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Journal Articles Current Biology - CB Year : 2013

Norm-Based Coding of Voice Identity in Human Auditory Cortex

Abstract

Listeners exploit small interindividual variations around a generic acoustical structure to discriminate and identify individuals from their voice-a key requirement for social interactions. The human brain contains temporal voice areas (TVA) [1] involved in an acoustic-based representation of voice identity [2-6], but the underlying coding mechanisms remain unknown. Indirect evidence suggests that identity representation in these areas could rely on a norm-based coding mechanism [4, 7-11]. Here, we show by using fMRI that voice identity is coded in the TVA as a function of acoustical distance to two internal voice prototypes (one male, one female)-approximated here by averaging a large number of same-gender voices by using morphing [12]. Voices more distant from their prototype are perceived as more distinctive and elicit greater neuronal activity in voice-sensitive cortex than closer voices-a phenomenon not merely explained by neuronal adaptation [13, 14]. Moreover, explicit manipulations of distance-to-mean by morphing voices toward (or away from) their prototype elicit reduced (or enhanced) neuronal activity. These results indicate that voice-sensitive cortex integrates relevant acoustical features into a complex representation referenced to idealized male and female voice prototypes. More generally, they shed light on remarkable similarities in cerebral representations of facial and vocal identity.
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Dates and versions

hal-02008910 , version 1 (06-02-2019)

Licence

Attribution - CC BY 4.0

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Marianne Latinus, Phil Mcaleer, Patricia E G Bestelmeyer, Pascal C Belin. Norm-Based Coding of Voice Identity in Human Auditory Cortex. Current Biology - CB, 2013, 23 (12), pp.1075-1080. ⟨10.1016/j.cub.2013.04.055⟩. ⟨hal-02008910⟩
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