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Peer-reviewedCC BYPLoS Biology

Endogenous auditory and motor brain rhythms predict individual speech tracking

  • Christina Lubinus1
  • Anne Keitel2
  • Jonas Obleser3,4
  • David Poeppel5
  • Johanna Maria Rimmele1
5 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Cognitive Neuropsychology, Max-Planck-Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, 60322 Frankfurt am Main, Germany,
  2. 2Psychology, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HN, UK,
  3. 3Center for Brain, Behavior, and Metabolism, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany,
  4. 4Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany,
  5. 5Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA
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Abstract

Slow, endogenous brain rhythms in the auditory cortex are hypothesized to track acoustic amplitude modulations during speech comprehension. Temporal predictions from the motor system are thought to enhance this tracking. However, direct evidence for the involvement of endogenous auditory and motor brain rhythms is lacking. Combining magnetoencephalographic recordings with behavioral data, we here show that endogenous peak frequencies of individuals' resting-state theta rhythm in superior temporal gyrus predict speech tracking during comprehension. Importantly, endogenous rates of speech motor areas predicted auditory-cortical speech tracking only in individuals with high auditory-motor synchronization profiles. Higher rates in the supplementary motor area and lower rates in inferior frontal gyrus predicted stronger tracking. These findings provide support for oscillatory accounts of auditory-motor interactions during speech perception. Behaviorally, higher auditory-motor synchronization was related to higher comprehension, with effects of the spontaneous speech motor production rate only in high synchronizers. Working memory capacity predicted speech comprehension performance only in individuals with low auditory-motor synchronization profiles. No significant relationship between the neural data and behavioral readouts was observed. The findings highlight differential speech processing preferences across individuals, with an auditory-motor route related to enhanced comprehension performance.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{lubinus2026endogenous,
  title = {{Endogenous auditory and motor brain rhythms predict individual speech tracking}},
  author = {Christina Lubinus and Anne Keitel and Jonas Obleser and David Poeppel and Johanna Maria Rimmele},
  journal = {PLoS Biology},
  year = {2026},
  month = jul,
  doi = {10.1371/journal.pbio.3003924},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003924},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Endogenous auditory and motor brain rhythms predict individual speech tracking
AU  - Christina Lubinus
AU  - Anne Keitel
AU  - Jonas Obleser
AU  - David Poeppel
AU  - Johanna Maria Rimmele
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/31
JO  - PLoS Biology
DO  - 10.1371/journal.pbio.3003924
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003924
AB  - Slow, endogenous brain rhythms in the auditory cortex are hypothesized to track acoustic amplitude modulations during speech comprehension. Temporal predictions from the motor system are thought to enhance this tracking. However, direct evidence for the involvement of endogenous auditory and motor brain rhythms is lacking. Combining magnetoencephalographic recordings with behavioral data, we here show that endogenous peak frequencies of individuals' resting-state theta rhythm in superior temporal gyrus predict speech tracking during comprehension. Importantly, endogenous rates of speech motor areas predicted auditory-cortical speech tracking only in individuals with high auditory-motor synchronization profiles. Higher rates in the supplementary motor area and lower rates in inferior frontal gyrus predicted stronger tracking. These findings provide support for oscillatory accounts of auditory-motor interactions during speech perception. Behaviorally, higher auditory-motor synchronization was related to higher comprehension, with effects of the spontaneous speech motor production rate only in high synchronizers. Working memory capacity predicted speech comprehension performance only in individuals with low auditory-motor synchronization profiles. No significant relationship between the neural data and behavioral readouts was observed. The findings highlight differential speech processing preferences across individuals, with an auditory-motor route related to enhanced comprehension performance.
SN  - 1544-9173
SN  - 1545-7885
ER  -