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Updated: Oct 20, 2025
Mapping Cortical Dynamics Using Simultaneous MEG/EEG and Anatomically-constrained Minimum-norm Estimates: an Auditory Attention Example
Published on: October 24, 2012
Neural oscillations track natural but not artificial fast speech: Novel insights from speech-brain coupling using MEG
Ana Sofía Hincapié Casas1, Tarek Lajnef2, Annalisa Pascarella3
1Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience Lab, Psychology Department, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec H2V 2S9, Canada; Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2B4, Canada.
Abstract:
Neural oscillations contribute to speech parsing via cortical tracking of hierarchical linguistic structures, including syllable rate. While the properties of neural entrainment have been largely probed with speech stimuli at either normal or artificially accelerated rates, the important case of natural fast speech has been largely overlooked. Using magnetoencephalography, we found that listening to naturally-produced speech was associated with cortico-acoustic coupling, both at normal (∼6 syllables/s) and fast (∼9 syllables/s) rates, with a corresponding shift in peak entrainment frequency. Interestingly, time-compressed sentences did not yield such coupling, despite being generated at the same rate as the natural fast sentences. Additionally, neural activity in right motor cortex exhibited stronger tuning to natural fast rather than to artificially accelerated speech, and showed evidence for stronger phase-coupling with left temporo-parietal and motor areas. These findings are highly relevant for our understanding of the role played by auditory and motor cortex oscillations in the perception of naturally produced speech.
