Demography

Active listening

Cognitive psychology

Philosophy

Communication

Neuroscience

Economics

Computer science

Stimulus (psychology)

Computer network

Aesthetics

Psychology

Task (project management)

Management

Speech production

Speech processing

Population

Sociology

Synchronization (alternating current)

Rhythm

Channel (broadcasting)

Syllable

Speech recognition

Neurophysiology

Nature Neuroscience

We introduce a deceptively simple behavioral task that robustly identifies two qualitatively different groups within the general population. When presented with an isochronous train of random syllables, some listeners are compelled to align their own concurrent syllable production with the perceived rate, whereas others remain impervious to the external rhythm. Using both neurophysiological and structural imaging approaches, we show group differences with clear consequences for speech processing and language learning. When listening passively to speech, high synchronizers show increased brain-to-stimulus synchronization over frontal areas, and this localized pattern correlates with precise microstructural differences in the white matter pathways connecting frontal to auditory regions. Finally, the data expose a mechanism that underpins performance on an ecologically relevant word-learning task. We suggest that this task will help to better understand and characterize individual performance in speech processing and language learning.

Spontaneous synchronization to speech reveals neural mechanisms facilitating language learning