ADVANCED REVIEW The time-course of speech perception revealed by temporally-sensitive neural measures Laura M. Getz 1 | Joseph C. Toscano 2 1 Department of Psychological Sciences, University of San Diego, San Diego, California 2 Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania Correspondence Laura M. Getz, Department of Psychological Sciences, University of San Diego, 5998 Alcala Park, San Diego, CA 92110, USA. Email: lgetz@sandiego.edu Abstract Recent advances in cognitive neuroscience have provided a detailed picture of the early time-course of speech perception. In this review, we highlight this work, placing it within the broader context of research on the neurobiology of speech processing, and discuss how these data point us toward new models of speech perception and spoken language comprehension. We focus, in particu- lar, on temporally-sensitive measures that allow us to directly measure early perceptual processes. Overall, the data provide support for two key principles: (a) speech perception is based on gradient representations of speech sounds and (b) speech perception is interactive and receives input from higher-level linguistic context at the earliest stages of cortical processing. Implications for models of speech processing and the neurobiology of language more broadly are discussed. This article is categorized under: Psychology > Language Psychology > Perception and Psychophysics Neuroscience > Cognition KEYWORDS acoustic cue encoding, gradiency, speech perception, top-down effects 1 | INTRODUCTION Questions about spoken language have a long history in neuroscience research. Indeed, the uniqueness of language to humans and the resulting lack of animal models means that neurobiological investigations have been fundamental to our understanding of language comprehension. Moreover, recent advances in cognitive neuroscience techniques have provided an increasingly detailed picture of the early time-course of speech perception. This review will highlight that work, placing it within the broader context of research on the neurobiology of spoken language processing and dis- cussing how these data can point us toward new models. Research investigating the neural basis of language can be broadly divided into studies addressing questions about where in the brain different stages of language processing occur (primarily using fMRI methods) and studies investigat- ing when listeners have access to different types of information in the speech signal (primarily using EEG methods). Early work by Penfield and Roberts (1959) with surgical patients helped to identify brain areas involved in speech pro- duction and perception. These studies confirmed the broad involvement of Broca's and Wernicke's areas in production and comprehension, and the results supported earlier (and subsequent) work with aphasic patients who had damage to specific cortical areas. This early research informed the development of more recent electrocorticography (ECoG) Received: 30 November 2019 Revised: 28 May 2020 Accepted: 26 June 2020 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1541 WIREs Cogn Sci. 2020;e1541. wires.wiley.com/cogsci © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC. 1 of 18 https://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1541