title: Neural sensitivity to syllable frequency and mutual information in speech perception and production.
abstract: Many factors affect our ability to decode the speech signal, including its quality, the complexity of the elements that compose it, as well as their frequency of occurrence and co-occurrence in a language. Syllable frequency effects have been described in the behavioral literature, including facilitatory effects during speech production and inhibitory effects during word recognition, but the neural mechanisms underlying these effects remain largely unknown. The objective of this study was to examine, using functional neuroimaging, the neurobiological correlates of three different distributional statistics in simple 2-syllable nonwords: the frequency of the first and second syllables, and the mutual information between the syllables. We examined these statistics during nonword perception and production using a powerful single-trial analytical approach. We found that repetition accuracy was higher for nonwords in which the frequency of the first syllable was high. In addition, brain responses to distributional statistics were widespread and almost exclusively cortical. Importantly, brain activity was modulated in a distinct manner for each statistic, with the strongest facilitatory effects associated with the frequency of the first syllable and mutual information. These findings show that distributional statistics modulate nonword perception and production. We discuss the common and unique impact of each distributional statistic on brain activity, as well as task differences.
authors.affiliation: Université Laval, Département de Réadaptation, Québec City, QC, Canada; Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire en santé mentale de Québec (CRIUSMQ), Québec City, QC, Canada. Electronic address: pascale.tremblay@fmed.ulaval.ca.
authors.forename: Pascale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tremblay
authors.affiliation: Université Laval, Département de Réadaptation, Québec City, QC, Canada; Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire en santé mentale de Québec (CRIUSMQ), Québec City, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Deschamps
authors.affiliation: Center for Mind and Brain Sciences (CIMeC), Università Degli Studi di Trento, Via delle Regole, 101, I-38060 Mattarello, TN, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baroni
authors.affiliation: Center for Mind and Brain Sciences (CIMeC), Università Degli Studi di Trento, Via delle Regole, 101, I-38060 Mattarello, TN, Italy.
authors.forename: Uri
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Hasson
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology; D046709:Pattern Recognition, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D010700:Phonetics; D060865:Repetition Priming / Q000502:physiology*; D012660:Semantics; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult