Sex differences in behavioral and brain responses to incongruity in emotional speech controlling for autistic traits

Ming Lui; Xiaojing Li; Werner Sommer; Andrea Hildebrandt; Gilbert Ka-Bo Lau; Changsong Zhou

doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2020.107973

Sex differences in behavioral and brain responses to incongruity in emotional speech controlling for autistic traits

Ming Lui^*
, Xiaojing Li
, Werner Sommer
, Andrea Hildebrandt
, Gilbert Ka-Bo Lau
, Changsong Zhou^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Accurate interpretation of speech requires the integration of verbal and nonverbal signals. This study investigated sex differences in behavior and neural activities associated with the integration of semantic content and emotional speech prosody, while the level of autistic traits was controlled for. Adults listened to Cantonese words spoken with happy and sad prosody, and made judgments on semantic valence while event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded. Behaviorally, men were slower than women in making semantic valence judgments. At the neural level, men had a greater congruity effect in the N400 component, whereas women had a greater congruity effect in the 1150–1300 ms time window for happy prosodies. There was no effect of sex in case of sad prosodies. Our study reveals novel findings on sex differences in the timing of the integration between verbal and non-verbal signals that cannot be explained by differences in autistic traits.

© 2020 Elsevier B.V.

Original language	English
Article number	107973
Number of pages	10
Journal	Biological Psychology
Volume	157
Online published	19 Oct 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2020.107973
Publication status	Published - Nov 2020
Externally published	Yes

Funding

This work was supported by the Hong Kong Baptist University Research Committee Interdisciplinary Research Matching Scheme [RC-IRMS/16-17/04]; Hong Kong Baptist University Interdisciplinary Research Clusters 2018/19 [RC-IRCMs/18-19/SCI/01]; and the General Research Fund of Research Grants Committee, Hong Kong [Ref No. 12604418]. The work was also supported by Hong Kong University Grants Committee, Germany-Hong Kong Joint Research Scheme [G_HKBU/201/17] awarded to Changsong Zhou and Xiaojing Li, and [ID 57391438] awarded to Werner Sommer and Andrea Hildebrandt. The author Xiaojing Li is thankful to the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Institute for Advanced Study, Delmenhorst, Germany for the fellowship support.

Research Keywords

Speech comprehension
Emotional prosody
Semantic processing
Sex differences
Autistic traits
Event-related potentials
Individual differences

RGC Funding Information

RGC-funded

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10.1016/j.biopsycho.2020.107973

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title = "Sex differences in behavioral and brain responses to incongruity in emotional speech controlling for autistic traits",

abstract = "Accurate interpretation of speech requires the integration of verbal and nonverbal signals. This study investigated sex differences in behavior and neural activities associated with the integration of semantic content and emotional speech prosody, while the level of autistic traits was controlled for. Adults listened to Cantonese words spoken with happy and sad prosody, and made judgments on semantic valence while event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded. Behaviorally, men were slower than women in making semantic valence judgments. At the neural level, men had a greater congruity effect in the N400 component, whereas women had a greater congruity effect in the 1150–1300 ms time window for happy prosodies. There was no effect of sex in case of sad prosodies. Our study reveals novel findings on sex differences in the timing of the integration between verbal and non-verbal signals that cannot be explained by differences in autistic traits. {\textcopyright} 2020 Elsevier B.V.",

keywords = "Speech comprehension, Emotional prosody, Semantic processing, Sex differences, Autistic traits, Event-related potentials, Individual differences",

author = "Ming Lui and Xiaojing Li and Werner Sommer and Andrea Hildebrandt and Lau, \{Gilbert Ka-Bo\} and Changsong Zhou",

year = "2020",

month = nov,

doi = "10.1016/j.biopsycho.2020.107973",

language = "English",

volume = "157",

journal = "Biological Psychology",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Sex differences in behavioral and brain responses to incongruity in emotional speech controlling for autistic traits

AU - Lui, Ming

AU - Li, Xiaojing

AU - Sommer, Werner

AU - Hildebrandt, Andrea

AU - Lau, Gilbert Ka-Bo

AU - Zhou, Changsong

PY - 2020/11

Y1 - 2020/11

N2 - Accurate interpretation of speech requires the integration of verbal and nonverbal signals. This study investigated sex differences in behavior and neural activities associated with the integration of semantic content and emotional speech prosody, while the level of autistic traits was controlled for. Adults listened to Cantonese words spoken with happy and sad prosody, and made judgments on semantic valence while event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded. Behaviorally, men were slower than women in making semantic valence judgments. At the neural level, men had a greater congruity effect in the N400 component, whereas women had a greater congruity effect in the 1150–1300 ms time window for happy prosodies. There was no effect of sex in case of sad prosodies. Our study reveals novel findings on sex differences in the timing of the integration between verbal and non-verbal signals that cannot be explained by differences in autistic traits. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.

AB - Accurate interpretation of speech requires the integration of verbal and nonverbal signals. This study investigated sex differences in behavior and neural activities associated with the integration of semantic content and emotional speech prosody, while the level of autistic traits was controlled for. Adults listened to Cantonese words spoken with happy and sad prosody, and made judgments on semantic valence while event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded. Behaviorally, men were slower than women in making semantic valence judgments. At the neural level, men had a greater congruity effect in the N400 component, whereas women had a greater congruity effect in the 1150–1300 ms time window for happy prosodies. There was no effect of sex in case of sad prosodies. Our study reveals novel findings on sex differences in the timing of the integration between verbal and non-verbal signals that cannot be explained by differences in autistic traits. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.

KW - Speech comprehension

KW - Emotional prosody

KW - Semantic processing

KW - Sex differences

KW - Autistic traits

KW - Event-related potentials

KW - Individual differences

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85096183849

UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/pubmetrics.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85096183849&origin=recordpage

U2 - 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2020.107973

DO - 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2020.107973

M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal

SN - 0301-0511

VL - 157

JO - Biological Psychology

JF - Biological Psychology

M1 - 107973

ER -

Sex differences in behavioral and brain responses to incongruity in emotional speech controlling for autistic traits

Abstract

Funding

Research Keywords

RGC Funding Information

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