PNAS：训练可能帮助逆转与年龄相关的神经减速

PNAS一项研究发现，听觉训练可以部分逆转与年龄相关的神经减速和在嘈杂环境下感知语音的困难。Nina Kraus及其同事研究了基于听觉的认知训练对55岁到70岁的两组成年人的神经计时(neural timing)和听觉感知的作用。其中一个组完成了一个适应性计算机听觉训练程序，设计该程序的目的是为了改善听觉信息处理的速度和准确性；而另一组被要求观看一系列的教育DVD并根据这些DVD的内容回答一些多选题。在8个星期的时间里共进行了40个小时的训练后，接受听觉训练的组表现出了比没有进行听觉训练的组更快的神经计时(neural timing)能力，并且显示出了记忆、处理速度和在背景噪音中感受语音的能力的改善。这组作者说，短期听觉训练诱导出现了神经可塑性并且带来了老年人与年龄相关的神经计时衰退的部分逆转。老年人对感觉输入信息的反应时间通常会增加，这常常导致感受语音的困难，特别是在嘈杂环境中难以感受语音，而这组作者提出听力训练可能帮助逆转这类听力困难。

doi:10.1073/pnas.1213555110
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Reversal of age-related neural timing delays with training

Samira Andersona, Travis White-Schwocha, Alexandra Parbery-Clarka, and Nina Krausa,b,c,d,1

Neural slowing is commonly noted in older adults, with consequences for sensory, motor, and cognitive domains. One of the deleterious effects of neural slowing is impairment of temporal resolution; older adults, therefore, have reduced ability to process the rapid events that characterize speech, especially in noisy environments. Although hearing aids provide increased audibility, they cannot compensate for deficits in auditory temporal processing. Auditory training may provide a strategy to address these deficits. To that end, we evaluated the effects of auditory-based cognitive training on the temporal precision of subcortical processing of speech in noise. After training, older adults exhibited faster neural timing and experienced gains in memory, speed of processing, and speech-in-noise perception, whereas a matched control group showed no changes. Training was also associated with decreased variability of brainstem response peaks, suggesting a decrease in temporal jitter in response to a speech signal. These results demonstrate that auditory-based cognitive training can partially restore age-related deficits in temporal processing in the brain; this plasticity in turn promotes better cognitive and perceptual skills.