Tone processing has been used as a vehicle for investigating numerous questions concerning the neurophysiology of basic auditory perception, language, and music. Behavioral, dichotic-listening, lesion, and functional and anatomical neuroimaging studies have shed light on various debates of the neural organization of perceptual information. From our early fascination of hemispheric specialization to more recently the neurogenetics of language, the study of tone has always provided key evidence for our most current understanding of the brain. Here, we provide a historical overview of the key issues and present findings from our laboratory from the past decade that contribute to these debates.

Index Terms: lexical tone, auditory perception, neurophysiology, neurogenetics