Neural and cognitive mechanisms for vocal communication

Abstract

Vocal communication is a central feature of social behavior across numerous species. While the neural systems underlying vocalization in humans and animals is well described, less is known about how these circuits enable naturalistic vocal interactions. To investigate how the human brain gives rise to ethologically relevant vocal interactions—conversational turn-taking—a series of intracranial recording and perturbation experiments are performed to precisely assay neural activity while neurosurgical patients engage in both task-based and unconstrained turn-taking. In these social contexts, spatially and functionally distinct networks are uncovered, which are critical for a speaker’s ability to comprehend their partner’s turns, plan their own turns, and articulate the speech comprising those turns. To better understand the neural mechanisms underlying specific computations relevant to vocal communication, a theoretical framework is constructed, which consists of the cognitive modules required for generating communicative action during interaction (e.g., vocalization, co-speech gesture). This model is designed to account for the behavioral and neurobiological features of both naturalistic human language and animal communication; therefore, this species-general framework is intended to facilitate the identification of cognitive analogues between human and non-human interaction—which may rely on similar neural mechanisms. [Work supported by the NIH & Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain.]