Superior temporal sulcus
[2] The STS has been shown to produce strong responses when subjects perceive stimuli in research areas that include theory of mind, biological motion, faces, voices, and language.[5] It is thought to be a source of sensory encoding linked to motor output through the superior parietal-temporal areas of the brain inferred from the time course of activation.[9] According to the audiological pathway model supplied by Hickok and Poeppel, after the spectrotemporal analysis conducted by the auditory cortex, the STS is responsible for interpretation of vocal input through the phonological network.This implication is shown in the activation of the region in tasks of speech perception and processing, which necessarily involves access to and continuance of phonological information.The superior temporal sulcus is activated during the perception of sign language - this could potentially be related to visual-spatial and linguistic processing.[21] Neuroimaging studies examining the theory of mind, otherwise known as the ability to attribute mental states to others, have identified the posterior superior temporal sulcus of the right hemisphere as being involved in its processing.[2] Activation of this region in the theory of mind has been found to be best predicted by independent ratings from other groups of participants, or more specifically, how much each item in the study made them consider the protagonist's point of view.[3] Thus, further research is needed to expand upon the precise functional role of the superior temporal sulcus in the perception of theory of mind.A recent study identified a region of the posterior superior temporal sulcus that is preferentially activated in the interpretation of facial expressions.[2] In fMRI studies evaluating the interpretation of a point-light display that represents a moving human figure as a pattern of dots, a cluster of significant brain activity was observed in the posterior superior temporal sulcus of the right hemisphere in subjects that correctly identified the biological motion being shown in the point-light display.[31] This same study also found impaired connectivity between the right and left hemispheres of the posterior superior temporal sulcus in the processing of affective theory of mind.On the other hand, the dorsal stream allows an individual to respond to said input as the speech stimuli further undergoes processing by the superior temporal gyrus.This correlates to the superior temporal sulcus because the dual pathway model occurs next after “spectrotemporal analysis” is carried out through the auditory cortex.