Search Abstracts | Symposia | Slide Sessions | Poster Sessions
Neural Pathways of Vocal Pitch Modulation: An fMRI Study
Poster Session A - Sandbox Series, Thursday, October 24, 10:00 - 11:30 am, Great Hall 3 and 4
This poster is part of the Sandbox Series.
Minkyu Kim1, Gregory Hickok1; 1University of California, Irvine
While human communication extensively depends on vocal pitch modulation, the neural mechanisms governing pitch control and perception are poorly understood. This research aims to elucidate these mechanisms using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to enhance our understanding of vocal pitch coordination and its evolution in human communication. Two fMRI experimental approaches have been developed for this purpose. The first experiment focuses on identifying the neural circuits involved in pitch modulation within the speech production network. It compares neural activations during speech repetition tasks (Hickok et al., 2009, J. Neurophysiol.; Rong et al., 2018, PLoS ONE) under two conditions: one involving complete rehearsal and the other limited to humming the prosodic patterns of the auditory stimulus. The second experiment aims to distinguish pitch-specific pathways from general speech coordination networks by analyzing neural responses to speech repetition tasks under conditions of Altered Auditory Feedback (AAF; Tourville et al., 2008, Neuroimage; Niziolek & Guenther, 2013, J. Neurosci.). Both experiments seek to delineate the specific neural circuits activated by pitch changes. Preliminary findings suggest a consistent neural connection between pitch variations and specific areas of the premotor cortex, particularly area 55b (Glasser et al., 2016, Nature), and a more posterior-lateral planum temporal region, while the non-pitch variations such as voicing and vowel formants tend to be more correlated with an anatomically distinct region that is posterior to area 44. Further analyses are currently being conducted using the representational similarity analysis (RSA) technique. These observations may support the hypothesized pitch-related functions of this region as independently proposed by Silva et al. (2022, J. Neurosci.) and Hickok et al. (2022, Brain). This work is expected to not only advance our understanding of the neural basis of vocal pitch and human language but also have potential implications for clinical interventions in speech and language disorders.
Topic Areas: Language Production, Speech Motor Control