Prediction tendency, eye movements, and attention in a unified framework of neural speech tracking

Abstract

ABSTRACTAuditory speech comprehension is a multi-faceted process in which attention, prediction, and sensorimotor integration (via active sensing) interact with or complement each other. Although different conceptual models that focus on one of these aspects exist, we still lack a unified understanding of their role in speech processing. Here, we replicated and extended two recently published studies from our lab to investigate the influence of prediction tendency on ocular and neural tracking of attended speech. We propose that selective attention guides ocular speech tracking, which in turn mediates neural encoding of speech. In contrast, individual prediction tendency and its relation to neural speech tracking seem to be largely independent of attention. Importantly, prediction tendency and ocular speech tracking seem to be unrelated. With the current work, we propose a framework that aims to bridge the gaps between attention, prediction, and active (ocular) sensing in order to contribute to a holistic understanding of neural speech processing.