Shared and language-specific phonological processing in the human temporal lobe.

ABSTRACT: All spoken languages are produced by the human vocal tract, which defines the limited set of possible speech sounds. Despite this constraint, however, there exists incredible diversity in the world's 7,000 spoken languages, each of which is learned through extensive experience hearing speech in language-specific contexts¹. It remains unknown which elements of speech processing in the brain depend on daily language experience and which do not. In this study, we recorded high-density cortical activity from adult participants with diverse language backgrounds as they listened to speech in their native language and an unfamiliar foreign language. We found that, regardless of language experience, both native and foreign languages elicited similar cortical responses in the superior te

SUBMITTER: Bhaya-Grossman I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12727522 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature