Human Temporal Lobe Activation by Speech and Nonspeech Sounds

TLDR

The lateral temporal cortex’s functional organization is poorly understood, with prior studies indicating left‑lateralized ventral regions involved in lexical‑semantic processing of words versus nonwords. BOLD signals were recorded in normal volunteers’ temporal lobes while they listened to unstructured noise, FM tones, reversed speech, pseudowords, and words, and performed a material‑non‑specific detection task at stimulus onset and offset. Dorsal temporal regions near Heschl’s gyrus preferentially respond to temporally encoded FM tones, whereas superior temporal sulcus areas are more responsive to speech sounds regardless of linguistic content, supporting a functional subdivision of the lateral temporal cortex.

Abstract

Functional organization of the lateral temporal cortex in humans is not well understood. We recorded blood oxygenation signals from the temporal lobes of normal volunteers using functional magnetic resonance imaging during stimulation with unstructured noise, frequency-modulated (FM) tones, reversed speech, pseudowords and words. For all conditions, subjects performed a material- nonspecific detection response when a train of stimuli began or ceased. Dorsal areas surrounding Heschl's gyrus bilaterally, particularly the planum temporale and dorsolateral superior temporal gyrus, were more strongly activated by FM tones than by noise, suggesting a role in processing simple temporally encoded auditory information. Distinct from these dorsolateral areas, regions centered in the superior temporal sulcus bilaterally were more activated by speech stimuli than by FM tones. Identical results were obtained in this region using words, pseudowords and reversed speech, suggesting that the speech–tones activation difference is due to acoustic rather than linguistic factors. In contrast, previous comparisons between word and nonword speech sounds showed left-lateralized activation differences in more ventral temporal and temporoparietal regions that are likely involved in processing lexical–semantic or syntactic information associated with words. The results indicate functional subdivision of the human lateral temporal cortex and provide a preliminary framework for understanding the cortical processing of speech sounds.