Project B01

Can individual differences in auditory motor synchrony explain individual differences in language processing across the lifespan

PI(s): Prof. Dr. Isabell Wartenburger, Prof. Dr. Outi Tuomainen & Dr. Enikő Ladányi

Project B01 focuses on rhythmic features of speech and will investigate how individual differences in behavioral auditory-motor synchronization (tapping, speech-synchronization) explain variability in speech/language processing throughout the lifespan. For example, synchronization with speech rhythms is crucial for understanding speech in noisy environments, a skill that declines with age. For children, better rhythm abilities are linked to improved grammar skills. To test causal links, we will include a training study targeting auditory-motor synchronization and assessing its impact on speech/language processing.

in Phase 2

(In)Variability in prosodic cues and their incremental use in perception, production, and interaction

PI(s): Prof. Dr. Isabell Wartenburger & Prof. Dr. Outi Tuomainen & Dr. Sandra Hanne-Kloth

Prosody is central to successful communication. This project focuses on, first, the facilitative role and predictive function of prosody for language processing in individuals with aphasia and investigates whether and how their sentence comprehension abilities benefit from prosodic cues. Second, we strive to predict variability in prosodic cue production from variability in using prosodic cues in perception in unimpaired individuals. Third, we will investigate the sources and limits of variability in naturalistic interactive settings in younger and elderly unimpaired individuals. Overall, our project will contribute to a better understanding of the function of prosody and its representation in the linguistic system.

in Phase 1

Prosodic cue variability: Effects on spoken language comprehension and production in different populations

PI(s): Prof. Dr. Isabell Wartenburger & Dr. phil. Sandra Hanne-Kloth

This project investigates the limits of intra- and inter-individual variability in the comprehension and production of prosodic cues in structurally ambiguous sentences or utterances. We aim to characterize in more depth the internal organization of the prosody-syntax-interface as part of the mental grammar and to specify neuro-cognitive models of prosody processing. Specifically, we focus on the limits of variability in prosody production and prosody comprehension using different linguistic structures (coordinate name sequences, locally/globally ambiguous sentences) in different populations (healthy young and elderly adults, individuals with left or right hemispheric brain damage).

We found a rather stable linguistic behaviour in the production of prosodic cues in coordinate name sequences, both with or without internal grouping, in younger adults: prosodic cues (i.e., pre-boundary lengthening, f0-rise, pause) are used in a relatively consistent way to mark the internal grouping of name sequences across individuals and within individuals (i.e., when talking to different interlocutors). Furthermore, all three prosodic cues seem to be relevant, none of them is used in isolation to mark the underlying syntactic structure. We conclude that prosodic cues are resistant to influences of cognitive factors (inter-individual differences) and/or social situations (intra-individual differences, e.g., when talking to different interlocutors). Our data are in line with the Proximity/Similarity-Model of Kentner & Fery (2013, The Linguistic Review). Regarding the prosodic realization and differentiation of locally ambiguous OVS and SVO sentences, we find a more variable behaviour: only some speakers use specific f0 contours to distinguish between these sentence types. Furthermore, for those speakers who used specific f0 contours to distinguish between the two sentences types, we found a high inter- and intra-individual variability with respect to the distinctive f0 contours they employed. In individuals with right- and left-hemispheric lesions, we find that both groups are impaired in the comprehension and production of prosodic cues (pre-boundary lengthening, f0-rise, pause) in coordinate sequences. In comprehension, we found both groups of participants to mainly rely on the pause cue (in line with Aasland & Baum, 2003, Brain and Language). Comprehension and production of prosodic cues were found to markedly vary between participants. Additionally, some individuals’ performance in comprehension clearly differed from their production of prosodic cues. These findings speak against clear lateralization hypotheses of prosody to either the left or right hemisphere.

Members

Prof. Dr. Isabell Wartenburger isabell.wartenburger@uni-potsdam.de (+49) 331 977-2928

Prof. Dr. Outi Tuomainen outi.tuomainen@uni-potsdam.de (+49) 331 977-230126

Dr. Enikő Ladányi eniko.ladanyi@uni-potsdam.de (+49) 331 977-230156

Papers

Author(s)	Title	Year	Published in
De Beer, C., Huttenlauch, C., Wartenburger, I., & Hanne, S.	Produktion und Rezeption prosodischer Cues bei Aphasie.	2020	S. Breitenstein, Ö. Yetim, J. Burmester, & T. Fritzsche (Eds.), Spektrum Patholinguistik - Weg(e) mit dem Stottern – Therapie und Selbsthilfe für Kinder und Erwachsene (Vol. 12, pp. 125-142). Potsdam: Universitätsverlag.
Yu, J., Mailhammer, R., & Cutler, A.	Vocabulary structure affects word recognition: Evidence from German listeners.	2020	In N. Minematsu, M. Kondo, T. Arai, & R. Hayashi (Eds.), Proceedings of Speech Prosody 2020 (pp. 474-478). Tokyo: ISCA.
Huttenlauch, C., De Beer, C., Hanne, S., & Wartenburger, I.	Production of prosodic cues in coordinate name sequences addressing varying interlocutors.	2021	Laboratory Phonology 12(1), 1, pp. 1–31.
De Beer, C., Regenbrecht, F., Huttenlauch, C., Wartenburger, I., Obrig, H., & Hanne, S.	Kommunikative Beeinträchtigungen bei Personen mit rechtshemisphärischer Läsion: Produktion und Verständnis von Prosodie.	2021	Aphasie und verwandte Gebiete, 49(1/2021), 37-51.
De Beer, C., Hofmann, A., Regenbrecht, F., Huttenlauch, C., Wartenburger, I., Obrig, H., & Hanne, S.	Production and Comprehension of Prosodic Boundary Marking in Persons with Unilaterial Brain Lesions.	2022	Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 65(12), 4774-4796.
Huttenlauch, C., Hansen, M., De Beer, C., Wartenburger, I., & Hanne, S.	Individual variability in prosodic marking of locally ambiguous sentences.	2022	Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Speech Prosody, 165-169
Hansen, M., Huttenlauch, C., De Beer, C., Wartenburger, I., & Hanne, S.	Individual Differences in Early Disambiguation of Prosodic Grouping.	2023	Language and Speech, 66(3), 706-733.
De Beer, C., Wartenburger, I., Huttenlauch, C., & Hanne, S.	A systematic review on production and comprehension of linguistic prosody in people with acquired language and communication disorders resulting from unilateral brain lesions.	2023	Journal of Communication Disorders, 101:106298, 1-27.
Huttenlauch, C., Hansen, M., de Beer, C., Hanne, S., & Wartenburger, I.	Age effects on linguistic prosody in coordinates produced to varying interlocutors: Comparison of younger and older speakers.	2023	Schubö, Fabian, Zerbian, Sabine, Hanne, Sandra & Wartenburger, Isabell (eds.). 2023. Prosodic boundary phenomena. (Studies in Laboratory Phonology 12). Berlin: Language Science Press.
Schubö, F., Zerbian, S., Hanne, S., & Wartenburger, I. (eds.).	Prosodic boundary phenomena.	2023	Studies in Laboratory Phonology 12. Berlin: Language Science Press.
Chatterjee, L., Schneider, K., Wartenburger, I., Hanne, S., Hofmann, A., & Tuomainen, O.	The role of listener feedback in prosodic cue production: an interactive task.	2023	In R. Skarnitzl & J. Volín (Eds.), Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (Vol. 3. Speech Production and Speech Physiology, pp. 972–976). Guarant International.
Tuomainen, O., Soengadie, A., Taschenberger, L., & Hazan, V.	Intelligibility of spontaneous casual speech in background noise across the lifespan.	2023	In R. Skarnitzl & J. Volín (Eds.), Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (Vol. 1. Speech Perception, pp. 241–245). Guarant International.
Huttenlauch, C.	Individual variability in production and comprehension of prosodically disambiguated structural ambiguities.	2023	PhD Thesis. Potsdam: Universitätsverlag Potsdam.
Schneider, K., Tuomainen, O., Ries, J., Wartenburger, I., & Hanne, S.	Enhanced prosody adds to morpho-syntactic cues in the interpretation of structural ambiguities in German.	2024	Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 39(6), 735–756.
Schneider, K., Tuomainen, O., Wartenburger, I., & Hanne, S.	Prosody can provide subtle disambiguating cues for local ambiguity resolution.	2024	Proceedings of the Speech Prosody 2024, 1200-1204.
Bross, S., Hofmann, A., Schneider, K., & Wartenburger, I.	Refined analysis of the Speech-to-Speech Synchronization task reveals subharmonic synchronization.	2025	Frontiers in Neuroscience, 19, 1-9.
Schneider, K., Tuomainen, O., Wartenburger, I., & Hanne, S.	Prosodic cue use for identifying interrogative and declarative structures with wide and narrow focus in individuals with and without aphasia.	2025	Frontiers in Communication, 10, 1-20.

Talks

Author(s)	Title	Year	Published in
De Beer, C., Huttenlauch, C., Hanne, S., & Wartenburger, I.	Prosodic cue production in coordinate structures: Influence of varying top-down information.	2018	Poster presented at the 2nd International Conference Prominence in Language (ICPL2), Cologne, Germany. 11 - 13 July.
De Beer, C., Huttenlauch, C., Hanne, S., & Wartenburger, I.	Inter- and Intra-individual Variability in Prosodic Cue Production.	2018	Paper presented at the 40. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft. AG 2 ''The relation between prosodic and referential structure''. University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany. 07 - 09 March.
De Beer, C., Huttenlauch, C., Wartenburger, I., & Hanne, S.	Produktion und Rezeption prosodischer Cues bei Aphasie.	2018	Poster presented at the 12. Herbsttreffen Patholinguistik - Weg(e) mit dem Stottern: Therapie und Selbsthilfe für Kinder und Erwachsene, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany. 24 November.
Huttenlauch, C., De Beer, C., Hanne, S., & Wartenburger, I.	Individual (non-)variability of prosodic cue production in coordinate structures.	2018	Poster presented at the Architectures and Mechanisms of Language Processing (AMLaP 2018), Berlin, Germany. 06 - 08 September.
Huttenlauch, C., De Beer, C., Wartenburger, I., & Hanne, S.	Interlocutor induced (non-)variability of prosodic cue production in coordinate structures.	2018	Poster presented at the Experimental and Theoretical Advances in Prosody (ETAP 4), University of Massachussetts, Amherst, MA, USA. 11 - 13 October.
Wartenburger, I.	Prosodic boundary cues in spoken language perception and production.	2018	Invited talk at the Lecture Series Cologne Center of Language Sciences (CCLS), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany. 09 July.
De Beer, C.	Production and comprehension of prosodic cues in coordinate structures in people with right-hemisphere lesion.	2019	Invited talk at the Kolloquium des Institutes für Phonetik und Sprachverarbeitung, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany. 23 May.
Huttenlauch, C., De Beer, C., Hanne, S., & Wartenburger, I.	Production of prosodic cues in coordinate name sequences addressing varying interlocutors.	2019	Poster presented at the 15. Phonetik und Phonologie Tagung (P&P 15), Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany. 25 - 27 September.
De Beer, C., Regenbrecht, F., Huttenlauch, C., Wartenburger, I., Obrig, H., & Hanne, S.	Lateralization of prosodic processing in individuals with unilateral brain damage.	2020	Presented at the 26th Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing Conference (AMLaP 2020), Potsdam [online conference]. 03-05 September.
Hansen, M., Aivazian, V., Huttenlauch, C., De Beer, C., Hanne, S., & Wartenburger, I. (*equal contribution)	How Much Prosody is Needed? Perception of Prosodic Grouping in Gated Ambiguous Name Sequences.	2020	Poster presented at the 26th Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing Conference (AMLaP 2020), Potsdam [online conference]. 04 September.
De Beer, C., Hofmann, A., Regenbrecht, F., Huttenlauch, C., Wartenburger, I., Obrig, H., & Hanne, S.	Perzeption und Produktion prosodischer Cues bei Personen mit erworbener unilateraler rechts- oder linkshemishphärischer Hirnläsion.	2021	Paper presented at the 20. Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Aphasieforschungs und -behandlung (GAB): Kommunikation - Sprache, Emotion, Kognition, 07. - 09. October, Online.
Wartenburger, I.	Prosodic boundary cues in spoken language comprehension and production – from infants to older adults.	2021	Invited talk at the Institut für Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaften und dem Nationalen Forschungsschwerpunkt (NFS) „Evolving Language“, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. 01 December 2021.
Huttenlauch, C., Schneider, K., de Beer, C., Wartenburger, I., & Hanne, S.	Limits of variability in the prosodic realization of locally ambiguous OVS and SVO sentences.	2021	Paper presented at the 3rd CRC Networking Workshop: Relation of Prominence, Surprisal and Information Structure, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany. 15-16 July.
Tuomainen, O.	Effortful speaking and listening in interactive speech communication in background noise.	2022	Invited talk at the Lunch Meeting of the Phonetic & Speech Sciences Group, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. 08 March.
Huttenlauch, C., Hansen, M., De Beer, C., Wartenburger, I., & Hanne, S.	Individual variability in prosodic marking of locally ambiguous sentences.	2022	Poster presented at the 11th International Conference on Speech Prosody, Lisbon, Portugal. 23 - 26 May.
Tuomainen, O.	Interactive speech communication in adverse listening conditions in normally hearing and hearing-impaired older adults.	2022	Invited talk at the Workshop on Language learning in older adults: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, University of Essex, Colchester, UK. 23 June.
Tuomainen, O.	Investigating speech and language in interaction.	2022	Invited talk at the IDEALAB Summer School, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany. 19 September.
Tuomainen, O.	Sprecher:innen im Kontakt: Wie sich Sprachen durch Kontakt und Interaktion angleichen können.	2022	Invited talk at the UZH-i Lecture Series “Sprache(n) und Räume: Sonderfall Schweiz?”, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. 06 October.
Tuomainen, O., Taschenberger, L., Rosen, S., & Hazan, V.	Clear speech adaptions: effortful speaking and listening in background noise across the lifespan.	2023	Invited talk at the 184th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), Chicago, Illinois, USA. 8-12 May.
Schneider, K., Tuomainen, O., Ries, J., Wartenburger, I.,& Hanne, S.	The role of prosody in the interpretation of structual ambiguities in German.	2023	Poster presented at the LingCologne 2023: Prediction in Language, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany. 16-17 June.
Chatterjee, L., Schneider, K., Wartenburger, I., Hanne, S., Hofmann, A., & Tuomainen, O.	The role of listener feedback in prosodic cue production: an interactive task.	2023	Poster presented at the 20th International Conference of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS 2023), Prague, Czech Republic. 7-11 August.
Tuomainen, O., Soengadie, A., Taschenberger, L., & Hazan, V.	Intelligibility of spontaneous casual speech in background noise across the lifespan.	2023	Poster presented at the 20th International Conference of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS 2023), Prague, Czech Republic. 7-11 August.
Schneider, K., Tuomainen, O., Wartenburger, I., & Hanne, S.	Prosodic cue use for sentence type identification in aphasia in German.	2023	Poster presented at the 61st Annual Meeting of the Academy of Aphasia, University of Reading, Reading, UK. 21 - 23 October.
Tuomainen, O.	Speech comprehension in background noise in normally hearing children and adolescents.	2023	Invited talk at the Auditory Development Workshop, Paris, France. 20 - 21 November.
Wartenburger, I.	Prosodic boundary cues in spoken language comprehension and production.	2023	Invited talk at the Linguistics Colloquium, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany. 13 December.
Schneider, K., Tuomainen, O., Wartenburger, I., & Hanne S.	Prosody can provide subtle disambiguating cues for local ambiguity resolution.	2024	Poster presented at the 12th Speech Prosody Conference, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands. 02 - 05 July.
Karbanova, A., Schneider, K., & Wartenburger, I.	Interrogative prosody representation in German SVO sentences.	2024	Paper presented at the Symposium on “Cracking the code of the social cognition face and voice with the CLEESE Python toolbox”, 7th bi-annual Meeting of the European Society for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (ESCAN 2024), Ghent, Belgium. 22-24 May.
Hofmann, A., Veríssimo, J., & Wartenburger, I.	The Perception-Production Link in Prosodic Cue Use for Disambiguation: Exploring the Role of Individual (In)-Variability.	2024	Poster presented at the Highlights in the Language Sciences Conference 2024, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 08 - 11 July.
Tuomainen, O.	Clear Speech in Challenging Interactive Settings: The Impact of Visual Cues.	2024	Paper presented at the 6th CRC Networking Workshop: Face to Face Interaction, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany. 04-05 November.
Tuomainen, O.	Interactive speech communication in background noise: is it worth the effort?	2025	Invited talk at the Eriksholm Research Centre Colloquium, Snekkersten, Denmark. 06 March.
Schneider, K.	Auditory-Motor Synchronization in Individuals with Aphasia and Neurotypical Older Adults.	2025	Paper presented at the Speech Science Forum, University College London, London, UK. 20 March.
McCarthy, K., Whittaker, N., Packer-Stucki, T., & Tuomainen, O.	The role of accent familiarity in speech recognition in noise by younger and older listeners.	2025	Poster presented at the 16th Speech in Noise Workshop (SpiN 2025), Lancaster, UK. 09-10 January.