A distributed dynamic brain network mediates linguistic tone representation and categorization.

ABSTRACT: Successful categorization requires listeners to represent the incoming sensory information, resolve the "blooming, buzzing confusion" inherent to noisy sensory signals, and leverage the accumulated evidence towards making a decision. Despite decades of intense debate, the neural systems underlying speech categorization remain unresolved. Here we assessed the neural representation and categorization of lexical tones by native Mandarin speakers (N = 31) across a range of acoustic and contextual variabilities (talkers, perceptual saliences, and stimulus-contexts) using functional magnetic imaging (fMRI) and an evidence accumulation model of decision-making. Univariate activation and multivariate pattern analyses reveal that the acoustic-variability-tolerant representations of tone category ar

SUBMITTER: Feng G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7749825 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature