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.
You may also like
Amygdala Intercalated Cells: Gatekeepers and Conveyors...
January 19, 2023Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience
Aversive bimodal associations differently impact...
January 19, 2023Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology
Commonalities and Asymmetries in the Neurobiological...
January 5, 2023Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
A hierarchy of linguistic predictions during natural...
January 5, 2023Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
Neuroscientists illuminate how brain cells deep in the...
December 1, 2022Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior – caesar