The functional and structural asymmetries of the superior temporal sulcus.

The superior temporal sulcus (STS) is an anatomical structure that increasingly interests researchers. This structure appears to receive multisensory input and is involved in several perceptual and cognitive core functions, such as speech perception, audiovisual integration, (biological) motion processing and theory of mind capacities. In addition, the superior temporal sulcus is not only one of the longest sulci of the brain, but it also shows marked functional and structural asymmetries, some of which have only been found in humans. To explore the functional-structural relationships of these asymmetries in more detail, this study combines functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging. Using a speech perception task, an audiovisual integration task, and a theory of mind task, this study again demonstrated an involvement of the STS in these processes, with an expected strong leftward asymmetry for the speech perception task. Furthermore, this study confirmed the earlier described, human-specific asymmetries, namely that the left STS is longer than the right STS and that the right STS is deeper than the left STS. However, this study did not find any relationship between these structural asymmetries and the detected brain activations or their functional asymmetries. This can, on the other hand, give further support to the notion that the structural asymmetry of the STS is not directly related to the functional asymmetry of the speech perception and the language system as a whole, but that it may have other causes and functions.

[1]  Bruno G. Bara,et al.  Effective connectivity gateways to the Theory of Mind network in processing communicative intention , 2017, NeuroImage.

[2]  R. Nathan Spreng,et al.  Dissociable patterns of brain activity for mentalizing about known others: a role for attachment , 2017, Social cognitive and affective neuroscience.

[3]  Pascal Belin,et al.  Dorsal and Ventral Pathways for Prosody , 2015, Current Biology.

[4]  Michael S. Beauchamp,et al.  The social mysteries of the superior temporal sulcus , 2015, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[5]  M. Raichle,et al.  On the existence of a generalized non-specific task-dependent network , 2015, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[6]  Timothy J. Andrews,et al.  Responses in the right posterior superior temporal sulcus show a feature-based response to facial expression , 2015, Cortex.

[7]  Nancy Kanwisher,et al.  Functional Organization of Social Perception and Cognition in the Superior Temporal Sulcus , 2015, Cerebral cortex.

[8]  Kensuke Kawai,et al.  Dissociated Roles of the Inferior Frontal Gyrus and Superior Temporal Sulcus in Audiovisual Processing: Top-Down and Bottom-Up Mismatch Detection , 2015, PloS one.

[9]  Phillip Wolff,et al.  Causal reasoning with forces , 2015, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[10]  Marc Brysbaert,et al.  New human-specific brain landmark: The depth asymmetry of superior temporal sulcus , 2015, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[11]  Andrew Meade,et al.  Detecting Regular Sound Changes in Linguistics as Events of Concerted Evolution , 2015, Current Biology.

[12]  Pascal Belin,et al.  Crossmodal Adaptation in Right Posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus during Face–Voice Emotional Integration , 2014, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[13]  U. Frith,et al.  Autistic adolescents show atypical activation of the brain′s mentalizing system even without a prior history of mentalizing problems , 2014, Neuropsychologia.

[14]  Karsten Specht,et al.  Neuronal basis of speech comprehension , 2014, Hearing Research.

[15]  K. Specht.  Mapping a lateralization gradient within the ventral stream for auditory speech perception , 2013, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[16]  Alfonso Caramazza,et al.  Distinct Regions of Right Temporal Cortex Are Associated with Biological and Human–Agent Motion: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Neuropsychological Evidence , 2013, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[17]  Kevin A. Pelphrey,et al.  Action representation in the superior temporal sulcus in children and adults: An fMRI study , 2012, Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.

[18]  Cathy J. Price,et al.  A review and synthesis of the first 20 years of PET and fMRI studies of heard speech, spoken language and reading , 2012, NeuroImage.

[19]  G. Fink,et al.  Changes in grey matter development in autism spectrum disorder , 2012, Brain Structure and Function.

[20]  Michael Petrides,et al.  The morphology and variability of the caudal rami of the superior temporal sulcus , 2012, The European journal of neuroscience.

[21]  Hans-Jochen Heinze,et al.  Coding of multisensory temporal patterns in human superior temporal sulcus , 2012, Front. Integr. Neurosci..

[22]  Sophie K. Scott,et al.  Cortical asymmetries in speech perception: what's wrong, what's right and what's left? , 2012, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[23]  Claus Tempelmann,et al.  Examining the McGurk illusion using high-field 7 Tesla functional MRI , 2012, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[24]  Kenneth Hugdahl,et al.  Stimulus expectancy modulates inferior frontal gyrus and premotor cortex activity in auditory perception , 2012, Brain and Language.

[25]  Arseny A. Sokolov,et al.  Biological motion processing: The left cerebellum communicates with the right superior temporal sulcus , 2012, NeuroImage.

[26]  Michael S. Beauchamp,et al.  A neural basis for interindividual differences in the McGurk effect, a multisensory speech illusion , 2012, NeuroImage.

[27]  Robert T. Schultz,et al.  Biological motion task performance predicts superior temporal sulcus activity , 2011, Brain and Cognition.

[28]  S. Frangou,et al.  Autism Spectrum Disorders and Schizophrenia: Meta-Analysis of the Neural Correlates of Social Cognition , 2011, PloS one.

[29]  Jean-Francois Mangin,et al.  A robust cerebral asymmetry in the infant brain: The rightward superior temporal sulcus , 2011, NeuroImage.

[30]  G. Langs,et al.  The prenatal origin of hemispheric asymmetry: an in utero neuroimaging study. , 2011, Cerebral cortex.

[31]  Eileen Luders,et al.  Structural and functional reorganization of the corpus callosum between the age of 6 and 8 years. , 2011, Cerebral cortex.

[32]  Rebecca Saxe,et al.  fMRI item analysis in a theory of mind task , 2011, NeuroImage.

[33]  Pascal Belin,et al.  Human voice perception , 2011, Current Biology.

[34]  Kenneth Hugdahl,et al.  Increased activation in superior temporal gyri as a function of increment in phonetic features , 2011, Brain and Language.

[35]  Kenneth Hugdahl,et al.  Effective connectivity analysis demonstrates involvement of premotor cortex during speech perception , 2011, NeuroImage.

[36]  Kurt E. Weaver,et al.  Mapping anterior temporal lobe language areas with fMRI: A multicenter normative study , 2011, NeuroImage.

[37]  Rutvik H. Desai,et al.  Specialization along the Left Superior Temporal Sulcus for Auditory Categorization , 2010, Cerebral cortex.

[38]  Alan C. Evans,et al.  Spatial distribution of deep sulcal landmarks and hemispherical asymmetry on the cortical surface. , 2010, Cerebral cortex.

[39]  C. Price.  The anatomy of language: a review of 100 fMRI studies published in 2009 , 2010, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[40]  Kenneth Hugdahl,et al.  Detection of differential speech‐specific processes in the temporal lobe using fMRI and a dynamic “sound morphing” technique , 2009, Human brain mapping.

[41]  Kenneth Hugdahl,et al.  Functional relevance of interindividual differences in temporal lobe callosal pathways: a DTI tractography study. , 2009, Cerebral cortex.

[42]  Gereon R Fink,et al.  Disentangling the prefrontal network for rule selection by means of a non‐verbal variant of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test , 2009, Human brain mapping.

[43]  Sophie K. Scott,et al.  A little more conversation, a little less action — candidate roles for the motor cortex in speech perception , 2009, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[44]  Robert T. Knight,et al.  Superior Temporal SulcusIt's My Area: Or Is It? , 2008, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[45]  S. Campanella,et al.  Integrating face and voice in person perception , 2007, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[46]  J. Rieger,et al.  Audiovisual Temporal Correspondence Modulates Human Multisensory Superior Temporal Sulcus Plus Primary Sensory Cortices , 2007, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[47]  Vinod Goel,et al.  Anatomy of deductive reasoning , 2007, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[48]  D. Poeppel,et al.  The cortical organization of speech processing , 2007, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[49]  Ryan A. Stevenson,et al.  Superadditive BOLD activation in superior temporal sulcus with threshold non-speech objects , 2007, Experimental Brain Research.

[50]  Gereon R. Fink,et al.  Using fMRI to decompose the neural processes underlying the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test , 2006, NeuroImage.

[51]  Risto Näätänen,et al.  Selective attention to human voice enhances brain activity bilaterally in the superior temporal sulcus , 2006, Brain Research.

[52]  Rebecca Elliott,et al.  Neuronal correlates of theory of mind and empathy: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study in a nonverbal task , 2006, NeuroImage.

[53]  Manabu Honda,et al.  Cross-modal binding and activated attentional networks during audio-visual speech integration: a functional MRI study. , 2005, Cerebral cortex.

[54]  David A. Medler,et al.  Cerebral Cortex doi:10.1093/cercor/bhi040 Cerebral Cortex Advance Access published February 9, 2005 , 2022 .

[55]  Kenneth Hugdahl,et al.  “Soundmorphing”: A new approach to studying speech perception in humans , 2005, Neuroscience Letters.

[56]  C. Price,et al.  Speech-specific auditory processing: where is it? , 2005, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[57]  Sophie K Scott,et al.  Auditory processing — speech, space and auditory objects , 2005, Current Opinion in Neurobiology.

[58]  Jean-Francois Mangin,et al.  Sulcal pattern and morphology of the superior temporal sulcus , 2004, NeuroImage.

[59]  B. Argall,et al.  Integration of Auditory and Visual Information about Objects in Superior Temporal Sulcus , 2004, Neuron.

[60]  J. Decety,et al.  Abnormalities of brain function during a nonverbal theory of mind task in schizophrenia , 2003, Neuropsychologia.

[61]  Karsten Specht,et al.  Functional segregation of the temporal lobes into highly differentiated subsystems for auditory perception: an auditory rapid event-related fMRI-task , 2003, NeuroImage.

[62]  C. Frith,et al.  Development and neurophysiology of mentalizing. , 2003, Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences.

[63]  Aina Puce,et al.  Electrophysiology and brain imaging of biological motion. , 2003, Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences.

[64]  C. Frith,et al.  Functional imaging of ‘theory of mind’ , 2003, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[65]  C. Frith,et al.  Autism, Asperger syndrome and brain mechanisms for the attribution of mental states to animated shapes. , 2002, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[66]  H. Scheich,et al.  Phonetic Perception and the Temporal Cortex , 2002, NeuroImage.

[67]  S. Iversen,et al.  Detection of Audio-Visual Integration Sites in Humans by Application of Electrophysiological Criteria to the BOLD Effect , 2001, NeuroImage.

[68]  E. T. Possing,et al.  Human temporal lobe activation by speech and nonspeech sounds. , 2000, Cerebral cortex.

[69]  J. Decety,et al.  A PET Investigation of the Attribution of Intentions with a Nonverbal Task , 2000, NeuroImage.

[70]  R. Zatorre,et al.  Voice-selective areas in human auditory cortex , 2000, Nature.

[71]  Karl J. Friston,et al.  Multisubject fMRI Studies and Conjunction Analyses , 1999, NeuroImage.

[72]  E. Bullmore,et al.  Social intelligence in the normal and autistic brain: an fMRI study , 1999, The European journal of neuroscience.

[73]  J. A. Frost,et al.  Function of the left planum temporale in auditory and linguistic processing , 1996, NeuroImage.

[74]  Richard S. J. Frackowiak,et al.  Other minds in the brain: a functional imaging study of “theory of mind” in story comprehension , 1995, Cognition.

[75]  R. C. Oldfield.  The assessment and analysis of handedness: the Edinburgh inventory. , 1971, Neuropsychologia.

[76]  R. C. Oldfield.  THE ASSESSMENT AND ANALYSIS OF HANDEDNESS , 1971 .