & Fabian Schmidt & Thomas Hartmann & Patrick Reisinger & Sebastian Rösch & Konrad Schwarz & Tzvetan Popov & Maria Chait & Nathan Weisz, 2024. "Eye movements track prioritized auditory features in selective attention to natural speech," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-48126-2
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48126-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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