Current Perspectives of The Neurobiology of Prosody and Rhythm

Prosody and rhythm are core components of speech that allow the brain to transform acoustic signals into linguistic and affective meaning. The interplay of pitch, stress, timing, and intonation patterns conveys syntactic structure, emotion, and communicative intent, while rhythmic organization supports segmentation, prediction, and motor coordination. Recent neuroscience research has revealed that prosodic and rhythmic functions depend on distributed neural networks spanning auditory, motor, subcortical, and cerebellar regions, coordinated by oscillatory activity across temporal scales. Despite these advances, key questions remain about how these systems develop, how their dysfunction contributes to communication disorders, and how prosody interacts with music, movement, and emotion across contexts and languages. Bridging these knowledge gaps is essential to understand how the brain encodes the temporal and melodic contours that shape human speech.This Research Topic aims to integrate current perspectives on the neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying prosody and rhythm in speech communication. It seeks contributions that advance theoretical and empirical understanding of the temporal organization of spoken language, the neural pathways supporting prosodic perception and production, and the ways in which these mechanisms adapt across development, learning, and clinical populations. Studies employing multimodal neuroimaging, computational modelling, and cross-linguistic or comparative designs are particularly encouraged to refine hypotheses about how timing and melody are represented and synchronized in the brain.To gather further insights into the neurobiology of prosody and rhythm in speech, we welcome interdisciplinary articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:- Neural oscillations and cortical tracking in prosodic and rhythmic processing- Hemispheric specialization and lateralization of linguistic and emotional prosody- Subcortical and cerebellar contributions to temporal coordination in speech- Predictive coding, entrainment, and timing mechanisms in perception and production- Motor–auditory integration in prosody and conversational turn-taking- Comparative and cross-linguistic studies on rhythm and tone systems- Developmental and acquired disorders affecting prosodic control and rhythm perception- Neural overlaps between speech rhythm and music processing Topic editors: Yan H Yu, Qinli Deng Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/80892/current-perspectives-of-the-neurobiology-of-prosody-and-rhythm