Integrating accounts of speech production: the devil is in the representational details

Abstract

This commentary focuses on two key aspects of Hickok's proposal that distinguish it from other theories of speech production. Unlike many other accounts, auditory targets play a central and early role in speech production. This proposal also adopts a generally reductionist approach to the production of speech, relying almost exclusively on sensory and motor processes to represent sound structure. This eliminates various levels of phonological representation that play key roles in theories motivated by psycholinguistic and cognitive neuropsychological research. The general and specific issues raised by Hickok's approach are examined within two specific areas: the structure of sound representations and patterns of performance in “conduction aphasia.”