Transverse temporal gyrus
Transverse temporal gyri are superior to and separated from the planum temporale (cortex involved in language production) by Heschl's sulcus.The transverse temporal gyri are active during auditory processing under fMRI for tone and semantic tasks.[2] The role of transverse temporal gyri in auditory processing of tone is demonstrated by a study by Wong, Warrier et al. (2008).This study revealed the following: subjects who could successfully form an association between Mandarin Chinese “pitch patterns” and word meaning were found to have transverse temporal gyri with larger volume than subjects who had “difficulty learning these associations.” Successful completion of the previous task also was found to be associated with a “greater concentration of white matter” in the left transverse temporal gyri of the subject.In general, larger transverse temporal gyri “could be associated with more efficient processing of speech-related cues which could facilitate learning and perceiving new speech sounds.”[2] Research on the inner voice perceived by humans led to the identification of these gyri as the area of the brain activated during such dialogue with oneself.