A Word by Any Other Intonation: FMRI Evidence for Implicit Memory Traces for Pitch Contours of Spoken Words in Adult Brains

摘要

ObjectivesIntonation may serve as a cue for facilitated recognition and processing of spoken words and it has been suggested that the pitch contour of spoken words is implicitly remembered. Thus, using the repetition suppression (RS) effect of BOLD-fMRI signals, we tested whether the same spoken words are differentially processed in language and auditory brain areas depending on whether or not they retain an arbitrary intonation pattern.