The brains of speech experts and non-experts compared : An fMRI investigation of phonological processing

The present study aims to investigate whether there are distinctions in language-related brain function between speech experts and control subjects, and if so, how the functional reorganization or plasticity of the brain plays out in learning speech skills. Here, we used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to compare cerebral activity patterns associated with phonological perception in announcers and non-announcers during the task of identifying three-way Korean laryngeal contrasts. The results show that there are significant differences in neural activity pattern between the two groups. In particular, the announcer group, as compared to the control group, showed less activation in the regions associated with phonological perception: the left superior temporal gyrus, the primary sensorimotor cortex including pre- and post-central gyrus and the supramarginal gyrus (SMG). These findings provide evidence for neuroplasticity after learning language skills in a way that a continuing verbal training results in a greater language processing efficiency, thereby inducing less amount of activation in language-related regions. (Kyung Hee University)