Endogenous auditory and motor brain rhythms predict individual speech tracking

TY - JOUR

T1 - Endogenous auditory and motor brain rhythms predict individual speech tracking

AU - Lubinus, Christina

AU - Keitel, Anne

AU - Obleser, Jonas

AU - Poeppel, David

AU - Rimmele, Johanna M

N1 - Publisher Copyright: Copyright: © 2026 Lubinus et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

PY - 2026/7/31

Y1 - 2026/7/31

N2 - 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.

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.

KW - Humans

KW - Magnetoencephalography

KW - Auditory Cortex/physiology

KW - Speech Perception/physiology

KW - Male

KW - Female

KW - Speech/physiology

KW - Adult

KW - Motor Cortex/physiology

KW - Young Adult

KW - Theta Rhythm/physiology

KW - Comprehension/physiology

KW - Memory, Short-Term/physiology

KW - Acoustic Stimulation

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pbio.3003924

DO - 10.1371/journal.pbio.3003924

M3 - Article

C2 - 42536666

SN - 1544-9173

VL - 24

SP - e3003924

JO - PLoS Biology

JF - PLoS Biology

IS - 7

ER -