"Doctor" or "Darling" The Subtle Differences of Speech: Scientists from Freiburg Find Brain Signals That Tell Who Someone Is Talking To
In contrast to the experimental research common in human neuroscience, the scientists studied natural, non-experimental behavior. Patients who, for medical reasons, had electrodes implanted underneath their skull allowed their brain activity to be recorded during daily life in the hospital. The Freiburg researchers compared data recorded during natural conversations that the patients had with their physicians and their life partners. They found pronounced differences in the anterior temporal lobe, a brain area well known for its significance in social interaction. Several components of neural signals that are detectable on the brain surface can convey such information.
“This study is only the first step towards elucidating the neural basis of human everyday behavior,” explains the neuroscientist and physician Tonio Ball. “Such investigations will become especially important in developing new neurotechnological treatment options for patients with impaired motor and language functions that work in real life situations.” The restoration of speech production becomes necessary in some forms of neurological diseases and chronic paralysis. A computer could synthesize speech for patients suffering from such conditions by using their brain signals. Information on who the patient is addressing could help the device to select the degree of formality – and to prevent it from calling the doctor “darling.”
Image caption:
A recording site (grey dot) in a brain region responsible for social interaction showed clear differences in neural activity when the subject was talking to the life partner (green curve) vs. the physician (blue curve).
Original publication (open access):
Derix, J., Iljina, O., Schulze-Bonhage, A., Aertsen, A., and Ball, T. (2012). “Doctor” or “darling”? Decoding the communication partner from ECoG of the anterior temporal lobe during non-experimental, real-life social interaction. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 6, 251.
Link:
Press release by the University of Freiburg (German)