Investigations of hemispheric specialization of self-voice recognition

Brain Cogn. 2008 Nov;68(2):204-14. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2008.04.007. Epub 2008 Jun 9.

Abstract

Three experiments investigated functional asymmetries related to self-recognition in the domain of voices. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to identify one of three presented voices (self, familiar or unknown) by responding with either the right or the left-hand. In Experiment 2, participants were presented with auditory morphs between the self-voice and a familiar voice and were asked to perform a forced-choice decision on speaker identity with either the left or the right-hand. In Experiment 3, participants were presented with continua of auditory morphs between self- or a familiar voice and a famous voice, and were asked to stop the presentation either when the voice became "more famous" or "more familiar/self". While these experiments did not reveal an overall hand difference for self-recognition, the last study, with improved design and controls, suggested a right-hemisphere advantage for self-compared to other-voice recognition, similar to that observed in the visual domain for self-faces.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Auditory Perception / physiology*
  • Discrimination Learning / physiology
  • Dominance, Cerebral / physiology*
  • Functional Laterality / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Mental Recall / physiology
  • Psychomotor Performance / physiology
  • Reaction Time / physiology
  • Recognition, Psychology / physiology*
  • Voice*
  • Young Adult