Speech Computations of the Human Superior Temporal Gyrus

Human speech perception results from neural computations that transform external acoustic speech signals into internal representations of words. The superior temporal gyrus (STG) contains the nonprimary auditory cortex and is a critical locus for phonological processing. Here, we describe how speech...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annual review of psychology 2022-01, Vol.73 (1), p.79-102
Main Authors: Bhaya-Grossman, Ilina, Chang, Edward F
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustic phonetics
Acoustics
Auditory Cortex
Brain Mapping - methods
categorization
contextual restoration
Cortex
Encoding
Extraction
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods
Normalization
Phonemics
Phonetics
Phonological processing
Phonology
Prosodic features
Recurrent
Sensory perception
Speech
Speech Perception
Superior temporal gyrus
temporal landmarks
Temporal Lobe
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Description
Summary:Human speech perception results from neural computations that transform external acoustic speech signals into internal representations of words. The superior temporal gyrus (STG) contains the nonprimary auditory cortex and is a critical locus for phonological processing. Here, we describe how speech sound representation in the STG relies on fundamentally nonlinear and dynamical processes, such as categorization, normalization, contextual restoration, and the extraction of temporal structure. A spatial mosaic of local cortical sites on the STG exhibits complex auditory encoding for distinct acoustic-phonetic and prosodic features. We propose that as a population ensemble, these distributed patterns of neural activity give rise to abstract, higher-order phonemic and syllabic representations that support speech perception. This review presents a multi-scale, recurrent model of phonological processing in the STG, highlighting the critical interface between auditory and language systems.
ISSN:0066-4308
1545-2085
1545-2085
DOI:10.1146/annurev-psych-022321-035256