Nature Communications (Dec 2016)

Rapid tuning shifts in human auditory cortex enhance speech intelligibility

  • Christopher R. Holdgraf,
  • Wendy de Heer,
  • Brian Pasley,
  • Jochem Rieger,
  • Nathan Crone,
  • Jack J. Lin,
  • Robert T. Knight,
  • Frédéric E. Theunissen

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13654
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 1
pp. 1 – 15

Abstract

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Experience constantly shapes perception, but the neural mechanisms of this rapid plasticity are unclear. Here, Holdgraf et al. record neural activity in the human auditory cortex and show that listening to normal speech elicits rapid plasticity that increases the neural gain for features of sound that are key for speech intelligibility.