title: A neural mechanism for recognizing speech spoken by different speakers.
abstract: Understanding speech from different speakers is a sophisticated process, particularly because the same acoustic parameters convey important information about both the speech message and the person speaking. How the human brain accomplishes speech recognition under such conditions is unknown. One view is that speaker information is discarded at early processing stages and not used for understanding the speech message. An alternative view is that speaker information is exploited to improve speech recognition. Consistent with the latter view, previous research identified functional interactions between the left- and the right-hemispheric superior temporal sulcus/gyrus, which process speech- and speaker-specific vocal tract parameters, respectively. Vocal tract parameters are one of the two major acoustic features that determine both speaker identity and speech message (phonemes). Here, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we show that a similar interaction exists for glottal fold parameters between the left and right Heschl's gyri. Glottal fold parameters are the other main acoustic feature that determines speaker identity and speech message (linguistic prosody). The findings suggest that interactions between left- and right-hemispheric areas are specific to the processing of different acoustic features of speech and speaker, and that they represent a general neural mechanism when understanding speech from different speakers.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Max Planck Research Group Neural Mechanisms of Human Communication, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany. Electronic address: kreitewolf@cbs.mpg.de.
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kreitewolf
authors.affiliation: University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, 9700 RB Groningen, Netherlands; University of Groningen, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Research School of Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences, 9713 GZ Groningen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gaudrain
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Max Planck Research Group Neural Mechanisms of Human Communication, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany; Humboldt University of Berlin, Psychology Department, D-12489 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: von Kriegstein
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D005931:Glottis / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007206:Individuality; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D014827:Vocal Cords / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen
keywords: Glottal fold; Heschl's gyrus; Linguistic prosody; Voice; fMRI