Transformation of a temporal speech cue to a spatial neural code in human auditory cortex

Fox, Neal P.; Leonard, Matthew K.; Sjerps, Matthias J.; Chang, Edward F.

doi:10.7554/elife.53051

Cited by 24 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 119 publications

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“…We interpreted these findings as revealing a representation of category perception, but not necessarily reflecting categorical perception, per se. We argue that cortical representations contain phonetic category information which is critically relevant for behavioral categorization, but the within-category differences were not lost (Fox et al, 2020;Frye et al, 2007;Toscano et al, 2010). Moreover, the present study showed that representational warping based on phonetic category can be observed without an explicit labelling task, suggesting that top-down effects may not be necessary for eliciting non-linear encoding patterns.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 47%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Neural Correlates of Individual Differences in Speech Categorization: Evidence from Subcortical, Cortical, and Behavioral Measures

Ou¹,

Yu²

2021

Preprint

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Categorization is a fundamental cognitive ability to group different objects as the same. This ability is particularly indispensable for human speech perception, yet individual differences in speech categorization are nonetheless ubiquitous. The present study investigates the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the variability in categorization of voice-onset time (VOT). Subcortical and cortical speech-evoked responses are recorded to investigate speech representations at two functional levels of auditory processing. Individual differences in psychometric functions correlate positively with how faithfully subcortical responses encode VOT differences. Moreover, individuals also differ in how strongly the subcortical and cortical representations correlate with each other. Listeners with gradient categorization show higher correspondences between the two representations, indicating that acoustic information is relayed faithfully from the subcortical to the cortical level; listeners with discrete categorization exhibit decreased similarity between the two representations, suggesting that the subcortical acoustic encoding is transformed at the cortical level to reflect phonetic category information.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 47%

“…It is unclear whether a similar neurophysiological mechanism i.e. subcortical-cortical transformation, can be observed for temporal cues, such as VOT, which distinguishes voicing categories (see Fox et al, 2020 for cortical representation of a VOT continuum). Moreover, these studies have mainly focused on group-level patterning.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural Correlates of Individual Differences in Speech Categorization: Evidence from Subcortical, Cortical, and Behavioral Measures

Ou¹,

Yu²

2021

Preprint

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“…This finely organized heterogeneity in responses implies a cortical topography that takes us beyond traditional structure-function mappings for higherorder syntax-semantics (Naidich et al, 2004). This mosaic architecture has been ascribed to sensory cortices, and to the best of our knowledge has not been shown for higher-level processing in associative cortices (Fox et al, 2020;Tsao, 2020). We speculate that such organization may be a foundational principle underpinning human language.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Minimal phrase composition revealed by intracranial recordings

Murphy

Woolnough

et al. 2021

Preprint

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The ability to comprehend meaningful phrases is an essential component of language. Here we evaluate a minimal compositional scheme – the ‘red-boat’ paradigm – using intracranial recordings to map the process of semantic composition in phrase structure comprehension. 18 human participants, implanted with penetrating depth or surface subdural intracranial electrode for the evaluation of medically refractory epilepsy, were presented with auditory recordings of adjective-noun, pseudoword-noun and adjective-pseudoword phrases before being presented with a colored drawing, and were asked to judge whether the phrase matched the object presented. Significantly greater broadband gamma activity (70-150Hz) occurred in temporo-occipital junction (TOJ) and posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG) for pseudowords over words (300-700ms post-onset) in both first- and second-word positions. Greater inter-trial phase coherence (8-12Hz) was found for words than for pseudowords in posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG). Isolating phrase structure sensitivity, we identified a portion of TOJ and posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) that showed increased gamma activity for phrase composition than for non-composition, while left anterior temporal lobe (ATL) showed greater low frequency (2-15Hz) activity for phrase composition, likely coordinating distributed semantic representations. Greater functional connectivity between pSTS-TOJ and pars triangularis, and between pSTS-TOJ and ATL, was also found for phrase composition. STG, ATL and pars triangularis were found to encode anticipation of composition in the beta band (15-30Hz), and alpha (8-12Hz) power increases in ATL were also linked to anticipation. These results indicate that pSTS-TOJ appears to be crucial hub in the network responsible for the retrieval and computation of minimal phrases, and that anticipation of such composition is encoded in fronto-temporal regions.

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“…Neuroimaging and neurophysiological studies support the idea that features also play a central role in how auditory cortex represents speech sounds (see Monahan, 2018 for a review). The spectral and temporal characteristics of speech sounds are encoded by different spectro-temporal receptive fields (STRF) in superior temporal gyrus (STG; Fox et al, 2020;Hullett et al, 2016;Mesgarani et al, 2014;Yi et al, 2019). Different populations in STG code distinct phonetic properties of speech sounds (Mesgarani et al, 2014), including voice onset time (VOT; Fox et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The spectral and temporal characteristics of speech sounds are encoded by different spectro-temporal receptive fields (STRF) in superior temporal gyrus (STG; Fox et al, 2020;Hullett et al, 2016;Mesgarani et al, 2014;Yi et al, 2019). Different populations in STG code distinct phonetic properties of speech sounds (Mesgarani et al, 2014), including voice onset time (VOT; Fox et al, 2020). Moreover, Khalighinejad et al (2017) and Mesgarani et al (2014) showed that stops and fricatives are coded by distinct neuronal populations, independent of their voicing status.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unified Coding of Spectral and Temporal Phonetic Cues: Electrophysiological Evidence for Abstract Phonological Features

Monahan

Schertz

et al. 2022

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

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Spoken word recognition models and phonological theory propose that abstract features play a central role in speech processing. It remains unknown, however, whether auditory cortex encodes linguistic features in a manner beyond the phonetic properties of the speech sounds themselves. We took advantage of the fact that English phonology functionally codes stops and fricatives as voiced or voiceless with two distinct phonetic cues: Fricatives use a spectral cue, whereas stops use a temporal cue. Evidence that these cues can be grouped together would indicate the disjunctive coding of distinct phonetic cues into a functionally defined abstract phonological feature. In English, the voicing feature, which distinguishes the consonants [s] and [t] from [z] and [d], respectively, is hypothesized to be specified only for voiceless consonants (e.g., [s t]). Here, participants listened to syllables in a many-to-one oddball design, while their EEG was recorded. In one block, both voiceless stops and fricatives were the standards. In the other block, both voiced stops and fricatives were the standards. A critical design element was the presence of intercategory variation within the standards. Therefore, a many-to-one relationship, which is necessary to elicit an MMN, existed only if the stop and fricative standards were grouped together. In addition to the ERPs, event-related spectral power was also analyzed. Results showed an MMN effect in the voiceless standards block—an asymmetric MMN—in a time window consistent with processing in auditory cortex, as well as increased prestimulus beta-band oscillatory power to voiceless standards. These findings suggest that (i) there is an auditory memory trace of the standards based on the shared (voiceless) feature, which is only functionally defined; (ii) voiced consonants are underspecified; and (iii) features can serve as a basis for predictive processing. Taken together, these results point toward auditory cortex's ability to functionally code distinct phonetic cues together and suggest that abstract features can be used to parse the continuous acoustic signal.

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Transformation of a temporal speech cue to a spatial neural code in human auditory cortex

Cited by 24 publications

References 119 publications

Neural Correlates of Individual Differences in Speech Categorization: Evidence from Subcortical, Cortical, and Behavioral Measures

Neural Correlates of Individual Differences in Speech Categorization: Evidence from Subcortical, Cortical, and Behavioral Measures

Minimal phrase composition revealed by intracranial recordings

Unified Coding of Spectral and Temporal Phonetic Cues: Electrophysiological Evidence for Abstract Phonological Features

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