Abstract
Gradient coding of voice onset time in posterior temporal cortex
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Vol.135(4_Supplement), pp.2225-2225
04/01/2014
DOI: 10.1121/1.4877273
Abstract
The issue of whether early stages of speech processing are influenced by category has been central to work in speech perception for decades. We present the results of an experiment using fast diffusive optical neuroimaging (Gratton and Fabiani, 2001, Int. J. Psychophysiol.) to address this question directly by measuring neural responses to speech with high temporo-spatial resolution. We found that changes in voice onset time (VOT) along a /b/-/p/ continuum evoked linear changes in neural responses in posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) 100 ms after stimulus onset. This is the first non-invasive observation of such responses in humans. It is consistent with results from recent event-related potential (Toscano et al., 2010, Psychol. Sci.) and fMRI (Blumstein et al., 2005, J. Cognit. Neurosci.) studies, and provides evidence that those results reflect listeners' early encoding of speech sounds in pSTG, independently of phonological categories. Thus, the results provide evidence that speech perception is based on continuous cues rather than discrete categories. We discuss these results in light of recent intra-cranial EEG studies reporting either categorical effects in pSTG (Chang et al., 2010, Nature Neurosci.) or evidence that pSTG maintains fine-grained detail in the signal (Pasley et al., 2012, PLoS Biol.).
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Gradient coding of voice onset time in posterior temporal cortex
- Creators
- Nathaniel D. Anderson - University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignJoseph C. Toscano - University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignMonica Fabiani - University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignGabriele Gratton - University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignSusan M. Garnsey - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Resource Type
- Abstract
- Publication Details
- The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Vol.135(4_Supplement), pp.2225-2225
- DOI
- 10.1121/1.4877273
- ISSN
- 0001-4966
- eISSN
- 1520-8524
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 04/01/2014
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences
- Record Identifier
- 9984632142702771
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