We studied differences between Japanese younger (YA) and older adults (OA) by recording event-related brain potentials (ERP). Participants were asked to identify audio only (AO) and congruent audiovisual (AV) syllables as /ba/ or /ga/). We found age-related ERP changes (N1, P2, and N2 latencies) in Japanese audiovisual speech perception. Whereas the visual influence was sustained (maintained from P2 to N2) in the OA group, the influence was transient (limited only to N1) in the YA group. It seemed that the OA group’s slower auditory processing is compensated by visual information.

Index Terms: audiovisual speech perception, aging, ERP

@inproceedings{hisanaga10_avsp,
  title     = {{An ERP examination of audiovisual speech perception in Japanese younger and older adults}},
  author    = {Satoko Hisanaga and Kaoru Sekiyama and Tomohiko Igasaki and Nobuki Murayama},
  year      = {2010},
  booktitle = {{Auditory-Visual Speech Processing}},
  pages     = {paper S5-3},
}