Right, but not left, posterior superior temporal gyrus is causally involved in vocal feedback control
Dongxu Liu,
Yichen Chang,
Guangyan Dai,
Zhiqiang Guo,
Jeffery A. Jones,
Tingni Li,
Xi Chen,
Mingyun Chen,
Jingting Li,
Xiuqin Wu,
Peng Liu,
Hanjun Liu
Affiliations
Dongxu Liu
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
Yichen Chang
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
Guangyan Dai
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
Zhiqiang Guo
School of Computer, Zhuhai College of Science and Technology, Zhuhai, China
Jeffery A. Jones
Department of Psychology and Laurier Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3C5, Canada
Tingni Li
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China; Centre for Eye and Vision Research, 17W Science Park, Hong Kong SAR, China
Xi Chen
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
Mingyun Chen
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
Jingting Li
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
Xiuqin Wu
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China; Corresponding authors at: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, China.
Peng Liu
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China; Corresponding authors at: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, China.
Hanjun Liu
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China; Corresponding authors at: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, China.
The posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) has been implicated in the integration of auditory feedback and motor system for controlling vocal production. However, the question as to whether and how the pSTG is causally involved in vocal feedback control is currently unclear. To this end, the present study selectively stimulated the left or right pSTG with continuous theta burst stimulation (c-TBS) in healthy participants, then used event-related potentials to investigate neurobehavioral changes in response to altered auditory feedback during vocal pitch regulation. The results showed that, compared to control (vertex) stimulation, c-TBS over the right pSTG led to smaller vocal compensations for pitch perturbations accompanied by smaller cortical N1 and larger P2 responses. Enhanced P2 responses received contributions from the right-lateralized temporal and parietal regions as well as the insula, and were significantly correlated with suppressed vocal compensations. Surprisingly, these effects were not found when comparing c-TBS over the left pSTG with control stimulation. Our findings provide evidence, for the first time, that supports a causal relationship between right, but not left, pSTG and auditory-motor integration for vocal pitch regulation. This lends support to a right-lateralized contribution of the pSTG in not only the bottom-up detection of vocal feedback errors but also the involvement of driving motor commands for error correction in a top-down manner.
