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Neural representations of enhanced speech motor control in trained singers
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posted on 2023-06-09, 19:42 authored by Sheena Waters, Elise Kanber, Nadine Lavan, Daniel Carey, Valentina Cartei, Clare Lally, Marc Miquel, Carolyn McGettiganHumans are unrivalled amongst the great apes in our capacity for vocal learning, which forms a key component our facility for articulate speech. Here, we used a speech imitation task to investigate the neural representation of the human larynx, which has a distinct cortical topography and innervation in humans that may underpin our sophisticated vocal capabilities compared with non-human primates. In an MRI study, 25 highly trained singers and 24 non-singing control participants adjusted voice pitch (F0) and vocal tract length (VTL) to mimic altered auditory targets generated from recordings of their own speech. Participants simultaneously underwent real-time anatomical scans of the vocal tract and functional scans of brain activity. Representational similarity analyses of neural activation data identified representation of the two vocal parameters in regions of somatomotor cortex previously associated with laryngeal control. Singers showed more accurate task-relevant larynx height modulation (as measured with vocal tract MRI) when imitating VTL, which was underpinned by stronger representation of VTL within a region of right dorsal somatomotor cortex previously related to singing experience. Our findings offer the first behaviourally validated, representational account of speech imitation within larynx somatomotor cortex, suggesting that the behavioral and neural correlates of singing expertise extend to human speech.
History
Publication status
- Published
Journal
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of AmericaISSN
0001-4966Publisher
Acoustical Society of AmericaExternal DOI
Issue
4Volume
146Page range
2790-2790Department affiliated with
- Psychology Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2019-11-21Usage metrics
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