Dr Alice E. Milne

BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD

Lecturer of Neuroscience

Lancaster University

Lancaster, UK

I am a cognitive neuroscientist and lecturer that is interested in how our brain processes predictable information, especially in the auditory modality.

I am currently a lecturer in the Psychology department at Lancaster University.

Previously I was a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow working primarily at UCL Ear Institute (London, UK) with Maria Chait and also with Morten Christiansen at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY, USA) and Chris Conway at Grinnell College (Iowa, USA). As well as a lecturer in the Speech, Hearing and Phonetic Sciences department at UCL.

I am fascinated by the brain’s ability to learn sequences. We are experts at recognizing patterns in the world around us. For instance, when we learn a language, we acquire the sounds of that language and the order in which they appear. Similarly, when we sit on a train, if we can quickly extract the predictable, stable components of the background noise, this can help us to ignore them and focus on our work, conversation, or daydream.

My research aims to understand how we learn different types of patterns and how they affect the way we interact with our environment. I am particularly interested in the mechanisms in the brain that are responsible for these processes, and what happens when they do not work optimally. How does this affect the way we navigate the world? Additionally, how do these mechanisms develop during infancy and childhood - to what degree are they innate and how much are they shaped by our early environments? How do they change as we age?

I use a variety of techniques, particularly focusing on pupillometry and Electroencephalography (EEG)

Research Projects

Auditory structured sequence learning on multiple timescales

The brain is highly sensitive to regularities in the auditory environment, and uses them in many ways. For example, if the brain learns the predictable order of sounds made by a car engine, it can efficiently identify it as a source of irrelevant noise, freeing cognitive resources for other tasks such as driving. Regularities also play an important role in language, dictating the relationship between sounds within a word (phonemes), syllables in words or the order of words in a sentence. These regularities have been studied to better understand language acquisition and evolution. However, there are limited interactions between language-motivated and scene-motivated research. My current fellowship works towards integrating these fields to find out whether these separate research areas tap into the same brain mechanisms.

How?

I am harnessing the power of the pupil to investigate ways in which changes to pupil size can indicate whether or not the brain has extracted the predictable structure of a sound.
Investigating individual differences in sequence learning abilities
Studying neural activity using EEG
Looking at atypical populations e.g. dyslexia, auditory processing disorder, developmental language disorder

The fellowship is funded by the Wellcome Trust and I am being supported by Professor Maria Chait, Dr Chris Conway and Professor Morten Christiansen

Neural signatures of auditory attention lapses

My post doctoral work was part of the project Cognitive Control of a Hearing Aid focused on studying behavioural and neurophysiological markers of lapses in auditory and visual attention.

This research was funded by European Commission Horizon2020 award

Artificial Grammar Learning and the evolution of language

While language is associated with human communication, we can study non-human animals, such as our primate cousins, to investigate the neural machinery that may have evolved to support language.

One feature of language is syntax, the system which dictates the order of words in a sentence. Artificial grammars can be used to emulate some of the order-based relationships found in syntax.

My doctoral work looked at the evolutionary origins of non-adjacent sequence processing in primate brain potentials and well as Auditory and visual sequence learning in humans and monkeys.

This PhD was supervised by Professor Chris Petkov at Newcastle University supported by an MRC DTP Studentship and funding from the Wellcome Trust.

I have experience working with EEG, fMRI and eye-tracking/pupillometry.

Public Engagement

I volunteer with Inspire! Education business partnership to tell primary school children all about being a Neuroscientist, how their brain listens to sounds and how they all secretly have auditory superpowers!

I am part of the Voice of Young Science network , working to quash misconceptions about science and improve public awareness

In the past I worked with Seven Stories, the national centre for children's books, in Newcastle on their "Big Ideas" project and was editor for Newcastle Universities's science magazine {REACT} (issues 8 and 9).

Publications

Lancaster, H. S., Pomper, R., Milne, A. E., Gordon, K. R., McGregor, K. K.. Nonverbal IQ measures aren't measuring what you think: Why children with DLD tend to score lower on NVIQ tests. OSF

Milne, A.E., Chait, M., Conway, C.M. Probing sensitivity to statistical structure in rapid sound sequences using deviant detection tasks | bioRxiv

Milne, A.E., Zhao, S., Tampakaki, C., Bury, G., & Chait, M. Sustained pupil responses are modulated by predictability of auditory sequences. The Journal of Neuroscience, 41(28), 6116-6127. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2879-20.2021

Milne, A.E.*, Bianco, R.*, Poole, K.C.*, Zhao, S*., Oxenham, A.J., Billig, A.J. & Chait, M. An online headphone screening test based on dichotic pitch. Behavior Research Methods. doi: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-020-01514-0 *Equal first authors

Zhao, S., Bury, G., Milne, A.E., & Chait, M. (2019). Pupillometry as an objective measure of sustained attention in young and older listeners. Trends in Hearing, 23, 2331216519887815

Mueller, J.L., Milne, A.E., & Männel, C. (2018). Non-adjacent auditory sequence learning across development and primate species. Current Opinions in Behavioural Sciences, 21,,112 -119.

Milne, A.E.*, Wilson, B.*, & Christiansen, M.H. (2018). Structured sequence learning across sensory modalities in humans and nonhuman primates. Current Opinions in Behavioural Sciences, 21,39-48. *Equal first authors

Milne, A.E., Petkov, C.I., & Wilson, B. (2018). Auditory and visual artificial grammar learning in humans and monkeys. Neuroscience. 389, 104-117

Milne, A.E., Mueller, J.L., Männel, C., Attaheri, A., Friederici, A.D., & Petkov, C.I. (2016). Evolutionary origins of non-adjacent rule processing in primate brain potentials. Scientific Reports, 6, 36259.

Slater, H., Milne, A.E., Wilson, B., Muers, R.S., Hunter, D., Thiele, A., Griffiths, T.D. & Petkov, C.I. (2016). Individually customisable non-invasive head immobilisation system for non-human primates with option for voluntary engagement. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 269, 46-60.

Petkov, C.I., Kikuchi, Y., Milne, A.E., Mishkin, M., Rauschecker, J.P., & Logothetis, N.K. (2015). Different forms of effective connectivity in primate fronto-temporal pathways. Nature Communications, (6000), 1-12.

Attaheri, A., Kikuchi, Y., Milne, A.E., Wilson. B., Alter, K., & Petkov, C.I. (2015). EEG potentials associated with artificial grammar learning in the primate brain. Brain & Language,148, 74-80

Wilson, B., Slater, H., Kikuchi, Y., Milne, A.E., Marslen-Wilson, W.D., Smith, K., Petkov, C.I. (2013). Auditory artificial grammar learning in Macaque and Marmoset monkeys. Journal of Neuroscience, 33(48), 18825- 18835.

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