How superior temporal cortex processes “the sound image of words”
Via Zoom
The human superior temporal gyrus is critical for extracting meaningful linguistic features from acoustic speech inputs. Local neural populations are tuned to acoustic-phonetic features of all consonants and vowels, as well as dynamic cues for intonational pitch. These populations are embedded throughout broader functional zones that are sensitive to amplitude-based temporal cues for prosody. Together, the distributed feature selectivity for phonetic and prosodic cues have generated a new and granular map of temporal cortex function. Beyond speech features, cortical representations are strongly modulated by learned knowledge and perceptual goals. I will review emerging insights on the remarkable emergent phonological computations that take place in this cortical region at the core of Wernicke’s area.

To join on the day:
zoom.us/j/99830866951?pwd=R2RxK04ySU9SelN1eU03bU83Y0Vrdz09

Meeting ID: 998 3086 6951
Passcode: 543965
Date: 29 April 2021, 16:00 (Thursday, 1st week, Trinity 2021)
Venue: Venue to be announced
Speaker: Professor Eddie Chang (University of California)
Organising department: Department of Experimental Psychology
Organiser contact email address: hod.office@psy.ox.ac.uk
Host: Professor Kate Watkins (University of Oxford)
Part of: Departmental Seminar Series (Experimental Psychology)
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editors: Stephanie Mcclain, Halley Cohen, Regula Dent