Acoustic and phonological processes in the repetition tasks

따라 말하기 과제에서의 음향적 처리와 음운적 처리

Speech shares acoustic features with other sound-based processing, which makes it difficult to distinguish phonological process from acoustic process in speech processing. In this study, we examined the difference between acoustic process and phonological process during repetition tasks. By contrasting various stimuli in different lengths, we localized neural correlates of acoustic process within bilateral superior temporal gyrus, which was consistent with the previous studies. The activated patterns were widely overlapped between words and pseudowords, i.e., contents-free. In contrast, phonological process showed left-lateralized activation in middle temporal gyrus located at anterior temporal areas. It implies that phonological process is contents-specific as shown in our previous study, and at the same time, more language-specific. Thus, we suggest that phonological process is distinguished from acoustic process in that it is always accompanied with the obligatory access to available phonological codes, which can be an entry of the mental lexicon.