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Endogenous auditory and motor brain rhythms predict individual speech tracking.

Overview

Authors: Christina Lubinus1,2, Anne Keitel3, Jonas Obleser4,5, David Poeppel6, Johanna M. Rimmele1,2
ORCID iDs: Christina Lubinus, Anne Keitel, Jonas Obleser, David Poeppel, Johanna M. Rimmele
  1. Department of Cognitive Neuropsychology, Max-Planck-Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
  2. Cooperative Brain Imaging Center, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
  3. Psychology, University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom
  4. Department of Psychology, University of Luebeck, Lübeck, Germany
  5. Center for Brain, Behavior, and Metabolism, University of Luebeck, Lübeck, Germany
  6. Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, United States of America
Institutions: Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics (Germany); University of Dundee (United Kingdom); University of Lübeck (Germany); New York University (United States)
Journal: PLoS biology, volume 24, issue 7, article e3003924
Dates: received 26 February 2026; accepted 14 July 2026; published online 31 July 2026
Type: Research article · Language: English
License: CC BY
Identifiers: DOI 10.1371/journal.pbio.3003924 · PMID 42536666 · PMCID PMC13446743 · OpenAlex W4408805842
Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Preprint: doi:10.1101/2025.03.24.644939
Status: data only
Categories: MEG (modality), human (organism), cognitive (subfield)
Methods: Spectral & time-frequency, Statistics, Smoothing, state filtering, decompositions, Machine learning, Connectivity, Preprocessing, Evoked potentials, fMRI & imaging, Physiology & signal measures
MeSH: Auditory Cortex*, Motor Cortex*, Speech*, Speech Perception*, Acoustic Stimulation, Adult, Comprehension, Female, Humans, Magnetoencephalography, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Theta Rhythm, Young Adult (* major topic)
Journal subjects: Social Sciences, Linguistics, Speech, Engineering and Technology, Signal Processing, Speech Signal Processing, Biology and Life Sciences, Psychology, Behavior, Research and Analysis Methods, Mathematical and Statistical Techniques, Statistical Methods, Forecasting, Physical Sciences, Mathematics, Statistics, Anatomy, Brain, Cerebral Hemispheres, Right Hemisphere, Medicine and Health Sciences, Physiology, Sensory Physiology, Auditory System, Auditory Cortex, Neuroscience, Sensory Systems, Grammar, Phonology, Syllables, Cognitive Science, Cognitive Neuroscience, Working Memory, Cognition, Memory, Learning and Memory
Topic: Speech and Audio Processing (Signal Processing, Computer Science), according to OpenAlex
Funding: Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics; Medical Research Council (MR/W02912X/); Royal Society of Edinburgh (1963)
Citations: cited by 1 paper (Europe PMC); 119 references in the paper

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.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

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Data

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Data Availability

All relevant code and data are available in an Open Science Framework (OSF) repository: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/SNDPE.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

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Version 2, 28 September 2026

  • Authors: added Christina Lubinus (0000-0002-7261-2490); Anne Keitel (0000-0003-4498-0146); Jonas Obleser (0000-0002-7619-0459); David Poeppel (0000-0003-0184-163X); removed Christina Lubinus; Anne Keitel; Jonas Obleser; David Poeppel

Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 5 authors, 14 MeSH terms, 3 funders, 113 references.

Cite

This paper

Lubinus, C., Keitel, A., Obleser, J., Poeppel, D., & Rimmele, J. M. (2026). Endogenous auditory and motor brain rhythms predict individual speech tracking. PLoS biology, 24(7), e3003924. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003924

BibTeX

@article{lubinus2026endogenous,
author = {Lubinus, Christina and Keitel, Anne and Obleser, Jonas and Poeppel, David and Rimmele, Johanna M.},
title = {{Endogenous auditory and motor brain rhythms predict individual speech tracking}},
journal = {PLoS biology},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
volume = {24},
number = {7},
pages = {e3003924},
publisher = {PLOS},
issn = {1544-9173},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pbio.3003924},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003924},
pmid = {42536666},
pmcid = {PMC13446743}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - Lubinus, Christina
AU - Keitel, Anne
AU - Obleser, Jonas
AU - Poeppel, David
AU - Rimmele, Johanna M.
TI - Endogenous auditory and motor brain rhythms predict individual speech tracking
T2 - PLoS biology
J2 - PLoS Biol
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/31
VL - 24
IS - 7
SP - e3003924
SN - 1544-9173
PB - PLOS
DO - 10.1371/journal.pbio.3003924
UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003924
LA - en
ER -

CSL-JSON

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