Schelinski Stefanie, Borowiak Kamila, von Kriegstein Katharina
Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Max Planck Research Group, Neural mechanisms of human communication, Leipzig, 04103, Germany
Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Max Planck Research Group, Neural mechanisms of human communication, Leipzig, 04103, Germany.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2016 Nov;11(11):1812-1822. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsw089. Epub 2016 Jun 30.
The ability to recognise the identity of others is a key requirement for successful communication. Brain regions that respond selectively to voices exist in humans from early infancy on. Currently, it is unclear whether dysfunction of these voice-sensitive regions can explain voice identity recognition impairments. Here, we used two independent functional magnetic resonance imaging studies to investigate voice processing in a population that has been reported to have no voice-sensitive regions: autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Our results refute the earlier report that individuals with ASD have no responses in voice-sensitive regions: Passive listening to vocal, compared to non-vocal, sounds elicited typical responses in voice-sensitive regions in the high-functioning ASD group and controls. In contrast, the ASD group had a dysfunction in voice-sensitive regions during voice identity but not speech recognition in the right posterior superior temporal sulcus/gyrus (STS/STG)-a region implicated in processing complex spectrotemporal voice features and unfamiliar voices. The right anterior STS/STG correlated with voice identity recognition performance in controls but not in the ASD group. The findings suggest that right STS/STG dysfunction is critical for explaining voice recognition impairments in high-functioning ASD and show that ASD is not characterised by a general lack of voice-sensitive responses.
识别他人身份的能力是成功沟通的关键要求。从婴儿早期开始，人类大脑中就存在对声音有选择性反应的区域。目前尚不清楚这些对声音敏感的区域功能障碍是否能解释声音身份识别障碍。在此，我们通过两项独立的功能磁共振成像研究，对据报道没有声音敏感区域的人群——自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）——的语音处理进行了研究。我们的结果反驳了之前关于ASD个体在声音敏感区域无反应的报道：与非语音声音相比，被动聆听语音声音在高功能ASD组和对照组的声音敏感区域引发了典型反应。相比之下，在声音身份识别过程中，ASD组在右侧颞上沟/颞上回（STS/STG）——一个与处理复杂的频谱时间语音特征和陌生声音有关的区域——存在功能障碍，但在语音识别过程中没有。右侧前STS/STG在对照组中与声音身份识别表现相关，但在ASD组中不相关。这些发现表明，右侧STS/STG功能障碍对于解释高功能ASD中的语音识别障碍至关重要，并表明ASD的特征并非普遍缺乏对声音敏感的反应。
