In studies of pitch processing, a fundamental question is whether
shared neural mechanisms at higher cortical levels are engaged for
pitch perception of linguistic and nonlinguistic auditory stimuli.
Positron emission tomography (PET) was used in a crosslinguistic
study to compare pitch processing in native speakers of two tone
languages (that is, languages in which variations in pitch patterns
are used to distinguish lexical meaning), Chinese and Thai, with
those of English, a nontone language. Five subjects from each language
group were scanned under three active tasks (tone, pitch, and consonant)
that required focused-attention, speeded-response, auditory discrimination
judgments, and one passive baseline as silence. Subjects were instructed
to judge pitch patterns of Thai lexical tones in the tone condition;
pitch patterns of nonspeech stimuli in the pitch condition; syllable-initial
consonants in the consonant condition. Analysis was carried out by
paired-image subtraction. When comparing the tone to the pitch task,
only the Thai group showed significant activation in the left frontal
operculum. Activation of the left frontal operculum in the Thai group
suggests that phonological processing of suprasegmental as well as
segmental units occurs in the vicinity of Broca's area. Baseline
subtractions showed significant activation in the anterior insular
region for the English and Chinese groups, but not Thai, providing
further support for the existence of possibly two parallel, separate
pathways projecting from the temporo-parietal to the frontal language
area. More generally, these differential patterns of brain activation
across language groups and tasks support the view that pitch patterns
are processed at higher cortical levels in a top-down manner according
to their linguistic function in a particular language.
%0 Journal Article
%1 Gandour2000
%A Gandour, Jackson T.
%A Wong, D
%A Hsieh, L
%A Weinzapfel, B
%A Van Lancker, D
%A Hutchins, G D
%D 2000
%J Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
%K Adult,Cerebellum,Cerebellum: Cinguli,Gyrus Cinguli: Circulation,Cerebrovascular Circulation: Lobe,Frontal Lobe: Perception,Pitch Perception: States,language,neuro,perception,tone blood physiology,Cerebrovascular physiology,China,Emission-Computed,English,Female,Frontal physiology,Gyrus physiology,Humans,L1,L2,Language,Male,Mandarin,Phonetics,Pitch physiology,Speech,Speech: physiology,Thai,Thailand,Tomography,United supply,Cerebellum: supply,Frontal supply,Gyrus
%N 1
%P 207--22
%T A crosslinguistic PET study of tone perception
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10769317
%V 12
%X In studies of pitch processing, a fundamental question is whether
shared neural mechanisms at higher cortical levels are engaged for
pitch perception of linguistic and nonlinguistic auditory stimuli.
Positron emission tomography (PET) was used in a crosslinguistic
study to compare pitch processing in native speakers of two tone
languages (that is, languages in which variations in pitch patterns
are used to distinguish lexical meaning), Chinese and Thai, with
those of English, a nontone language. Five subjects from each language
group were scanned under three active tasks (tone, pitch, and consonant)
that required focused-attention, speeded-response, auditory discrimination
judgments, and one passive baseline as silence. Subjects were instructed
to judge pitch patterns of Thai lexical tones in the tone condition;
pitch patterns of nonspeech stimuli in the pitch condition; syllable-initial
consonants in the consonant condition. Analysis was carried out by
paired-image subtraction. When comparing the tone to the pitch task,
only the Thai group showed significant activation in the left frontal
operculum. Activation of the left frontal operculum in the Thai group
suggests that phonological processing of suprasegmental as well as
segmental units occurs in the vicinity of Broca's area. Baseline
subtractions showed significant activation in the anterior insular
region for the English and Chinese groups, but not Thai, providing
further support for the existence of possibly two parallel, separate
pathways projecting from the temporo-parietal to the frontal language
area. More generally, these differential patterns of brain activation
across language groups and tasks support the view that pitch patterns
are processed at higher cortical levels in a top-down manner according
to their linguistic function in a particular language.
@article{Gandour2000,
abstract = {In studies of pitch processing, a fundamental question is whether
shared neural mechanisms at higher cortical levels are engaged for
pitch perception of linguistic and nonlinguistic auditory stimuli.
Positron emission tomography (PET) was used in a crosslinguistic
study to compare pitch processing in native speakers of two tone
languages (that is, languages in which variations in pitch patterns
are used to distinguish lexical meaning), Chinese and Thai, with
those of English, a nontone language. Five subjects from each language
group were scanned under three active tasks (tone, pitch, and consonant)
that required focused-attention, speeded-response, auditory discrimination
judgments, and one passive baseline as silence. Subjects were instructed
to judge pitch patterns of Thai lexical tones in the tone condition;
pitch patterns of nonspeech stimuli in the pitch condition; syllable-initial
consonants in the consonant condition. Analysis was carried out by
paired-image subtraction. When comparing the tone to the pitch task,
only the Thai group showed significant activation in the left frontal
operculum. Activation of the left frontal operculum in the Thai group
suggests that phonological processing of suprasegmental as well as
segmental units occurs in the vicinity of Broca's area. Baseline
subtractions showed significant activation in the anterior insular
region for the English and Chinese groups, but not Thai, providing
further support for the existence of possibly two parallel, separate
pathways projecting from the temporo-parietal to the frontal language
area. More generally, these differential patterns of brain activation
across language groups and tasks support the view that pitch patterns
are processed at higher cortical levels in a top-down manner according
to their linguistic function in a particular language.},
added-at = {2011-03-27T17:20:41.000+0200},
author = {Gandour, Jackson T. and Wong, D and Hsieh, L and Weinzapfel, B and {Van Lancker}, D and Hutchins, G D},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/26d440f574a88d8acb91ab2f2bc12ab15/yevb0},
file = {Gandour et al._2000_A crosslinguistic PET study of tone perception.pdf:Gandour et al._2000_A crosslinguistic PET study of tone perception.pdf:PDF},
interhash = {edcd11cb214ef7d0c7af681bee8e9d99},
intrahash = {6d440f574a88d8acb91ab2f2bc12ab15},
issn = {0898-929X},
journal = {Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience},
keywords = {Adult,Cerebellum,Cerebellum: Cinguli,Gyrus Cinguli: Circulation,Cerebrovascular Circulation: Lobe,Frontal Lobe: Perception,Pitch Perception: States,language,neuro,perception,tone blood physiology,Cerebrovascular physiology,China,Emission-Computed,English,Female,Frontal physiology,Gyrus physiology,Humans,L1,L2,Language,Male,Mandarin,Phonetics,Pitch physiology,Speech,Speech: physiology,Thai,Thailand,Tomography,United supply,Cerebellum: supply,Frontal supply,Gyrus},
mendeley-tags = {English,L1,L2,Mandarin,Thai,language,neuro,perception,tone},
month = jan,
number = 1,
pages = {207--22},
pmid = {10769317},
timestamp = {2011-03-27T17:20:51.000+0200},
title = {A crosslinguistic PET study of tone perception},
url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10769317},
volume = 12,
year = 2000
}