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Silent Reading of Direct versus Indirect Speech Activates Voice-selective Areas in the Auditory Cortex
Open accessAbstract
In human communication, direct speech (e.g., Mary said: “I'm hungry”) is perceived to be more vivid than indirect speech (e.g., Mary said [that] she was hungry). However, for silent reading, the representational consequences of this distinction are still unclear. Although many of us share the intuition of an “inner voice,” particularly during silent reading of direct speech statements in text, there has been little direct empirical confirmation of this experience so far. Combining fMRI with eye tracking in human volunteers, we show that silent reading of direct versus indirect speech engenders differential brain activation in voice-selective areas of the auditory cortex. This suggests that readers are indeed more likely to engage in perceptual simulations (or spontaneous imagery) of the reported speaker's voice when reading direct speech as opposed to meaning-equivalent indirect speech statements as part of a more vivid representation of the former. Our results may be interpreted in line with embodied cognition and form a starting point for more sophisticated interdisciplinary research on the nature of auditory mental simulation during reading.
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“Reading of direct speech was specifically associated with activation in middle and posterior right STS compared with indirect speech.”
From The brain's conversation with itself: neural substrates of dialogic inner speech (2016) · cites this paper as Yao et al. (2011)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
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“Compared with passages of indirect speech, direct speech was associated with greater activation in right auditory cortex (posterior and middle superior temporal sulcus), alongside recruitment of the superior parietal lobules, precuneus, and occipital regions bilaterally.”
From Inner Speech: Development, Cognitive Functions, Phenomenology, and Neurobiology (2015) · cites this paper as Yao, Belin, & Scheepers, 2011
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In the citing paper
“Taken together, these findings suggest that dialogic forms of inner speech are likely to draw on a range of regions beyond a typical left-sided perisylvian language network, including the right IFG, right middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and the right STG/STS.”
From The brain's conversation with itself: neural substrates of dialogic inner speech (2016) · cites this paper as Yao et al. (2011)
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1 of the 33 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
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Inner Speech: Development, Cognitive Functions, Phenomenology, and Neurobiology
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“For instance, Yao, Belin, and Scheepers (2011) compared brain activation during reading for direct speech (The man said “Get in the car”) and indirect speech (The man said to get in the car), on the rationale that the former likely involved specific representation of a character’s voice.”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Yao, B., Belin, P., & Scheepers, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Glasgow (GB)
- Venue
- Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
- Publisher
- MIT Press - Journals
- Published
- 2011-10-01
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 3146-3152
- ISSN
- 0898-929X (ISSN-L)
- 1530-8898
- OpenAlex
- W2052751984
- Cited by
- 145
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 3.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Licence
- other-oa
- Locations
- Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (acceptedVersion)
- Lancaster EPrints (Lancaster University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Glasgow
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
- Keywords
- direct speech, reported speech, silent reading, auditory cortex, inner speech, embodied cognition, speech perception, auditory imagery
- MeSH terms
- Acoustic Stimulation, Adult, Attention, Auditory Cortex, Auditory Perception, Brain Mapping, Eye Movements, Female, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Lipreading, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Oxygen, Psychomotor Performance, Semantics, Speech, Young Adult
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