Temporal lobe perceptual predictions for speech are instantiated in motor cortex and reconciled by inferior frontal cortex

Cell Rep. 2023 May 30;42(5):112422. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112422. Epub 2023 Apr 24.

Abstract

Humans use predictions to improve speech perception, especially in noisy environments. Here we use 7-T functional MRI (fMRI) to decode brain representations of written phonological predictions and degraded speech signals in healthy humans and people with selective frontal neurodegeneration (non-fluent variant primary progressive aphasia [nfvPPA]). Multivariate analyses of item-specific patterns of neural activation indicate dissimilar representations of verified and violated predictions in left inferior frontal gyrus, suggestive of processing by distinct neural populations. In contrast, precentral gyrus represents a combination of phonological information and weighted prediction error. In the presence of intact temporal cortex, frontal neurodegeneration results in inflexible predictions. This manifests neurally as a failure to suppress incorrect predictions in anterior superior temporal gyrus and reduced stability of phonological representations in precentral gyrus. We propose a tripartite speech perception network in which inferior frontal gyrus supports prediction reconciliation in echoic memory, and precentral gyrus invokes a motor model to instantiate and refine perceptual predictions for speech.

Keywords: 7T fMRI; Broca's area; CP: Neuroscience; MVPA; aphasia; language; motor speech; nfvPPA; prediction; predictive coding; speech.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Brain
  • Brain Mapping
  • Frontal Lobe / physiology
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
  • Motor Cortex*
  • Speech* / physiology
  • Temporal Lobe