Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29529019›Full record

ArticlePLoS biology2018

Perceptually relevant speech tracking in auditory and motor cortex reflects distinct linguistic features.

Anne Keitel, Joachim Gross, Christoph Kayser

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PLoS biology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 132 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
132citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

132 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Accent type modulates frequency-specific neural tracking of speech.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Review
  7. Article
  8. Cutaneous Alternating Current Stimulation Can Cause a Phasic Modulation of Speech Perception.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026
    Article
  9. Review
  10. The rhythm of sensory input shapes audio-visual temporal processing.British journal of psychology (London, England : 1953) · 2026
    Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. How Low-Frequency Neural Activity Structures Language in Time.Neurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026
    Article
  15. Article
  16. Review
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Left Perisylvian Rhythms Encode Prosody and Syntax during Delayed Sentence Repetition.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025
    Article
  20. Article

72 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Anne KeitelInstitute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0003-4498-0146
Joachim GrossInstitute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom.
Christoph KayserInstitute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom.

Funding

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/L027534/1Wellcome TrustWellcome Trust 098433
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

During online speech processing, our brain tracks the acoustic fluctuations in speech at different timescales. Previous research has focused on generic timescales (for example, delta or theta bands) that are assumed to map onto linguistic features such as prosody or syllables. However, given the high intersubject variability in speaking patterns, such a generic association between the timescales of brain activity and speech properties can be ambiguous. Here, we analyse speech tracking in source-localised magnetoencephalographic data by directly focusing on timescales extracted from statistical regularities in our speech material. This revealed widespread significant tracking at the timescales of phrases (0.6-1.3 Hz), words (1.8-3 Hz), syllables (2.8-4.8 Hz), and phonemes (8-12.4 Hz). Importantly, when examining its perceptual relevance, we found stronger tracking for correctly comprehended trials in the left premotor (PM) cortex at the phrasal scale as well as in left middle temporal cortex at the word scale. Control analyses using generic bands confirmed that these effects were specific to the speech regularities in our stimuli. Furthermore, we found that the phase at the phrasal timescale coupled to power at beta frequency (13-30 Hz) in motor areas. This cross-frequency coupling presumably reflects top-down temporal prediction in ongoing speech perception. Together, our results reveal specific functional and perceptually relevant roles of distinct tracking and cross-frequency processes along the auditory-motor pathway.

Indexed as

SpeechSpeech PerceptionAcoustic StimulationAdolescentAdultAuditory CortexBrain MappingFemaleHumansMagnetoencephalographyMaleMotor Cortex

Identifiers

PMID29529019
PMCPMC5864086

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.