Brain Oscillations In Human Communication

Brain oscillations, or neural rhythms, reflect widespread functional connections between large-scale neural networks, as well as within cortical networks. As such they have been related to many aspects of human behaviour. An increasing number of studies have demonstrated the role of brain oscillations at distinct frequency bands in cognitive, sensory and motor tasks. Consequentially, those rhythms also affect diverse aspects of human communication. On the one hand, this comprises verbal communication; a field where the understanding of neural mechanisms has seen huge advances in recent years. Speech is inherently organised in a rhythmic manner. For example, time scales of phonemes and syllables, but also formal prosodic aspects such as intonation and stress, fall into distinct frequency bands. Likewise, neural rhythms in the brain play a role in speech segmentation and coding of continuous speech at multiple time scales, as well as in the production of speech. On the other hand, human communication involves widespread and diverse nonverbal aspects where the role of neural rhythms is far less understood. This can be the enhancement of speech processing through visual signals, thought to be guided via brain oscillations, or the conveying of emotion, which results in differential rhythmic modulations in the observer. Additionally, body movements and gestures often have a communicative purpose and are known to modulate sensorimotor rhythms in the observer. This Research Topic of Frontiers in Human Neuroscience highlights the diverse aspects of human communication that are shaped by rhythmic activity in the brain. Relevant contributions are presented from various fields including cognitive and social neuroscience, neuropsychiatry, and methodology. As such they provide important new insights into verbal and non-verbal communication, pathological changes, and methodological innovations.

Brain oscillations, or neural rhythms, reflect widespread functional connections between large-scale neural networks, as well as within cortical networks. As such they have been related to many aspects of human behaviour. An increasing number of studies have demonstrated the role of brain oscillations at distinct frequency bands in cognitive, sensory and motor tasks. Consequentially, those rhythms also affect diverse aspects of human communication. On the one hand, this comprises verbal communication; a field where the understanding of neural mechanisms has seen huge advances in recent years. Speech is inherently organised in a rhythmic manner. For example, time scales of phonemes and syllables, but also formal prosodic aspects such as intonation and stress, fall into distinct frequency bands. Likewise, neural rhythms in the brain play a role in speech segmentation and coding of continuous speech at multiple time scales, as well as in the production of speech. On the other hand, human communication involves widespread and diverse nonverbal aspects where the role of neural rhythms is far less understood. This can be the enhancement of speech processing through visual signals, thought to be guided via brain oscillations, or the conveying of emotion, which results in differential rhythmic modulations in the observer. Additionally, body movements and gestures often have a communicative purpose and are known to modulate sensorimotor rhythms in the observer. This Research Topic of Frontiers in Human Neuroscience highlights the diverse aspects of human communication that are shaped by rhythmic activity in the brain. Relevant contributions are presented from various fields including cognitive and social neuroscience, neuropsychiatry, and methodology. As such they provide important new insights into verbal and non-verbal communication, pathological changes, and methodological innovations.

Human Communication and the Brain: Building the Foundation for the Field of Neurocommunications, by Donald B. Egolf, provides an introduction to the latest neuroscience research and expands its applications to the study of communication. Egolf explores both methodological and ethical issues that are surfacing as a result of the newest findings, revealing important new questions about the nature of communication and the brain, including: is there a way to communicate directly with the brain? What outside powers should be permitted to access that method of information dissemination? Egolf's text has implications for a number of communication subsets, including intrapersonal, interpersonal, political, marketing, and deception, and this new research undoubtedly will provoke debate amongst communication and neuroscience scholars for years to come.

A unique overview of the human language faculty at all levels of organization. Language is not only one of the most complex cognitive functions that we command, it is also the aspect of the mind that makes us uniquely human. Research suggests that the human brain exhibits a language readiness not found in the brains of other species. This volume brings together contributions from a range of fields to examine humans' language capacity from multiple perspectives, analyzing it at genetic, neurobiological, psychological, and linguistic levels. In recent decades, advances in computational modeling, neuroimaging, and genetic sequencing have made possible new approaches to the study of language, and the contributors draw on these developments. The book examines cognitive architectures, investigating the functional organization of the major language skills; learning and development trajectories, summarizing the current understanding of the steps and neurocognitive mechanisms in language processing; evolutionary and other preconditions for communication by means of natural language; computational tools for modeling language; cognitive neuroscientific methods that allow observations of the human brain in action, including fMRI, EEG/MEG, and others; the neural infrastructure of language capacity; the genome's role in building and maintaining the language-ready brain; and insights from studying such language-relevant behaviors in nonhuman animals as birdsong and primate vocalization. Section editors Christian F. Beckmann, Carel ten Cate, Simon E. Fisher, Peter Hagoort, Evan Kidd, Stephen C. Levinson, James M. McQueen, Antje S. Meyer, David Poeppel, Caroline F. Rowland, Constance Scharff, Ivan Toni, Willem Zuidema

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is an invaluable functional brain imaging technique that provides direct, real-time monitoring of neuronal activity necessary for gaining insight into dynamic cortical networks. Our intentions with this book are to cover the richness and transdisciplinary nature of the MEG field, make it more accessible to newcomers and experienced researchers and to stimulate growth in the MEG area. The book presents a comprehensive overview of MEG basics and the latest developments in methodological, empirical and clinical research, directed toward master and doctoral students, as well as researchers. There are three levels of contributions: 1) tutorials on instrumentation, measurements, modeling, and experimental design; 2) topical reviews providing extensive coverage of relevant research topics; and 3) short contributions on open, challenging issues, future developments and novel applications. The topics range from neuromagnetic measurements, signal processing and source localization techniques to dynamic functional networks underlying perception and cognition in both health and disease. Topical reviews cover, among others: development on SQUID-based and novel sensors, multi-modal integration (low field MRI and MEG; EEG and fMRI), Bayesian approaches to multi-modal integration, direct neuronal imaging, novel noise reduction methods, source-space functional analysis, decoding of brain states, dynamic brain connectivity, sensory-motor integration, MEG studies on perception and cognition, thalamocortical oscillations, fetal and neonatal MEG, pediatric MEG studies, cognitive development, clinical applications of MEG in epilepsy, pre-surgical mapping, stroke, schizophrenia, stuttering, traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, autism, aging and neurodegeneration, MEG applications in cognitive neuropharmacology and an overview of the major open-source analysis tools.

This is a book about speech and language. It is primarily intended for those interested in speech and its neurophysiological bases: phoneticians, linguists, educators, speech therapists, psychologists, and neuroscientists. Although speech and language are its central topic, it provides information about related topics as well (e.g. structure and functioning of the central nervous system, research methods in neuroscience, theories and models of speech production and perception, learning, and memory). Data on clinical populations are given in parallel with studies of healthy subjects because such comparisons can give a better understanding of intact and disordered speech and language functions. There is a review of literature (more than 600 sources) and research results covering areas such as neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, development of the nervous system, sex differences, history of neurolinguistics, behavioral, neuroimaging and other research methods in neuroscience, linguistics and psychology, theories and models of the nervous system function including speech and language processing, kinds of memory and learning and their neural substrates, critical periods, various aspects of normal speech and language processes (e.g. phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics, reading), bilingualism, speech and language disorders, and many others. Newcomers to the field of neurolinguistics will find it as readable as professionals will because it is organized in a way that gives the readers flexibility and an individual approach to the text. The language is simple but all the technical terms are provided, explained, and illustrated. A comprehensive glossary provides additional information.

This book explores various aspects of biophysics, from neurobiology to quantum biology and the consciousness of human beings and in the universe. It examines eight different areas of natural intelligence, ranging from time crystals found in chemical biology, to the vibrations and the resonance of proteins, and also discusses hierarchical communication in various biological systems. Written by senior and experts in the field in language that is lucid and easy to understand, it is a valuable reference resource for researchers and practitioners in academia and industry.