Speaking Rhythmically Can Shape Hearing

Overview

Journal Nat Hum Behav

Specialties Psychology
Social Sciences

Date 2020 Oct 13

PMID 33046860

Citations 25

Authors

M Florencia Assaneo

Johanna M Rimmele

Yonatan Sanz Perl

David Poeppel

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Evidence suggests that temporal predictions arising from the motor system can enhance auditory perception. However, in speech perception, we lack evidence of perception being modulated by production. Here we show a behavioural protocol that captures the existence of such auditory-motor interactions. Participants performed a syllable discrimination task immediately after producing periodic syllable sequences. Two speech rates were explored: a 'natural' (individually preferred) and a fixed 'non-natural' (2 Hz) rate. Using a decoding approach, we show that perceptual performance is modulated by the stimulus phase determined by a participant's own motor rhythm. Remarkably, for 'natural' and 'non-natural' rates, this finding is restricted to a subgroup of the population with quantifiable auditory-motor coupling. The observed pattern is compatible with a neural model assuming a bidirectional interaction of auditory and speech motor cortices. Crucially, the model matches the experimental results only if it incorporates individual differences in the strength of the auditory-motor connection.

Citing Articles

The timing of speech-to-speech synchronization is governed by the P-center.

Rathcke T Commun Biol. 2025; 8(1):107.

PMID: 39843616 PMC: 11754750. DOI: 10.1038/s42003-025-07544-8.

Neural representation of sensorimotor features in language-motor areas during auditory and visual perception.

Zheng Y, Zhang J, Yang Y, Xu M Commun Biol. 2025; 8(1):41.

PMID: 39799186 PMC: 11724955. DOI: 10.1038/s42003-025-07466-5.

Audio-visual concert performances synchronize audience's heart rates.

Czepiel A, Fink L, Scharinger M, Seibert C, Wald-Fuhrmann M, Kotz S Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2025; 1543(1):117-132.

PMID: 39752187 PMC: 11776452. DOI: 10.1111/nyas.15279.

Auditory-motor synchronization and perception suggest partially distinct time scales in speech and music.

Barchet A, Henry M, Pelofi C, Rimmele J Commun Psychol. 2024; 2(1):2.

PMID: 39242963 PMC: 11332030. DOI: 10.1038/s44271-023-00053-6.

Replication of population-level differences in auditory-motor synchronization ability in a Norwegian-speaking population.

Sjuls G, Vulchanova M, Assaneo M Commun Psychol. 2024; 1(1):47.

PMID: 39242904 PMC: 11332004. DOI: 10.1038/s44271-023-00049-2.

References

Morillon B, Baillet S . Motor origin of temporal predictions in auditory attention. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017; 114(42):E8913-E8921. PMC: 5651745. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1705373114. View

Morillon B, Schroeder C, Wyart V . Motor contributions to the temporal precision of auditory attention. Nat Commun. 2014; 5:5255. PMC: 4199392. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6255. View

Morillon B, Hackett T, Kajikawa Y, Schroeder C . Predictive motor control of sensory dynamics in auditory active sensing. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2015; 31:230-8. PMC: 4898262. DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2014.12.005. View

Davis M, Johnsrude I . Hierarchical processing in spoken language comprehension. J Neurosci. 2003; 23(8):3423-31. PMC: 6742313. View

Devlin J, Aydelott J . Speech perception: motoric contributions versus the motor theory. Curr Biol. 2009; 19(5):R198-200. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2009.01.005. View

Scott S, McGettigan C, Eisner F . A little more conversation, a little less action--candidate roles for the motor cortex in speech perception. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2009; 10(4):295-302. PMC: 4238059. DOI: 10.1038/nrn2603. View

Wild C, Yusuf A, Wilson D, Peelle J, Davis M, Johnsrude I . Effortful listening: the processing of degraded speech depends critically on attention. J Neurosci. 2012; 32(40):14010-21. PMC: 6704770. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1528-12.2012. View

Chen J, Penhune V, Zatorre R . Listening to musical rhythms recruits motor regions of the brain. Cereb Cortex. 2008; 18(12):2844-54. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhn042. View

Fujioka T, Trainor L, Large E, Ross B . Internalized timing of isochronous sounds is represented in neuromagnetic β oscillations. J Neurosci. 2012; 32(5):1791-802. PMC: 6703342. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4107-11.2012. View

10.

Grahn J, Rowe J . Feeling the beat: premotor and striatal interactions in musicians and nonmusicians during beat perception. J Neurosci. 2009; 29(23):7540-8. PMC: 2702750. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2018-08.2009. View

11.

Besle J, Schevon C, Mehta A, Lakatos P, Goodman R, McKhann G . Tuning of the human neocortex to the temporal dynamics of attended events. J Neurosci. 2011; 31(9):3176-85. PMC: 3081726. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4518-10.2011. View

12.

Lakatos P, Shah A, Knuth K, Ulbert I, Karmos G, Schroeder C . An oscillatory hierarchy controlling neuronal excitability and stimulus processing in the auditory cortex. J Neurophysiol. 2005; 94(3):1904-11. DOI: 10.1152/jn.00263.2005. View

13.

Giraud A, Poeppel D . Cortical oscillations and speech processing: emerging computational principles and operations. Nat Neurosci. 2012; 15(4):511-7. PMC: 4461038. DOI: 10.1038/nn.3063. View

14.

Rimmele J, Morillon B, Poeppel D, Arnal L . Proactive Sensing of Periodic and Aperiodic Auditory Patterns. Trends Cogn Sci. 2018; 22(10):870-882. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2018.08.003. View

15.

Haegens S, Zion Golumbic E . Rhythmic facilitation of sensory processing: A critical review. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2017; 86:150-165. DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.12.002. View

16.

Tian X, Poeppel D . Dynamics of self-monitoring and error detection in speech production: evidence from mental imagery and MEG. J Cogn Neurosci. 2014; 27(2):352-64. PMC: 4465382. DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00692. View

17.

Ding N, Patel A, Chen L, Butler H, Luo C, Poeppel D . Temporal modulations in speech and music. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2017; 81(Pt B):181-187. DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.02.011. View

18.

Coupe C, Oh Y, Dediu D, Pellegrino F . Different languages, similar encoding efficiency: Comparable information rates across the human communicative niche. Sci Adv. 2020; 5(9):eaaw2594. PMC: 6984970. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw2594. View

19.

Morillon B, Arnal L, Schroeder C, Keitel A . Prominence of delta oscillatory rhythms in the motor cortex and their relevance for auditory and speech perception. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2019; 107:136-142. DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.09.012. View

20.

Keitel A, Gross J, Kayser C . Perceptually relevant speech tracking in auditory and motor cortex reflects distinct linguistic features. PLoS Biol. 2018; 16(3):e2004473. PMC: 5864086. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2004473. View