The GIPSA-lab, Grenoble, is offering a

Ph.D. Position in Cognitive Neuroscience

Senses of confidence and effort in sensorimotor adaptation

(speech and reaching) 

Application deadline: 31/12/22; Starting date: 1/04/23 at the latest

 

Context

Numerous studies have explored sensorimotor learning in hand movements and speech production. They showed how individuals adapt their gestures in a way that compensates partially for the perturbation induced on the visual, auditory or somatosensory feedback. Varying degrees of compensation were observed across individuals (1–3) – in particular for pathological populations (4,5), for different sensorimotor perturbations (e.g. pitch or formant shifted feedback (6,7)), different languages (8) or different tasks (e.g. including linguistic confusion or not) (9,10).

Scientific objectives

In complement to this existing literature (7,11), the current project aims at exploring in more detail the factors influencing this varying degree of compensation to a sensorimotor perturbation. We will explore, in particular, the hypothesis that it may be influenced by the relative attention and confidence given to our different sensory feedbacks (visual and proprioceptive feedbacks for hand movements, auditory and proprioceptive feedbacks for speech), and to the related sense of effort felt in the task.

To that goal, several experiments of both visuo-motor and audio-motor perturbation will be conducted (see Figure 1). In a first behavioral step, we will explore how the degree of arm or speech compensation varies with an increasing rotation of the visual feedback or an increasing pitch shift of the auditory feedback, how it is influenced by the location or the pitch level of the target, and how it may be affected by an increasing degree of visual blurring or auditory masking. We will pay attention, in particular, to possible reorganizations of the compensatory behavior, detected from discontinuities in the compensation/perturbation relationship. 

 

Depending on the candidate’s interests and/or funding opportunities, a second step will explore further the neural correlates of these compensatory mechanisms (12–16) and of their possible re-organization with an increasing level of perturbation, using fMRI neuro-imaging; or the second step of the project will explore the possible impairment of these mechanisms in people who stutter, who demonstrate reduced degrees of compensation to an auditory perturbation (17–20), reduced tactile sensibility of the oral cavity (21–23), and increased sense of effort (24).

 

Required skills 

We are searching for a highly motivated candidate with:

- a Master degree (M.Sc., M. Eng. or equivalent) in (neuro)cognitive sciences, computer science, or signal processing

- knowledge and interest in motor control, neurosciences and speech.
- good programming skills in Matlab, Python or R

- experimental skills and interests

Lab and supervision

The PhD candidate will be supervised by Maëva Garnier, Fabien Cignetti and Pascal Perrier, in collaboration between the GIPSA-lab and TIMC-IMAG in Grenoble. He/she will join the PCMD team of GIPSA-lab in Grenoble, composed of six PhD students and 12 researchers and engineers (http://www.gipsa-lab.grenoble-inp.fr/en/pcmd.php)

Application instructions

The application consists of a motivation letter, CV (with detailed list of courses related to computer science, signal processing, and neuro-cognitive science), names and contact details of two references, and transcripts of grades from under-graduate and graduate programs.

Contact

Maëva Garnier      Email:   maeva.garnier@gipsa-lab.fr                    Phone: (+33) 4 76 57 50 61

Fabien Cignetti     Email:   fabien.cignetti@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr   Phone: (+33) 4 76 63 71 10

Pascal Perrier       Email:   pascal.perrier@gipsa-lab.fr                    Phone: (+33) 4 76 57 48 25 

 

References

1.    Ghosh SS, Matthies ML, Maas E, Hanson A, Tiede M, Ménard L, et al. An investigation of the relation between sibilant production and somatosensory and auditory acuity. J Acoust Soc Am. 2010;128(5):3079–87.

2.    Villacorta VM, Perkell JS, Guenther FH. Sensorimotor adaptation to feedback perturbations of vowel acoustics and its relation to perception. J Acoust Soc Am. 2007;122(4):2306–19.

3.    Savariaux C, Perrier P. Compensation strategies for the perturbation of the rounded vowel [u] using a lip tube: A study of the control space in speech production. J Acoust Soc Am. 1995;98(5):2428–42.

4.    Loucks T, Chon H, Han W. Audiovocal integration in adults who stutter: Audiovocal integration in stuttering. Int J Lang Commun Disord. 2012 Jul;47(4):451–6.

5.    Mollaei F, Shiller DM, Baum SR, Gracco VL. Sensorimotor control of vocal pitch and formant frequencies in Parkinson’s disease. Brain Res. 2016;1646:269–77.

6.    Jones JA, Munhall KG. Perceptual calibration of F0 production: evidence from feedback perturbation. J Acoust Soc Am. 2000 Sep;108(3 Pt 1):1246–51.

7.    MacDonald EN, Goldberg R, Munhall KG. Compensations in response to real-time formant perturbations of different magnitudes. J Acoust Soc Am. 2010 Feb 1;127(2):1059–68.

8.    Mitsuya T, MacDonald EN, Purcell DW, Munhall KG. A cross-language study of compensation in response to real-time formant perturbation. J Acoust Soc Am. 2011;130(5):2978–86.

9.    Bourguignon NJ, Baum SR, Shiller DM. Lexical-perceptual integration influences sensorimotor adaptation in speech. Front Hum Neurosci. 2014;8:208.

10.  Frank AF. Integrating linguistic, motor, and perceptual information in language production. University of Rochester; 2011.

11.  Liu H, Larson CR. Effects of perturbation magnitude and voice F0 level on the pitch-shift reflex. :8.

12.  Behroozmand R, Korzyukov O, Sattler L, Larson CR. Opposing and following vocal responses to pitch-shifted auditory feedback: Evidence for different mechanisms of voice pitch control. J Acoust Soc Am. 2012 Oct;132(4):2468–77.

13.  Parkinson AL, Flagmeier SG, Manes JL, Larson CR, Rogers B, Robin DA. Understanding the neural mechanisms involved in sensory control of voice production. Neuroimage. 2012;61(1):314–22.

14.  Toyomura A, Fujii T, Kuriki S. Effect of external auditory pacing on the neural activity of stuttering speakers. NeuroImage. 2011 Aug 15;57(4):1507–16.

15.  Zarate JM, Wood S, Zatorre RJ. Neural networks involved in voluntary and involuntary vocal pitch regulation in experienced singers. Neuropsychologia. 2010;48(2):607–18.

16.  Zarate JM, Zatorre RJ. Experience-dependent neural substrates involved in vocal pitch regulation during singing. Neuroimage. 2008;40(4):1871–87.

17.  Kim KS, Daliri A, Flanagan JR, Max L. Dissociated Development of Speech and Limb Sensorimotor Learning in Stuttering: Speech Auditory-motor Learning is Impaired in Both Children and Adults Who Stutter. Neuroscience. 2020 Dec 15;451:1–21.

18.  Daliri A, Wieland EA, Cai S, Guenther FH, Chang SE. Auditory-motor adaptation is reduced in adults who stutter but not in children who stutter. Dev Sci. 2018;21(2):e12521.

19.  Cai S, Beal DS, Ghosh SS, Tiede MK, Guenther FH, Perkell JS. Weak Responses to Auditory Feedback Perturbation during Articulation in Persons Who Stutter: Evidence for Abnormal Auditory-Motor Transformation. Larson CR, editor. PLoS ONE. 2012 Jul 23;7(7):e41830.

20.  Sengupta R, Shah S, Gore K, Loucks T, Nasir SM. Anomaly in neural phase coherence accompanies reduced sensorimotor integration in adults who stutter. Neuropsychologia. 2016;93:242–50.

21.  De Nil LF, Abbs JH. Kinaesthetic acuity of stutterers for oral and non-oral movements. Brain. 1991;114(5):2145–58.

22.  Loucks TM, De Nil LF. Oral kinesthetic deficit in adults who stutter: a target-accuracy study. J Mot Behav. 2006;38(3):238–47.

23.  Loucks TMJ, De Nil LF. Oral kinesthetic deficit in stuttering evaluated by movement accuracy and tendon vibration. Speech Mot Control Norm Disord Speech. 2001;307–10.

24.  Ingham RJ, Warner A, Byrd A, Cotton J. Speech effort measurement and stuttering: Investigating the chorus reading effect. 2006;

25.  Caudrelier T, Rochet-Capellan A. Changes in speech production in response to formant perturbations: An overview of two decades of research. 2019.