Corollary discharge function in healthy controls: new evidence about
self-speech and external speech processing.
Abstract
As we speak, corollary discharge mechanisms suppress the auditory
cortical response to the sensory perception of the self-generated voice
in healthy subjects. This suppression has been associated with the
attenuation of the auditory N1 component. To analyze this corollary
discharge phenomenon (agency and ownership), we registered the
Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) of thirty-five healthy subjects. The N1
and P2 components were elicited by spoken vowels (talk condition;
agency), by played-back vowels recorded with their own voice
(listen-self condition; ownership), and by played-back vowels recorded
with an external voice (listen-other condition). The N1 amplitude
elicited by the talk condition was smaller compared to the listen-self
and listen-other conditions. There were no amplitude differences in N1
between listen-self and listen-other conditions. The P2 component did
not show differences between conditions. Additionally, a peak latency
analysis of N1 and P2 components between the three conditions showed no
differences. These findings corroborate previous results showing that
the corollary discharge mechanisms dampen sensory responses to
self-generated speech (agency experience), and also provide new
neurophysiological evidence about the similarities in the processing of
played-back vowels with our own voice (ownership experience) and with an
external voice.