Date of Award

Spring 2018

Project Type

Thesis

Program or Major

Communication Sciences and Disorders

Degree Name

Master of Science

First Advisor

Donald A Robin

Second Advisor

Amy E Ramage

Third Advisor

Charles R Larson

Abstract

Vocalization is critical to communication and understanding the neural mechanisms that control voice is a critical scientific and clinical endeavor. Studies have used a variety of neuroimaging techniques to investigate the neural correlates of vocal control using perturbation tasks. These studies have provided substantial evidence that there is a critical role of the Superior Temporal Gyrus (STG) in error detection/correction during vocalization. The STG appears to function as a regulatory region within a complex network of brain areas that control human vocalization. The aims of this study were to 1) Use Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) analyses to substantiate the neural regions activation during vocalization; 2) To determine the functional significance of the neural regions activated during vocalization, as characterized by the BrainMap database; 3) To parcellate the bilateral STG by means of Connectivity Based Parcellation (CBP) and functionally characterize any discreate subregions found. Results of the vocalization ALE analysis revealed activation of the bilateral STG, right supplementary motor area, bilateral precentral gyrus, right inferior frontal gyrus, right pallidum, left putamen and right cerebellum (VI), which largely substantiates previous findings of the vocalization network. Results of CBP revealed six distinct subregions of the left and right STG, with major functional characterization in the domains of perception, action, and cognition and in the specific tasks of music production and stimulus monitoring/discrimination.

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