Sensitivity of the human temporal voice areas to nonhuman primate vocalizations

In recent years, research on voice processing in the human brain, particularly the study of temporal voice areas (TVAs), was dedicated almost exclusively to conspecific vocalizations. To characterize commonalities and differences regarding primate vocalization representations in the human brain, the inclusion of closely related nonhuman primates, namely chimpanzees and bonobos, is needed. We hypothesized that neural commonalities would depend on both phylogenetic and acoustic proximities, with chimpanzees ranking closest to Homo. Presenting human participants (N = 23) with the vocalizations of four primate species (rhesus macaques, chimpanzees, bonobos, and humans) and regressing-out relevant acoustic parameters using three distinct analyses, we observed within-TVA, sample-specific, bilateral anterior superior temporal gyrus activity for chimpanzee vocalizations compared to: all other species; nonhuman primates; and human vocalizations. Within-TVA activity was also observed for macaque vocalizations. Our results provide evidence for subregions of the TVA that respond principally, but not exclusively, to phylogenetically and acoustically close nonhuman primate vocalizations, namely those of chimpanzees.