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Magnetic brain activity phase‐locked to the envelope, the syllable onsets, and the fundamental frequency of a perceived speech signal
Author(s) -
Hertrich Ingo,
Dietrich Susanne,
Trouvain Jürgen,
Moos Anja,
Ackermann Hermann
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2011.01314.x
Subject(s) - magnetoencephalography , syllable , formant , psychology , speech recognition , speech perception , envelope (radar) , audiology , perception , electroencephalography , neuroscience , computer science , medicine , telecommunications , radar , vowel
During speech perception, acoustic correlates of syllable structure and pitch periodicity are directly reflected in electrophysiological brain activity. Magnetoencephalography ( MEG ) recordings were made while 10 participants listened to natural or formant‐synthesized speech at moderately fast or ultrafast rate. Cross‐correlation analysis was applied to show brain activity time‐locked to the speech envelope, to an acoustic marker of syllable onsets, and to pitch periodicity. The envelope yielded a right‐lateralized M 100‐like response, syllable onsets gave rise to M 50/ M 100‐like fields with an additional anterior M 50 component, and pitch (ca. 100 Hz ) elicited a neural resonance bound to a central auditory source at a latency of 30 ms. The strength of these MEG components showed differential effects of syllable rate and natural versus synthetic speech. Presumingly, such phase‐locking mechanisms serve as neuronal triggers for the extraction of information‐bearing elements.