Department of Linguistics, Northwestern University, 2240 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2009 Dec;35(6):1950-60. doi: 10.1037/a0015869.
Humans are remarkably adept at identifying individuals by the sound of their voice, a behavior supported by the nervous system's ability to integrate information from voice and speech perception. Talker-identification abilities are significantly impaired when listeners are unfamiliar with the language being spoken. Recent behavioral studies describing the language-familiarity effect implicate functionally integrated neural systems for speech and voice perception, yet specific neuroscientific evidence demonstrating the basis for such integration has not yet been shown. Listeners in the present study learned to identify voices speaking a familiar (native) or unfamiliar (foreign) language. The talker-identification performance of neural circuitry in each cerebral hemisphere was assessed using dichotic listening. To determine the relative contribution of circuitry in each hemisphere to ecological (binaural) talker identification abilities, we compared the predictive capacity of dichotic performance on binaural performance across languages. Listeners' right-ear (left hemisphere) performance was a better predictor of binaural accuracy in their native language than a foreign one. This enhanced role of the classically language-dominant left hemisphere in listeners' native language demonstrates functionally integrated neural systems for speech and voice perception during talker identification.
人类非常擅长通过声音识别个体，这种行为得益于神经系统整合来自语音和言语感知信息的能力。当听众不熟悉所说的语言时，说话人识别能力会显著下降。最近的行为研究描述了语言熟悉度效应对言语和语音感知的功能整合神经系统的影响，但尚未展示出证明这种整合基础的具体神经科学证据。在本研究中，听众学习识别说熟悉（母语）或不熟悉（外语）语言的声音。使用双耳分听评估每个大脑半球的说话人识别神经回路的表现。为了确定每个半球的电路对生态（双耳）说话人识别能力的相对贡献，我们比较了双耳表现对不同语言的双耳表现的预测能力。与外语相比，听众的右耳（左半球）表现更能预测其母语的双耳准确性。在母语中，经典语言优势半球在听众中的这种增强作用表明，在说话人识别过程中，言语和语音感知具有功能整合的神经系统。
