ABOVE: Functional maps of brain activity show that the meaning of particular concepts or phrases is represented almost identically during reading and listening.
© FATMA DENIZ
The paper
F. Deniz et al., “The representation of semantic information across human cerebral cortex during listening versus reading is invariant to stimulus modality,” J Neurosci, 39:7722–36, 2019.
Researchers know that similar brain regions become active in response to the semantic content, or meaning, of language, whether it is read or listened to. But brain-imaging studies haven’t had the resolution to determine if it’s the same neural circuits, or just adjacent ones, within those regions that respond to the two language modes, says University of California, Berkeley, neuroscientist Jack Gallant.
To find out, Gallant, postdoc Fatma Deniz, and colleagues transcribed several 10- to 15-minute clips from The Moth Radio Hour, in which speakers tell stories to an audience. The researchers had nine participants either read ...
