Speech-evoked brain activity is more robust to competing speech when it is spoken by someone familiar
When speech is masked by competing sound, people are better at understanding what is said if the talker is familiar compared to unfamiliar. The benefit is robust, but how does processing of familiar voices facilitate intelligibility? We combined high-resolution fMRI with representational similarity...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2021-08-01
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| Series: | NeuroImage |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811921003840 |
| _version_ | 1818436847030763520 |
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| author | Emma Holmes Ingrid S. Johnsrude |
| author_facet | Emma Holmes Ingrid S. Johnsrude |
| author_sort | Emma Holmes |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | When speech is masked by competing sound, people are better at understanding what is said if the talker is familiar compared to unfamiliar. The benefit is robust, but how does processing of familiar voices facilitate intelligibility? We combined high-resolution fMRI with representational similarity analysis to quantify the difference in distributed activity between clear and masked speech. We demonstrate that brain representations of spoken sentences are less affected by a competing sentence when they are spoken by a friend or partner than by someone unfamiliar—effectively, showing a cortical signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) enhancement for familiar voices. This effect correlated with the familiar-voice intelligibility benefit. We functionally parcellated auditory cortex, and found that the most prominent familiar-voice advantage was manifest along the posterior superior and middle temporal gyri. Overall, our results demonstrate that experience-driven improvements in intelligibility are associated with enhanced multivariate pattern activity in posterior temporal cortex. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T17:15:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5e0a748e36284350ad3e8dc0e314905f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1095-9572 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T17:15:17Z |
| publishDate | 2021-08-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | NeuroImage |
| spelling | doaj.art-5e0a748e36284350ad3e8dc0e314905f2022-12-21T22:53:26ZengElsevierNeuroImage1095-95722021-08-01237118107Speech-evoked brain activity is more robust to competing speech when it is spoken by someone familiarEmma Holmes0Ingrid S. Johnsrude1The Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada; Corresponding author at: Emma Holmes. Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom.The Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada; School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, London, N6G 1H1, CanadaWhen speech is masked by competing sound, people are better at understanding what is said if the talker is familiar compared to unfamiliar. The benefit is robust, but how does processing of familiar voices facilitate intelligibility? We combined high-resolution fMRI with representational similarity analysis to quantify the difference in distributed activity between clear and masked speech. We demonstrate that brain representations of spoken sentences are less affected by a competing sentence when they are spoken by a friend or partner than by someone unfamiliar—effectively, showing a cortical signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) enhancement for familiar voices. This effect correlated with the familiar-voice intelligibility benefit. We functionally parcellated auditory cortex, and found that the most prominent familiar-voice advantage was manifest along the posterior superior and middle temporal gyri. Overall, our results demonstrate that experience-driven improvements in intelligibility are associated with enhanced multivariate pattern activity in posterior temporal cortex.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811921003840SpeechVoiceFamiliarityAttentionAuditory cortexfMRI |
| spellingShingle | Emma Holmes Ingrid S. Johnsrude Speech-evoked brain activity is more robust to competing speech when it is spoken by someone familiar NeuroImage Speech Voice Familiarity Attention Auditory cortex fMRI |
| title | Speech-evoked brain activity is more robust to competing speech when it is spoken by someone familiar |
| title_full | Speech-evoked brain activity is more robust to competing speech when it is spoken by someone familiar |
| title_fullStr | Speech-evoked brain activity is more robust to competing speech when it is spoken by someone familiar |
| title_full_unstemmed | Speech-evoked brain activity is more robust to competing speech when it is spoken by someone familiar |
| title_short | Speech-evoked brain activity is more robust to competing speech when it is spoken by someone familiar |
| title_sort | speech evoked brain activity is more robust to competing speech when it is spoken by someone familiar |
| topic | Speech Voice Familiarity Attention Auditory cortex fMRI |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811921003840 |
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