Results are mixed regarding the question of whether listening to speech activates automatic speech specific neural processes, or whether such activity is due to general cognitive mechanisms such as attention and memory. We suggest that analyzing the dynamics of mu rhythms over the course of a trial using event-related spectral perturbations (ERSPs) is useful for disentangling the competing hypotheses. Our findings suggest that there is automatic activation of motor and premotor areas of the brain that occurs while passively listening to speech, and that this activation is not present while listening to noise. Moreover, this activation is more strongly present in the low alpha frequencies, which are associated with attention, when participants engage in active discrimination of stimuli, and late in the trial prior to a button press.

关于听语音是否会激活自动语音特定的神经过程，或者这种活动是否是由于一般的认知机制（如注意力和记忆）的问题，结果喜忧参半。我们建议使用事件相关谱扰动 (ERSP) 在试验过程中分析 mu 节律的动态对于解开相互竞争的假设很有用。我们的研究结果表明，在被动听语音时会自动激活大脑的运动和前运动区域，而在听噪音时不会出现这种激活。此外，这种激活更强烈地出现在与注意力相关的低 alpha 频率中，当参与者积极区分刺激时，以及在按下按钮之前的试验后期。