Auditory-motor interaction revealed by fMRI: speech, music, and working memory in area Spt
Abstract
The concept of auditory-motor interaction pervades speech science research, yet the cortical systems supporting this interface have not been elucidated. Drawing on experimental designs used in recent work in sensory-motor integration in the cortical visual system, we used fMRI in an effort to identify human auditory regions with both sensory and motor response properties, analogous to single-unit responses in known visuomotor integration areas. The sensory phase of the task involved listening to speech (nonsense sentences) or music (novel piano melodies); the "motor" phase of the task involved covert rehearsal/humming of the auditory stimuli. A small set of areas in the superior temporal and temporal-parietal cortex responded both during the listening phase and the rehearsal/humming phase. A left lateralized region in the posterior Sylvian fissure at the parietal-temporal boundary, area Spt, showed particularly robust responses to both phases of the task. Frontal areas also showed combined auditory + rehearsal responsivity consistent with the claim that the posterior activations are part of a larger auditory-motor integration circuit. We hypothesize that this circuit plays an important role in speech development as part of the network that enables acoustic-phonetic input to guide the acquisition of language-specific articulatory-phonetic gestures; this circuit may play a role in analogous musical abilities. In the adult, this system continues to support aspects of speech production, and, we suggest, supports verbal working memory.
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The practice of functionally defining a region of interest that is commonly activated by auditory inputs and covert articulation might artificially merge distinct auditory and motor regions in the ventral and dorsal surfaces of the sylvian fissure particularly when data are smoothed and averaged over subjects.
“For example, the practice of functionally defining a region of interest that is commonly activated by auditory inputs and covert articulation (Hickok et al., 2003) might artificially merge distinct auditory and motor regions in the ventral and dorsal surfaces of the sylvian fissure particularly when data are smoothed and averaged over subjects.”
From A review and synthesis of the first 20years of PET and fMRI studies of heard speech, spoken language and reading (2012) · cites this paper as Hickok et al., 2003
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- Authors
- Hickok, G., Buchsbaum, B., Humphries, C., & Muftuler, T.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
- Publisher
- MIT Press
- Published
- 2003-07-01
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 673-682
- ISSN
- 0898-929X (ISSN-L)
- 1530-8898
- OpenAlex
- W2130876672
- Cited by
- 700
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 31 · 2022: 61 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 31 · 2017: 32 · 2016: 35 · 2015: 41 · 2014: 33 · 2013: 36 · 2012: 45
- FWCI
- 9.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (R01DC03681, R01DC003681)
- 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
- auditory-motor interaction, sensorimotor integration, superior temporal cortex, speech perception, music perception, working memory, speech production, speech development, articulatory gestures, frontal cortex
- MeSH terms
- Acoustic Stimulation, Auditory Perception, Brain Mapping, Female, Humans, Functional Laterality, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Motor Activity, Music, Pitch Discrimination, Practice, Psychological, Speech, Time Factors
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