title: Bilateral dorsal and ventral fiber pathways for the processing of affective prosody identified by probabilistic fiber tracking.
abstract: Dorsal and ventral pathways for syntacto-semantic speech processing in the left hemisphere are represented in the dual-stream model of auditory processing. Here we report new findings for the right dorsal and ventral temporo-frontal pathway during processing of affectively intonated speech (i.e. affective prosody) in humans, together with several left hemispheric structural connections, partly resembling those for syntacto-semantic speech processing. We investigated white matter fiber connectivity between regions responding to affective prosody in several subregions of the bilateral superior temporal cortex (secondary and higher-level auditory cortex) and of the inferior frontal cortex (anterior and posterior inferior frontal gyrus). The fiber connectivity was investigated by using probabilistic diffusion tensor based tractography. The results underscore several so far underestimated auditory pathway connections, especially for the processing of affective prosody, such as a right ventral auditory pathway. The results also suggest the existence of a dual-stream processing in the right hemisphere, and a general predominance of the dorsal pathways in both hemispheres underlying the neural processing of affective prosody in an extended temporo-frontal network.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience of Emotion and Affective Dynamics Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. Electronic address: sascha.fruehholz@unige.ch.
authors.forename: Sascha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Frühholz
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurology and Imaging of Cognition, Department of Neurosciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; Neurology Service, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gschwind
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience of Emotion and Affective Dynamics Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grandjean
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011336:Probability; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D066127:White Matter / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Auditory pathways; DTI; Emotion; Probabilistic fiber tracking; Prosody; Voice