A neurocognitive investigation of test methods and gender effects in listening assessment

This is the first study to investigate the effects of test methods (while-listening performance and post-listening performance) and gender on measured listening ability and brain activation under test conditions. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to examine three brain regions a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Aryadoust, Vahid, Ng, Li Ying, Foo, Stacy, Esposito, Gianluca
Other Authors: School of Social Sciences
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/153844
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
Description
Summary:This is the first study to investigate the effects of test methods (while-listening performance and post-listening performance) and gender on measured listening ability and brain activation under test conditions. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to examine three brain regions associated with listening comprehension: the inferior frontal gyrus and posterior middle temporal gyrus, which subserve bottom-up processing in comprehension, and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, which mediates top-down processing. A Rasch model reliability analysis showed that listeners were homogeneous in their listening ability. Additionally, there were no significant differences in test scores across test methods and genders. The fNIRS data, however, revealed significantly different activation of the investigated brain regions across test methods, genders, and listening abilities. Together, these findings indicated that the listening test was not sensitive to differences in the neurocognitive processes underlying listening comprehension under test conditions. The implications of these findings for assessing listening and suggestions for future research are discussed.