Language-experience plasticity in neural representation of changes in pitch salience

• Cortical and brainstem auditory response components index pitch salience.
• Language-dependent sensitivity to pitch salience is limited to Na–Pb component.
• Language-dependent sensitivity to pitch salience is limited to right temporal site.
• Cortical vs brainstem responses differ in pattern of sensitivity to pitch salience.
• Experience shapes hierarchical pitch processing in brainstem and auditory cortex.

Neural representation of pitch-relevant information at the brainstem and cortical levels of processing is influenced by language experience. A well-known attribute of pitch is its salience. Brainstem frequency following responses and cortical pitch specific responses, recorded concurrently, were elicited by a pitch salience continuum spanning weak to strong pitch of a dynamic, iterated rippled noise pitch contour—homolog of a Mandarin tone. Our aims were to assess how language experience (Chinese, English) affects i) enhancement of neural activity associated with pitch salience at brainstem and cortical levels, ii) the presence of asymmetry in cortical pitch representation, and iii) patterns of relative changes in magnitude along the pitch salience continuum. Peak latency (Fz: Na, Pb, and Nb) was shorter in the Chinese than the English group across the continuum. Peak-to-peak amplitude (Fz: Na–Pb, Pb–Nb) of the Chinese group grew larger with increasing pitch salience, but an experience-dependent advantage was limited to the Na–Pb component. At temporal sites (T7/T8), the larger amplitude of the Chinese group across the continuum was both limited to the Na–Pb component and the right temporal site. At the brainstem level, F0 magnitude gets larger as you increase pitch salience, and it too reveals Chinese superiority. A direct comparison of cortical and brainstem responses for the Chinese group reveals different patterns of relative changes in magnitude along the pitch salience continuum. Such differences may point to a transformation in pitch processing at the cortical level presumably mediated by local sensory and/or extrasensory influence overlaid on the brainstem output.