A causal role of superior temporal gyrus in auditory-motor control of vocal production

Abstract

Accumulating evidence has shown that the superior temporal gyrus (STG) plays an important role in auditory feedback control of vocal production. The precise role of this region in auditory-vocal integration, however, remains unclear. The present event-related potential study applied a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) protocol, continuous theta-burst stimulation (c-TBS), to depress activity in the left STG as young adults produced sustained vowels while their voice was unexpectedly pitch-shifted downwards by 50 or 200 cents. The behavioral results showed significantly larger vocal compensations for pitch perturbations in the c-TBS condition as compared to the sham condition. At the cortical level, c-TBS over left STG led to significantly smaller cortical P2 responses than the sham condition. These findings provide the first causal evidence for linking the STG to auditory feedback control of vocal production. Enhanced vocal compensations for pitch perturbations as a result of disrupting the STG activity lend support to the idea that the STG may be critically involved in top-down inhibitory mechanisms of speech motor control, through which vocal motor behaviors can be appropriately regulated without being excessively influenced by auditory feedback.Accumulating evidence has shown that the superior temporal gyrus (STG) plays an important role in auditory feedback control of vocal production. The precise role of this region in auditory-vocal integration, however, remains unclear. The present event-related potential study applied a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) protocol, continuous theta-burst stimulation (c-TBS), to depress activity in the left STG as young adults produced sustained vowels while their voice was unexpectedly pitch-shifted downwards by 50 or 200 cents. The behavioral results showed significantly larger vocal compensations for pitch perturbations in the c-TBS condition as compared to the sham condition. At the cortical level, c-TBS over left STG led to significantly smaller cortical P2 responses than the sham condition. These findings provide the first causal evidence for linking the STG to auditory feedback control of vocal production. Enhanced vocal compensations for pitch perturbations as a result of disrupting the STG activ...