Review
Towards a functional neuroanatomy of speech perception

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Abstract

The functional neuroanatomy of speech perception has been difficult to characterize. Part of the difficulty, we suggest, stems from the fact that the neural systems supporting ‘speech perception’ vary as a function of the task. Specifically, the set of cognitive and neural systems involved in performing traditional laboratory speech perception tasks, such as syllable discrimination or identification, only partially overlap those involved in speech perception as it occurs during natural language comprehension. In this review, we argue that cortical fields in the posterior–superior temporal lobe, bilaterally, constitute the primary substrate for constructing sound-based representations of speech, and that these sound-based representations interface with different supramodal systems in a task-dependent manner. Tasks that require access to the mental lexicon (i.e. accessing meaning-based representations) rely on auditory-to-meaning interface systems in the cortex in the vicinity of the left temporal–parietal–occipital junction. Tasks that require explicit access to speech segments rely on auditory–motor interface systems in the left frontal and parietal lobes. This auditory–motor interface system also appears to be recruited in phonological working memory.

Section snippets

Speech perception subserving access to the mental lexicon

This section examines the functional neuroanatomy of speech perception primarily from the perspective of auditory comprehension tasks. Data from auditory comprehension tasks are relevant to the study of speech perception because a prerequisite of auditory comprehension is the construction of a sound-based representation of the speech input which is suitable for making contact with the mental lexicon. Thus, speech perception is one stage in the process of auditory comprehension. Although it is

Speech perception in tasks requiring explicit attention to phonetic structure

We have argued that the primary substrate for constructing sound-based representations of speech comprises auditory related cortices in the posterior superior temporal lobe bilaterally. Much of this argument was based on evidence from tasks that involve auditory comprehension. A glance at the literature on the functional neuroanatomy of speech perception, however, will reveal evidence suggesting that extra-auditory cortical regions play an important role in receptive phonetic processing. For

Conclusions

In this review we have argued: (1) that the posterior–superior temporal lobe bilaterally constitutes the primary cortical substrate for the construction of sound-based representations of speech; (2) that while both hemispheres participate, they probably make different contributions to speech perception (Box 1); (3) that left hemisphere frontal and parietal regions, sometimes implicated in aspects of speech perception (and also in phonological working memory), may be understood in terms of a

Outstanding questions

  • We have proposed that superior temporal lobe structures play an important role in constructing ‘sound-based representations of speech.’ This process is complex, probably involving multiple levels of representation. How does this general notion of sound-based representations map onto the different linguistic levels of representation (e.g. phonetic features, syllabic structure, etc.)? Are there neuroanatomical subdivisions within auditory cortex that correspond to these levels of representation?

Acknowledgements

The work was supported by NIH DC-0361 (to G.H.), the McDonnell-Pew program, the National Science Foundation LIS initiative, and the University of Maryland Center of Comparative Neuroscience (to D.P.).

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