Detection of sounds in the auditory stream: event-related fMRI evidence for differential activation to speech and nonspeech
Abstract
The detection of speech in an auditory stream is a requisite first step in processing spoken language. In this study, we used event-related fMRI to investigate the neural substrates mediating detection of speech compared with that of nonspeech auditory stimuli. Unlike previous studies addressing this issue, we contrasted speech with nonspeech analogues that were matched along key temporal and spectral dimensions. In an oddball detection task, listeners heard nonsense speech sounds, matched sine wave analogues (complex nonspeech), or single tones (simple nonspeech). Speech stimuli elicited significantly greater activation than both complex and simple nonspeech stimuli in classic receptive language areas, namely the middle temporal gyri bilaterally and in a locus lateralized to the left posterior superior temporal gyrus. In addition, speech activated a small cluster of the right inferior frontal gyrus. The activation of these areas in a simple detection task, which requires neither identification nor linguistic analysis, suggests they play a fundamental role in speech processing.
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Following training, sine-wave speech engages a left-lateralized 'speech mode' network including anterior and posterior temporal cortex (superior temporal gyrus and middle temporal gyrus), inferior frontal gyrus and insula.
“Following training, SWS engages a left-lateralized 'speech mode' network including anterior and posterior temporal cortex (STG and middle temporal gyrus), IFG and insula (Vouloumanos et al., 2001;Dehaene-Lambertz et al., 2005;Benson et al., 2006;Mo ¨tto ¨nen et al., 2006;McGettigan et al., 2012).”
From Distinct processing of ambiguous speech in people with non-clinical auditory verbal hallucinations (2017) · cites this paper as Vouloumanos et al., 2001
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- Authors
- Vouloumanos, A., Kiehl, K. A., Werker, J. F., & Liddle, P. F.
- Affiliations
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Venue
- Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
- Publisher
- MIT Press
- Published
- 2001-10-01
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 994-1005
- ISSN
- 0898-929X (ISSN-L)
- 1530-8898
- OpenAlex
- W2135006625
- Cited by
- 251
- References
- 53
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 5.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Killam Trusts
- University of British Columbia
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Phonetics and Phonology Research
- Keywords
- speech detection, auditory stream segregation, speech perception, non-speech sounds, middle temporal gyrus, posterior superior temporal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus
- MeSH terms
- Acoustic Stimulation, Adult, Attention, Auditory Perception, Brain, Evoked Potentials, Female, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Psychomotor Performance, Recruitment, Neurophysiological, Speech Perception, Echo-Planar Imaging
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