Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.05.20.105874v1?rss=1 Authors: Tune, S., Alavash, M., Fiedler, L., Obleser, J. Abstract: Successful speech comprehension requires the listener to differentiate relevant from irrelevant sounds. Most studies on this problem address one of two candidate neural auditory filter solutions: Selective neural tracking of attended versus ignored speech in auditory cortex ("speech tracking"), and the lateralized modulation of alpha power in wider temporo-parietal cortex. Using an unprecedentedly large, age-varying sample (N=155; age=39-80 years) in a difficult listening task, we here demonstrate their limited potency to predict behavioral listening success at the single-trial level. Within auditory cortex, we observed attentional-cue-driven modulation of both, speech tracking and alpha power. Both filter mechanisms clearly operate functionally independent of each other and appear undiminished with chronological age. Importantly, single-trial models and cross-validated predictive analyses in this large sample challenge the immediate functional relevance of these neural attentional filters to overt behavior: The direct impact of spatial attentional cues as well as typical confounders age and hearing loss on behavior reliably outweighed the relatively minor predictive influence of speech tracking and alpha power. Our results emphasize the importance of large-scale, trial-by-trial analyses and caution against simplified accounts of neural filtering strategies for behavior often derived from younger, smaller samples. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info