ERP correlates of language-specific processing of auditory pitch feedback during self-vocalization

The present study investigated whether the neural correlates for auditory feedback control of vocal pitch can be shaped by tone language experience. Event-related potentials (P2/N1) were recorded from adult native speakers of Mandarin and Cantonese who heard their voice auditory feedback shifted in pitch by −50, −100, −200, or −500 cents when they sustained the vowel sound /u/. Cantonese speakers produced larger P2 amplitudes to −200 or −500 cents stimuli than Mandarin speakers, but this language effect failed to reach significance in the case of −50 or −100 cents. Moreover, Mandarin speakers produced shorter N1 latencies over the left hemisphere than the right hemisphere, whereas Cantonese speakers did not. These findings demonstrate that neural processing of auditory pitch feedback in vocal motor control is subject to language-dependent neural plasticity, suggesting that cortical mechanisms of auditory–vocal integration can be shaped by tone language experience.

► ERPs to pitch errors in auditory feedback were recorded from Cantonese and Mandarin speakers.
► Cantonese speakers produced greater responses to large pitch errors than Mandarin speakers.
► Mandarin speakers exhibited hemispheric asymmetry in the latencies, whereas Cantonese did not.
► Neural processing of auditory pitch feedback is shaped by tone language experience.