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Vocal pitch discrimination in the motor system
Alessandro D'Ausilio1, Ilaria Bufalari, Paola Salmas
1DSBTA, Section of Human Physiology, University of Ferrara, Italy. alessandro.dausilio@unife.it
Brain and Language
|April 5, 2011
Summary
The motor system, specifically the larynx representation, aids in vocal pitch discrimination. This finding suggests the motor system plays a role in processing both articulatory and phonation aspects of speech.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Speech Science
- Motor Control
Background:
- Speech production involves phonation (vocal fold vibration) and articulation (shaping sound).
- Motor cortex representations of articulators (lips, tongue) are involved in discriminating speech sounds.
- The role of motor control in phonation, particularly pitch discrimination, remains less understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if the motor system contributes to vocal pitch (F0) discrimination.
- To determine if motor cortex stimulation affects the ability to perceive subtle pitch changes.
- To explore the somatotopic organization of motor control in phonation.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a dual-pulse Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) protocol.
- Applied TMS over the larynx motor representation and a control site (tongue/lips motor cortex).
- Subjects performed a task discriminating vocal utterances with subtle F0 shifts.
Main Results:
- Stimulation over the larynx motor representation reduced reaction time (RT) for pitch discrimination.
- Control stimulation over the tongue/lips motor cortex did not yield the same effect.
- This indicates a somatotopic organization for motor control in pitch perception.
Conclusions:
- Vocal pitch discrimination relies on the contribution of the motor system, similar to articulatory processing.
- The motor system's involvement in phonation is somatotopically organized.
- These findings highlight the integrated role of motor control in complex speech perception.
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