Conjugating time and frequency: hemispheric specialization, acoustic uncertainty, and the mustached bat

A prominent hypothesis of hemispheric specialization for human speech and music states that the left and right auditory cortices (ACs) are respectively specialized for precise calculation of two canonically-conjugate variables: time and frequency. This spectral-temporal asymmetry does not account fo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in neuroscience 2015-04, Vol.9, p.143-143
Main Authors: Washington, Stuart D, Tillinghast, John S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustics
animal communication
Aphasia
Asymmetry
bats
Brain research
Communication
Dyslexia
Echolocation
Handedness
Hemispheric laterality
hemispheric specialization
Hypotheses
Language
music perception
Neurosciences
Psychology
Sex differences
Signal processing
Specialization
Speech
Speech Perception
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Summary:A prominent hypothesis of hemispheric specialization for human speech and music states that the left and right auditory cortices (ACs) are respectively specialized for precise calculation of two canonically-conjugate variables: time and frequency. This spectral-temporal asymmetry does not account for sex, brain-volume, or handedness, and is in opposition to closed-system hypotheses that restrict this asymmetry to humans. Mustached bats have smaller brains, but greater ethological pressures to develop such a spectral-temporal asymmetry, than humans. Using the Heisenberg-Gabor Limit (i.e., the mathematical basis of the spectral-temporal asymmetry) to frame mustached bat literature, we show that recent findings in bat AC (1) support the notion that hemispheric specialization for speech and music is based on hemispheric differences in temporal and spectral resolution, (2) discredit closed-system, handedness, and brain-volume theories, (3) underscore the importance of sex differences, and (4) provide new avenues for phonological research.
ISSN:1662-4548
1662-453X
1662-453X
DOI:10.3389/fnins.2015.00143