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Published on: June 29, 2021
Temporal order processing of syllables in the left parietal lobe
Dana Moser1, Julie M Baker, Carmen E Sanchez
1Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA. dmoser@bcm.tmc.edu
Summary
The left inferior parietal lobe is crucial for processing syllable order in speech. This brain region
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Speech Processing
Background:
- Speech comprehension relies on accurately parsing syllable sequences.
- Left hemisphere damage can cause language and temporal processing issues.
- The role of the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL) in speech temporal order judgments (TOJs) is not well understood, unlike the right IPL's role in visual TOJs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if the left IPL is activated during temporal order judgments of speech stimuli.
- To explore the left IPL's function in processing syllable sequences.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used on 14 healthy participants.
- Participants completed three forced-choice tasks: syllable order judgment, syllable identification, and gender identification.
- Tasks involved multisyllabic pseudowords and single/multisyllabic real speech stimuli.
Main Results:
- The left inferior parietal lobe showed significantly greater neural activity during syllable order judgments compared to syllable identification and gender identification tasks.
- This suggests specific recruitment of the left IPL for processing the temporal sequence of syllables.
Conclusions:
- The left inferior parietal lobe is vital for processing syllable order in auditory speech.
- This region may serve as a critical interface between auditory speech perception and the motor-speech (articulatory) system.
- Damage to this left IPL interface could underlie speech deficits seen after posterior left hemisphere injuries.
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