Perception of Tones with and without Vocalic Information: A Brain fMRI Study

母音之有無對漢語聲調的感覺之影響：大腦功能性磁振造影的研究

Andrew C.-J. Hung ； Raung-Fu Chung ； Chun-Yu Lin

《高大人文學報》 2期 (2017/06) Pp. 27-62

https://doi.org/10.6648/NUKJH.2017.0202

摘要

This research investigated the association of Mandarin F0 contour perception with the superior temporal gyrus (STG) and the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) when tones input from the right ear. Adopted in this study are two types of tones: sinewave pitches (SW) and lexical tones (LX). LX refers to tones with, and SW, tones without, vocalic information. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data of the present study shows that LX perception, compared with SW perception, had additional activations at the left IFG and more noticeable activations at the right IFG. The additional activations at the left IFG imply association with the perception of vocalic information of LX. Despite the differences, SW and LX perception shared common activations at the left STG and the right IFG, suggesting that vocalic information plays no key role in tonal perception. The involvement of the left STG supports the phonemic feature of Mandarin tones. The present investigation reveals that solely the left STG of the brain cannot achieve the processing of Mandarin tones, and the role of the right IFG cannot be ignored.

關鍵字

perception ； Mandarin tones ； fMRI ； superior temporal gyrus ； inferior frontal gyrus

並列摘要

本研究探索漢語聲調的基頻軌跡(F0 Contours)的聽覺與大腦顳上回(superior temporal gyrus)和額下回(inferior frontal gyrus)之關聯性，比較自右耳輸入的非語言的正弦音調(無母音)與語言聲調(有母音)對於這兩大腦區域的反應之異同。本研究的腦部功能性磁振造影顯示: 和正弦音調(sinewave pitches)相比，語言聲調 (lexical tones)會引起額外的左腦額下回的反應，而且右腦額下回的反應較顯著。左腦額下回的反應可能和語言聲調中母音特性有關。雖然有這些差異，正弦音調與語言聲調都活化了左腦顳上回與右腦額下回，顯示母音於聲調的辨別時不扮演重要角色。左腦顳上回的活化支持漢語聲調的詞素特性。本研究顯示漢語聲調處理不是左腦顳上回可以單獨完成的；右腦額下回在漢語聲調感覺中的角色不可被忽視。

並列關鍵字

聽覺 ； 漢語聲調 ； 功能性磁振造影 ； 顳上回 ； 額下回