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Workshop on the Auditory Basis of Speech PerceptionKeele University, UK |
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Workshop on the Auditory Basis of Speech PerceptionKeele University, UK |
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Over the last century, the use of mechanical metaphors to model brain function has failed to illuminate the neurobiological bases of complex human behaviors such as speech perception. Here we use auditory processing of speech to illustrate a new, more organic systems-level metaphor for brain function ~ the theatrical repertory company. The metaphor is based on five detailed analogies between the structural and functional organization of a repertory company, compared with the human auditory nervous system. Illustrations of applications of this metaphor to auditory processing of speech will draw on research using noninvasive methods for brain monitoring and imaging. These illustrations demonstrate the promise of the new methods not only for freeing us from restrictions of the old mechanical metaphors, but also for providing novel insights into the ways in which the brain's "repertory company" performs the everyday miracle of listening to speech.
Bibliographic reference. Lauter, Judith L. (1996): "The auditory system as repertory company: a new approach to the neurobiology of speech perception", In ABSP-1996, 98-101.