Distinct functional substrates along the right superior temporal sulcus for the processing of voices

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Katharina V. Kriegstein - , University Hospital Frankfurt (Author)
  • Anne Lise Giraud - , University Hospital Frankfurt (Author)

Abstract

The right superior temporal sulcus (STS) is involved in processing the human voice. In this paper, we report fMRI findings showing that segregated cortical regions along the STS are involved in distinct aspects of voice processing and that they functionally cooperate during speaker recognition. Subjects listened to identical sets of auditory sentences while recognizing either a target sentence irrespective of the speaking voice or a target voice irrespective of the sentence meaning. As the same stimulus material was used in both conditions, task-related activations were not confounded by differences in speech acoustic features. Half of the stimuli were voices of familiar persons and half of persons that were never encountered before. Recognizing voices activated the right anterior and posterior STS more than recognizing verbal content. While the right anterior STS responded equally to both voice categories, the right posterior STS displayed stronger responses to non-familiar than to familiar speakers' voices. It also responded to our baseline condition of amplitude modulated noises that required a detailed analysis of complex temporal patterns. Analyses of connectivity (psychophysiological interactions) revealed that during speaker recognition both anterior and posterior right STS interacted with a region in the mid/anterior part of the right STS, a region that has been implicated in processing the acoustic properties of voices. Moreover, the anterior and posterior STS displayed distinct connectivity patterns depending on familiarity. Our results thus distinguish three STS regions that process different properties of voices and interact in a specific manner depending on familiarity with the speaker.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)948-955
Number of pages8
JournalNeuroImage
Volume22
Issue number2
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2004
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

PubMed 15193626
ORCID /0000-0001-7989-5860/work/142244413

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • cfp, fMRI, functional magnetic resonance imaging, recognition of familiar persons' voices, recognition of non-familiar persons' voices, STS, Substrates, Sulcus, superior temporal sulcus, vfp, vnp, Voices

Library keywords