About this Research Topic

Background

Neural signals synchronize to quasi-rhythmic sensory inputs. This mechanism, which is referred to as neural tracking, has been suggested to play a key role in auditory perception, as it is tightly related to processes such as selective attention and it reflects the hierarchical encoding of speech and language at various levels of abstraction (e.g., speech acoustics, syntax, semantics).
One of the most remarkable characteristics of this phenomenon is that neural signals track multiple linguistic features simultaneously, reflecting cognitive changes due to development, aging, and particular neurocognitive deficits. This ability to quantitatively assess cognitive changes from an experiment based on naturalistic listening tasks constitutes an extremely desirable property for translational medicine, especially because multiple objective markers could be derived from a single test.

This Research Topic focuses on neural tracking, how this originates, its objective assessment, and how the mechanism varies depending on the different tasks and on the particular cohorts of participants.

We aim to promote discussion regarding the goals and directions this field could pursue, going beyond tailored experimental setups adopting unnatural stimuli sources, and endorsing experimental setups that use familiar sources of stimuli such as natural speech, music, and movies.

We welcome all types of articles promoting discussion on the following:

- The current state of research aiming to detect reliable objective neural markers;
- Future advances and potential applications in the field, aiming to close the gap with translational medicine;
- Application of neural tracking indices in developmental and neurocognitive disorders investigations;
- Innovations and discussion on realistic (clinical or home-based) settings versus tailored unnatural settings.

Keywords: Neural entrainment, biomarker, non invasive, phase locking, signal processing

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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