大脑电刺激在听觉语言加工研究中的应用

大脑电刺激是历史悠久但近年来才广泛应用在人类被试上的实验技术。通过对颅内刺激位点进行电刺激, 并分析引发的暂时性行为功能变化和记录位点的电位活动, 大脑电刺激技术可以揭示认知加工过程中脑区内的功能作用与脑区间的有效连接。通过对听觉语言加工过程相关的丘脑、听觉皮层、高级语言皮层进行电刺激, 现有研究发现了各个脑区的不同功能特点以及不同脑区间的信息传递机制, 为进一步探索听觉语言加工的神经机制提供了新的视角。

Application of electrical brain stimulation in the auditory language processing

Auditory language comprehension plays an important role in interpersonal communication in daily life, however, we still do not fully understand its underlying neural mechanisms. Electrical brain stimulation (EBS) is an experimental technique with a very long history but has only recently been widely used on human subjects. By performing electrical stimulation, analyzing the induced transient behavioral functional changes and recording the neural activity, it is possible to directly reveal the functional roles within brain regions and the effective connections between brain areas during auditory language processing. Electrical brain stimulation offers a very high spatial and temporal resolution and employs recording electrodes that can reach deep into subcortical areas. Given these unique advantages, electrical brain stimulation has received increasing research interest in recent years.