ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R
主办:中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

Advances in Psychological Science ›› 2021, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (12): 2147-2160.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2021.02147

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The neural mechanisms for human voice processing: Neural evidence from sighted and blind subjects

MING Lili1,2, HU Xueping1,2,3()   

  1. 1School of Linguistic Science and Art, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221000, China
    2Key Laboratory of Language and Cognitive Neuroscience of Jiangsu Province, Collaborative Innovation Center for Language Ability, Xuzhou 221009, China
    3School of Chinese Language and Culture, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210097, China
  • Received:2021-02-23 Published:2021-10-26
  • Contact: HU Xueping E-mail:huxpxp@163.com

Abstract:

The human voice, as an important part of one's auditory environment, contains a large amount of paralinguistic information to help identify individuals. Especially for blind individuals, the lack of visual face experience makes voice information the main source of perceiving another person's individual characteristics. By combining the research on voice-selective and voice-identity processing among both sighted and blind individuals, the present study attempts to reveal the general human voice processing mode and specific voice processing mechanism among blind persons. It also shows that the fusiform gyrus related to visual face processing are involved in voice tasks in both groups. The auditory-visual integration model and cross-modal reorganization hypothesis based on the “unmasking effect”, provide respective explanation mechanisms for the different neural bases of voice processing between the two subjects. Future, researchers should further investigate the voice processing strategies of blind individuals and the role of the left superior temporal sulcus/gyrus in voice processing.

Key words: voice identity processing, sighted subjects, blind subjects, fusiform gyrus, face processing

CLC Number: