Abstract
PET was used in a cross-linguistic study to determine whether neural
mechanisms subserving pitch perception differ as a function of linguistic
relevance. We compared tone perception in 12 native Mandarin speakers,
who use tonal patterns to distinguish lexical meaning, with that
of 12 native speakers of a nontone language, English. Subjects were
scanned under two conditions: a silent resting baseline and a tonal
task involving discrimination of pitch patterns in Mandarin words.
Both groups showed common regions of CBF increase, but only Mandarin
speakers showed additional activation in frontal, parietal, and parieto-occipital
regions of the left hemisphere; this latter finding indicates that
language experience may influence brain circuitry in the processing
of auditory cues. In contrast, only the English group showed activity
in the right inferior frontal cortex, consistent with a right-hemispheric
role in pitch perception.
- (psychology),discrimination
- (psychology):
- behavior,verbal
- behavior:
- brain,brain
- circulation,cerebrovascular
- circulation:
- imaging,cerebrovascular
- mapping,brain:
- perception,pitch
- perception,speech
- perception:
- physiology,china,discrimination
- physiology,emission-computed,england,english,female,humans,l1,l2,language,male,mandarin,pitch
- physiology,language,neuro,perception,tone
- physiology,reaction
- physiology,speech
- physiology,tomography,verbal
- radionuclide
- time,reaction
- time:
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