Speech

…mechanisms of selective attention to speech has primarily explored low-frequency responses to amplitude modulations in the auditory cortex. EEG studies revealed, in addition, attentional modulation of subcortical neural responses at the fundamental frequency of speech (speech-FFR). Recent MEG studies have identified cortical contributions to the speech-FFR (Coffey et al. (2017), Kulasingham et al. (2020), Schüller et al. (2024)), but it remains unclear if these cortica

The transcription factor FOXP2 is a regulator of vocalization-, speech-, and language-related phenotypes in human and non-human species. The FOXP2 protein contains multiple domains including a DNA-binding forkhead domain, a zinc finger domain, a leucine zipper, and N-terminal polyglutamine (polyQ) repeats. We have recently found that the FOXP2 N-terminal polyQ region drives the liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) of the protein. FOXP2 LLPS is regulated by the evolutionary length variation of the polyQ repeats and has a role in modulating the transcriptional activity of the protein. The poten

…perspective on how the brain encodes speech. Using these recent insights, I will provide an overview of key factors underpinning individual differences in children’s development of language and phonology, providing a context for exploring atypical reading development (dyslexia). Children with dyslexia are relatively insensitive to acoustic cues related to speech rhythm patterns. This lack of rhythmic sensitivity is related to the atypical neural encoding of rhythm patterns in speech by the brain. I will describe our recent data from infa

…are observed during perception of speech and music, two temporally structured sensory streams. I will present a behavioral and neurophysiological account for

The evolution of speech is considered to be one of the hardest problems in science. Studies of the communicative abilities of our closest living relatives, the nonhuman primates, aim to contribute to a better understanding of the emergence of this uniquely human capability. Following a brief introduction over the key building blocks that make up the human speech faculty, I will focus on the question of meaning in nonhuman primate vocalizations. While nonhuman primate calls may be highly context specific, thus giving rise to the notion of ‘referentiality’, comparisons across closely related spe