Research Interests

Being able to communicate with other people in noisy environments is essential to maintaining social and family relationships, participating in society, and engaging in leisure/recreational activities with others. People with even mild hearing impairments report increased difficulty hearing speech in background noise and appear to be at increased risk of negative psychosocial health outcomes. As people age, and the fidelity of the auditory input deteriorates, top-down cues to speech comprehension become increasingly important. My primary research interest is to identify sources of information that young and older people can exploit to help them predict what they are about to hear, to facilitate their understanding of degraded, noisy speech. For example, one current study explores how the familiarity of a voice can aid in understanding speech when a competing talker is present. In other studies, my students are using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to study the brain organization supporting speech comprehension, speech production, and hearing.

I completed my PhD in Clinical Psychology (Neuropsychology) at the Montreal Neurological Institute, where I was supervised by Brenda Milner. I was then a Wellcome Trust Travelling Research Fellow with Richard Frackowiak at the Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience, London UK, before taking up a position at the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK in 2000. I came to Queen's in 2004. My primary research interest is the neural basis of speech understanding. I focus on the processes recruited as utterances (syllables, words and sentences) are transformed from an acoustic signal to meaning, and how these processes are organized in the brain. I also study how people understand speech in challenging listening situations (for example, when there are multiple talkers present, or when speech is masked with noise), and how the processes involved in speech comprehension under such challenging conditions change with age.

Current projects include:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of the time course of sentence comprehension.
• Using fMRI to fractionate sentence comprehension into component cognitive processes.
• fMRI of cognitive mechanisms recruited when listening to distorted/degraded or unfamiliar-sounding speech.
• The role of perceptual learning in comprehension of distorted/degraded or unfamiliar-sounding speech.
• Factors that influence attention to one of two simultaneous voices (like at a party), and age-related changes.
• Localization of functional activation using probabilistic maps of cytoarchitectonically defined brain regions.
• Identification of factors that facilitate how well people with cochlear implants relearn to understand speech, using simulations in normally hearing people.

Selected Publications

Johnsrude IS, Mackey A, Hakyemez H, Alexander E, Trang HP, & Carlyon RP. (in press).Swinging at a cocktail party: Voice familiarity aids speech perception in the presence of a competing voice. Psychological Science.

Zheng ZZ, Vicente-Grabovetsky A, MacDonald EN, Munhall KG, Cusack R, & Johnsrude IS. (In press). Multi-voxel patterns reveal functionally differentiated networks underlying auditory feedback control of speech. Journal of Neuroscience.

Wayne RV & Johnsrude IS. (2012). The role of visual speech information in supporting perceptual learning of degraded speech. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 18(4), 419-435.

Wild CJ, Yusuf A, Wilson D, Peelle JE, Davis MH, & Johnsrude IS. (2012). Effortful listening: The processing of degraded speech depends critically on attention. Journal of Neuroscience, 32, 14010-14021.

Ramezani M, Abolmaesumi P, Marble K, Macdonald H,& Johnsrude IS. (2012). Classification of individuals based on sparse representation of brain cognitive patterns: A functional MRI study. Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2012, 2688-91.

Zekveld AA, Rudner M, Johnsrude IS, Heslenfel, DJ,& Rönnberg J. (2012). Behavioral and fMRI evidence that cognitive ability modulates the effect of semantic context on speech intelligibility. Brain & Language, 122, 103-113.

Hervais-Adelman A, Carlyon RP, Johnsrude IS, & Davis MH. (2012).Brain regions recruited for the effortful comprehension of noise-vocoded words. Language and Cognitive Processes, 28, 1145-1166.

Huyck JJ, & Johnsrude IS. (2012). Rapid perceptual learning of noise-vocoded speech requires attention. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America – Express Letters.131, EL236-42.

Wild, CJ, Davis MH, & Johnsrude IS. (2012). Human auditory cortex is sensitive to the perceived clarity of speech. NeuroImage, 60,1490-1502. Rodd JM, Johnsrude IS ,Davis MH. (2012). Dissociating frontotemporal contributions to semantic ambiguity resolution in spoken sentences. Cerebral Cortex, 22, 1761-1773.

Tahmasebi, AM, Davis, MH,  Wild, CJ, Rodd, JM, Hakyemez, H, & Johnsrude, IS. (2012). Is the link between anatomical macrostructure and function equally strong at all cognitive levels of processing? Cerebral Cortex, 22, 1593-1603.

Davis MH, Ford MA ,Kherif F, & Johnsrude IS.  (2011). Does semantic context benefit speech understanding through top-down processes? Evidence from time-resolved sparse fMRI. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23, 3914-32.

Zekveld AA, Rudner M, Johnsrude IS, Festen JM, van Beek HM, & Rönnberg J.(2011).The influence of semantically related and unrelated text cues on the intelligibility of sentences in noise. Ear & Hearing, 32, E16-E25.

Heinrich A, Carlyon RP, Davis MH, & Johnsrude, IS. (2011) The continuity illusion does not depend on attentional state: fMRI evidence from illusory vowels. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23, 2675-2689.

Zheng ZZ, MacDonald E, Munhall K, & Johnsrude IS. (2011). Perceiving a stranger’s voice as being one’s own: a ‘rubber voice’ illusion? PLoS ONE, 6, e18655.
 
Hervais-Adelman AG, Davis MH, Johnsrude IS, Taylor KJ, Carlyon RP. (2011) Generalization of perceptual learning of vocoded speech. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 37, 283-295.

Rodd, JM, Davis, MH and Johnsrude, IS (2010).  Effortful understanding of ambiguous words in speech:  Evidence from dual-task interference effects.  Brain and Language.

Peelle, J.E,Johnsrude, I.S. and Davis, M.H (2010) Hierarchical processing for speech in human auditory cortex and beyond. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

Tahmasebi, A.M., Abolmaesumi, P., Wild, C., Johnsrude, I. S. (2010). A validation framework for probabilistic maps using Heschl's gyrus as a model. NeuroImage. Apr 1;50(2):532-44

Kitada, R, Johnsrude, IS, Kochiyama, T, Lederman, SJ. (2010). Brain networks involved in haptic and visual identification of facial expressions of emotion: An fMRI study. NeuroImage. 2010 Jan 15;49(2):1677-89.

Tahmasebi, A.M., Abolmaesumi, P., Wild, C., Johnsrude, I. S. (2010). A validation framework for probabilistic maps using Heschl's gyrus as a model. NeuroImage. Apr 1;50(2):532-44

Kitada, R, Johnsrude, IS, Kochiyama, T, Lederman, SJ. (2010). Brain networks involved in haptic and visual identification of facial expressions of emotion: An fMRI study. NeuroImage. 2010 Jan 15;49(2):1677-89.

Zheng, ZZ, Munhall, KG, Johnsrude, IS. (2010) Functional overlap between regions involved in speech perception and in monitoring one’s own voice during speech production. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. Aug;22(8):1770-81.

Tahmasebi AM, Abolmaesumi P, Geng X, Morosan P, Amunts K, Christensen G and Johnsrude IS, (2009). A new approach for creating customizable cytoarchitectonic probabilistic maps without a template. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention: Part II.Lecture Notes In Computer Science; Vol. 5762: 795 – 802.

Tahmasebi, AM, Abolmaesumi P,  Zheng, ZZ,  Munhall, KG, Johnsrude IS (2009). Reducing inter-subject anatomical variation: Effect of  normalization method on sensitivity of functional magnetic resonance imaging data analysis in auditory cortex and the superior temporal region. NeuroImage, 47 (4) 1522-1531

Munhall KG, Macdonald EN, Byrne SK, Johnsrude I. (2009) Talkers alter vowel production in response to real-time formant perturbation even when instructed not to compensate. J Acoust Soc Am. 2009 Jan;125(1):384-390.

Tahmasebi AM, Johnsrude IS, Wild C, Moghari MH, Abolmaesumi P. (2008). A statistical atlas-based technique for automatic segmentation of the first Heschl's gyrus in human auditory cortex from MR images. Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2008;1:3920-3.

Kitada R, Johnsrude IS, Kochiyama T, Lederman SJ. (2009) Functional specialization and convergence in the occipito-temporal cortex supporting haptic and visual identification of human faces and body parts: An fMRI Study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21: 2027-45.

Hervais-Adelman A, Davis MH, Johnsrude IS, Carlyon RP. (2008). Perceptual Learning of Noise Vocoded Speech: Effects of Feedback and Lexicality. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 35, 460-74.

Heinrich A, Carlyon RP, Davis MH, Johnsrude IS. (2008). Illusory vowels resulting from perceptual continuity: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study. J Cogn Neurosci. 2008 Oct;20(10):1737-52.

Bailey L, Abolmaesumi P, Tam J, Morosan P, Cusack R, Amunts K, Johnsrude IS. (2007). Customised cytoarchitectonic probability maps using deformable registration: Primary auditory cortex. Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention, 10, 760-8.

Coleman MR, Rodd JM, Davis MH, Johnsrude IS, Menon DK, Pickard JD, Owen AM. (2007). Do vegetative patients retain aspects of language comprehension? Evidence from fMRI. Brain, 130, 2494-507.

Patterson RD, Johnsrude IS. (2007). Functional imaging of auditory processes fundamental to speech recognition. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society London B: Biological Sciences, 363, 1023-1035.

Davis, MH & Johnsrude, IS. (2007). Hearing speech sounds: Top-down influences on the interface between audition and speech perception. Hearing Research. 229(1-2):132-47.

Uppenkamp SS, Johnsrude IS, Norris D, Marslen-Wilson W, Patterson RD. (2006). Locating the initial stages of speech-sound processing in human temporal cortex. NeuroImage, 31, 1284-96§ joint first authors.

Schwarzbauer C, Davis MH, Rodd JM, Johnsrude IS. (2006). Interleaved silent steady state (ISSS) imaging: A new sparse imaging method applied to auditory fMRI. NeuroImage, 29, 774-82.

Johnsrude IS, Hauk, O. (2005). Neuroimaging: Techniques for examining human brain function. In Braisby, N (ed). Cognitive Psychology: A Methods Companion. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Owen AM, Coleman MR, Menon DK, Johnsrude IS, Rodd JM, Davis MH, Taylor K, Pickard JD. (2005). Residual auditory function in persistent vegetative state: A combined PET and fMRI study. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 15, 290-306.
 
Cox S, Andrade A, Johnsrude IS. (2005). Learning to like: A role for human orbitofrontal cortex in conditioned reward. Journal of Neuroscience, 25, 2733-2740.

Davis MH, Johnsrude IS, Hervais-Adelman A, Taylor K, McGettigan C. (2005) Learning to understand noise-vocoded speech. Lexical information drives perceptual learning of distorted speech: evidence from the comprehension of noise-vocoded sentences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 134, 222-241.

Rodd JM, Davis MD, Johnsrude IS. (2005) The neural mechanisms of speech comprehension: fMRI studies of semantic ambiguity. Cerebral Cortex. 15, 1261-9

Hauk O, Johnsrude IS, Pulvermuller F. (2004) Somatotopic representation of action words in human motor and premotor cortex. Neuron, 41, 301-7.

Davis MH, Johnsrude IS. (2003). Hierarchical processing in spoken language comprehension. Journal of Neuroscience, 23, 3423-31.

Hall DA, Hart H, Johnsrude IS. (2003) Relationships between human auditory cortical structure and function. Audiology & Neuro-Otology, 8, 1-18.

Scott SK, Johnsrude IS. (2003). The neuroanatomical and functional organization of speech perception. Trends in Neurosciences, 26, 100-7.

Brett M, Johnsrude IS, Owen AM. (2002) The problem of functional localisation in the human brain. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 3, 243-249.

PDFs available: request here ij4@queensu.ca