Syllable processing is organized in discrete subregions of the human superior temporal gyrus
Modular organization at approximately 1 mm scale could be fundamental to cortical processing, but its presence in human association cortex is unknown. Using custom-built, high-density electrode arrays placed on the cortical surface of 7 patients undergoing awake craniotomy for tumor excision, we investigated receptive speech processing in the left (dominant) human posterior superior temporal gyrus. Responses to consonant-vowel syllables and noise-vocoded controls recorded with 1,024 channel micro-grids at 200 μm pitch demonstrated roughly circular domains approximately 1.7 mm in diameter, with sharp boundaries observed in 128 channel linear arrays at 50 μm pitch, possibly consistent with a columnar organization. Peak latencies to syllables in different modules were bimodally distributed centered at 252 and 386 ms. Adjacent modules were sharply delineated from each other by their distinct time courses and stimulus selectivity. We suggest that receptive language cortex may be organized in discrete processing modules.
Authors
- Ahmed M. T. Raslan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8421-7105)
- Erik Kaestner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3252-5365)
- Burke Q. Rosen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5049-8316)
- Youngbin Tchoe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7807-5318)
- Jimmy C. Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1995-5926)
- Andrew Bourhis
- Sydney S. Cash (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4557-6391)
- Seunggu J. Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6944-3745)
- Shadi A. Dayeh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1756-1774)
- Erik C. Brown (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1592-6389)
- Charles W. Dickey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9118-8605)
- Daniel R. Cleary (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7112-4519)
- Daniel J. Soper (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8353-0810)
- Dominic A. Siler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4474-6464)
- Brittany Stedelin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5368-4299)
- Angelique C. Paulk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4413-3417)
- Sang‐Heon Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3655-7981)
- Jihwan Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5426-2765)
- Eric Halgren
Institutions
- Oregon Health & Science University (US)
- Washington University in St. Louis (US)
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Massachusetts General Hospital (US)
- Center for Neuro-Oncology (US)
- Neurological Surgery (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- PLoS Biology
- Published
- 2024-09-06
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002774
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Neural dynamics and brain function
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.37
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Tiny Blue Dot Foundation
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute of Mental Health
- National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering