Past events: Begoña Diaz. Sensory thalamic contributions to speech processing

What: Sensory thalamic contributions to speech processing

Where: BCBL auditorium

Who: Begoña Díaz, PhD. Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC),Barcelona, Spain

When: 12:00 PM

Speech plays a central role in human development and socialization. Traditionally, it is has
been assumed that specialization for speech processing can only be found beyond the primary
sensory cortices. In this talk, I will present evidence challenging this cortico-centered view of
speech processing. I will present MRI findings that show that the modulation of sensory
thalamus, a structure traditionally viewed as a passive relay station for sensory information,
serves has a role in the processing of specific features of speech and is behaviourally relevant
for speech recognition. These findings will be integrated into a predictive coding account of
thalamo-cortical interaction in speech recognition.