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Assessing corollary discharge in humans using noninvasive neurophysiological methods

Nature Protocols volume 5, pages 1160–1168 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

In this paper, we present a vocal production protocol for studying the neurophysiological action of the corollary discharge, a mechanism that allows animals to ignore sensations resulting from their own actions, and tag them as 'self'. Electroencephalograms are recorded while subjects say 'ah' about 100 times with minimal throat, jaw and tongue movements (Talk condition). This sequence of sounds is recorded and played back during the Listen condition. Event-related potentials are synchronized to the onset of speech sounds during the Talk and Listen conditions. Neural responses from the auditory cortex to the spoken sound as it is being spoken during the Talk condition are compared with neural responses to the same sounds when played back during the Listen condition. The successful action of the corollary discharge is seen when the response of the auditory cortex is suppressed during the Talk compared with the Listen condition. The protocol takes about 5 min to complete.

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Figure 1: Cartoon illustrating the action of the efference copy/corollary discharge mechanism.
Figure 2: A schematic illustration of the setup.
Figure 3: Continuous EEG data from one electrode are plotted in blue.
Figure 4: Examples of speech onset.
Figure 5: Single-subject ERPs at electrode Cz are plotted from the Talk condition (top) and Listen condition (bottom) before (red) and after (blue) manual inspection and adjustment of speech onset selected by an automated routine.
Figure 6: Grand average ERPs recorded during Talk (red lines) and Listen (blue lines) conditions are overlaid.

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Acknowledgements

We thank S. Guillory for programming the Matlab task. This work was supported by the VA Research Service and grants from the VA (Merit Review), the National Institute of Mental Health (MH40052, MH 58262, MH067967) and the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders (NARSAD).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, San Francisco VA Medical Center, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA

    Judith M Ford, Brian J Roach & Daniel H Mathalon

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  1. Judith M Ford
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Contributions

J.M.F. wrote the nontechnical parts of the protocol and edited the technical aspects of the paper; B.J.R. contributed to paradigm programming and to the technical aspects of the paper; D.H.M. contributed to paradigm development and to the nontechnical aspects of the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Judith M Ford.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary File 1: Matlab task zip

This zip file contains all the functions and scripts necessary to run the talk and listen tasks on a computer where the matlab psychtoolbox is installed. The main scripts to run are referred to in the procedures for those conducting the experiment in the matlab environment. (ZIP 21 kb)

Supplementary File 2: Presentation task zip

This zip file contains all the files and functions necessary to run the talk and listen tasks on a computer where the Presentation software is installed. The main scenarios to run are referred to in the procedures for those conducting the experiment in the Presentation environment. (ZIP 12857 kb)

Supplementary Video 1: Windows XP sound setup

This quicktime movie describes Windows XP sound control panel settings required to properly run the talk and listen ERP protocol. (MOV 5131 kb)

Supplementary Video 2: : Talk instructions

This quicktime movie provides participants with instructions for the talk task. These instructions should be presented to the subject during step 8 of the protocol procedure. (MOV 1134 kb)

Supplementary Video 3: Listen instructions

This quicktime movie provides participants with instructions for the listen task. These instructions should be presented to the subject during step 26 of the protocol procedure. (MOV 248 kb)

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Ford, J., Roach, B. & Mathalon, D. Assessing corollary discharge in humans using noninvasive neurophysiological methods. Nat Protoc 5, 1160–1168 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2010.67

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