Adjusting to the vocal characteristics of a new talker is important for speech recognition. Previous research has indicated that adjusting to talker differences is an active cognitive process that depends on attention and working memory (WM). These studies have not examined how talker variability affects perception and neural responses in fluent speech. Here we use source analysis from high-density EEG to show that perceiving fluent speech in which the talker changes recruits early involvement of parietal and temporal cortical areas, suggesting functional involvement of WM and attention in talker normalization. We extend these findings to acoustic source change in general by examining understanding environmental sounds in spoken sentence context. Though there may be differences in cortical recruitment to processing demands for non-speech sounds versus a changing talker, the underlying mechanisms are similar, supporting the view that shared cognitive-general mechanisms assist both talker normalization and speech-to-nonspeech transitions.

中文翻译：

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流利句子中说话者标准化的皮质机制


适应新说话者的声音特征对于语音识别很重要。先前的研究表明，适应说话者差异是一个主动的认知过程，依赖于注意力和工作记忆（WM）。这些研究没有研究说话者的变异性如何影响流利言语中的感知和神经反应。在这里，我们使用高密度脑电图的源分析来表明，感知讲话者变化的流利言语会招募顶叶和颞叶皮层区域的早期参与，这表明 WM 的功能参与和讲话者正常化中的注意力。我们通过检查对口语句子上下文中环境声音的理解，将这些发现扩展到一般的声源变化。尽管与不断变化的说话者相比，皮层在处理非语音声音的需求方面可能存在差异，但潜在的机制是相似的，支持共享认知一般机制有助于说话者正常化和语音到非语音转换的观点。