Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Language and Cognition

Language and Cognition

Language serves as a bridge between ideas and communication, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with the world. Psychologists have long debated whether language shapes thought or vice versa. This discussion gained grip with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, who proposed that language determines thought, a concept known as linguistic determinism. They suggested that the vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers think and perceive reality.

Lateralization

Lateralization

Brain lateralization refers to the division of mental processes and functions between the two hemispheres of the brain, a phenomenon that optimizes neural efficiency and underpins complex abilities in humans. This specialization allows each hemisphere to perform tasks where it has a comparative advantage, facilitating more refined cognitive capabilities across different domains.

Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language

Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language

Language is a system of communication that allows the expression of thoughts, ideas, and feelings. The brain processes language in both hemispheres.
Language formation and comprehension take place in the dominant hemisphere. The dominant hemisphere is responsible for understanding the meaning of spoken, written, or sign language, as well as the ability to communicate. For most people, the left hemisphere is the dominant one. The right hemisphere, then, gives tone and emotional context to the...

Language Development

Language Development

Children master language quickly and with relative ease, supported by both biological predisposition and reinforcement. B. F. Skinner (1957) proposed that language is learned through reinforcement, while Noam Chomsky (1965) argued that language acquisition mechanisms are biologically determined.
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Who benefits most? A randomized controlled trial for Parent-implemented social communication intervention for chinese-speaking autistic preschoolers.

Molecular autism·2026

Same author

Narrative and visual attention in autism spectrum disorder: a cross-cultural perspective.

Frontiers in psychiatry·2026

Same author

Neurodiversity in the brain: More variable localization of face regions in autism.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026

Same author

Language-Specific Tonal Features Drive Speaker-Listener Neural Synchronization.

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience·2026

Same author

Addressing arbitrary choices of frequency band of interest in fNIRS hyperscanning.

Scientific reports·2026

Same author

Psychometric methods and signal detection theory uncover subtle differences in the perception of tone contrasts in speakers of Kam (Dong).

Scientific reports·2026

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 18, 2026

Memorization-Based Training and Testing Paradigm for Robust Vocal Identity Recognition in Expressive Speech Using Event-Related Potentials Analysis

Memorization-Based Training and Testing Paradigm for Robust Vocal Identity Recognition in Expressive Speech Using Event-Related Potentials Analysis

Published on: August 9, 2024

Differential neural contributions to native- and foreign-language talker identification.

Tyler K Perrachione¹, Janet B Pierrehumbert, Patrick C M Wong

¹Department of Linguistics, Northwestern University, 2240 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208, USA. pwong@northwestern.edu

Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance

|December 9, 2009

Summary

The human brain integrates voice and speech perception for talker identification. The left hemisphere plays a more significant role in identifying voices in a native language compared to a foreign one.

More Related Videos

Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody

Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody

Published on: September 27, 2024

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 18, 2026

Memorization-Based Training and Testing Paradigm for Robust Vocal Identity Recognition in Expressive Speech Using Event-Related Potentials Analysis

Memorization-Based Training and Testing Paradigm for Robust Vocal Identity Recognition in Expressive Speech Using Event-Related Potentials Analysis

Published on: August 9, 2024

Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody

Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody

Published on: September 27, 2024

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Psycholinguistics
Auditory Perception

Background:

Humans excel at voice and speech perception, crucial for identifying individuals.
Talker identification is impaired with unfamiliar languages, suggesting integrated neural systems.
Neuroscientific evidence for this integration, particularly hemispheric roles, is lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the neuroscientific basis of the language-familiarity effect in talker identification.
To determine the contribution of each cerebral hemisphere to voice and speech perception integration.
To demonstrate functionally integrated neural systems for speech and voice perception.

Main Methods:

Participants identified voices in familiar (native) and unfamiliar (foreign) languages.
Dichotic listening was used to assess neural circuitry performance in each hemisphere.
The predictive capacity of dichotic performance on binaural performance was compared across languages.

Main Results:

Left hemisphere performance (right-ear input) better predicted overall accuracy for native language voices.
This suggests an enhanced role for the left hemisphere in native language talker identification.
The findings support functionally integrated neural systems for speech and voice perception.

Conclusions:

The left hemisphere's enhanced role in native language talker identification demonstrates functional integration.
This integration supports the perception of both speech and voice cues.
Neuroscientific evidence confirms the language-familiarity effect's neural underpinnings.