Sensitivity of the human temporal voice areas to nonhuman primate vocalizations
Ceravolo, L.; Debracque, C.; Gruber, T.; Grandjean, D.
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In recent years, research on voice processing in the human brain--particularly the study of temporal voice areas (TVA)--was dedicated almost exclusively to conspecific vocalizations. To characterize commonalities and differences regarding primate vocalization representations in the human brain, the inclusion of closely related nonhuman primates--namely chimpanzees and bonobos--is needed. We hypothesized that neural commonalities would depend on both phylogenetic and acoustic proximities, with chimpanzees ranking closest to Homo. Presenting human participants (N=23) with the vocalizations of four primate species (rhesus macaques, chimpanzees, bonobos and humans) and regressing-out relevant acoustic parameters using three distinct analyses, we observed within-TVA, sample-specific, bilateral anterior superior temporal gyrus activity for chimpanzee vocalizations compared to: all other species; nonhuman primates; human vocalizations. Within-TVA activity was also observed for macaque vocalizations. Our results provide evidence for subregions of the TVA that respond principally--but not exclusively--to phylogenetically and acoustically close nonhuman primate vocalizations, namely those of chimpanzees.
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