Agus, T. R., Paquette, S., Suied, C., Pressnitzer, D. and Belin, P. (2017) Voice selectivity in the temporal voice area despite matched low-level acoustic cues. Scientific Reports, 7, 11526. (doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-11684-1) (PMID:28912437) (PMCID:PMC5599610)
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Abstract
In human listeners, the temporal voice areas (TVAs) are regions of the superior temporal gyrus and sulcus that respond more to vocal sounds than a range of nonvocal control sounds, including scrambled voices, environmental noises, and animal cries. One interpretation of the TVA's selectivity is based on low-level acoustic cues: compared to control sounds, vocal sounds may have stronger harmonic content or greater spectrotemporal complexity. Here, we show that the right TVA remains selective to the human voice even when accounting for a variety of acoustical cues. Using fMRI, single vowel stimuli were contrasted with single notes of musical instruments with balanced harmonic-to-noise ratios and pitches. We also used "auditory chimeras", which preserved subsets of acoustical features of the vocal sounds. The right TVA was preferentially activated only for the natural human voice. In particular, the TVA did not respond more to artificial chimeras preserving the exact spectral profile of voices. Additional acoustic measures, including temporal modulations and spectral complexity, could not account for the increased activation. These observations rule out simple acoustical cues as a basis for voice selectivity in the TVAs.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Paquette, Mr Sebastien and Belin, Professor Pascal |
| Authors: | Agus, T. R., Paquette, S., Suied, C., Pressnitzer, D., and Belin, P. |
| College/School: | College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience |
| Journal Name: | Scientific Reports |
| Publisher: | Nature Research |
| ISSN: | 2045-2322 |
| ISSN (Online): | 2045-2322 |
| Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2017 The Authors |
| First Published: | First published in Scientific Reports 7: 11526 |
| Publisher Policy: | Reproduced under a Creative Commons license |
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