Neurobiological Basis of Speech: A Case for the Preeminence of Temporal Processing

Abstract

In this paper we present evidence supporting the hypothesis that a basic temporal processing impairment in language-impaired children underlies their inability to integrate sensory information that converges in rapid succession in the central nervous system. We provide data showing that this deficit is pansensory; that is, affects processing in multiple sensory modalities, and also affects motor output within the millisecond time frame. We also provide data that links these basic temporal integration deficits to specific patterns of speech perception and speech production deficits in language-impaired children. We suggest that these basic temporal deficits cause a cascade of effects starting with disruption of the normal development of an otherwise effective and efficient phonological system. We propose further that these phonological processing deficits result in subsequent failure to learn to speak and to read normally. That is, both the language and reading problems have their basis in deficiently esta...