Abstract
Speech researchers have long been interested in how auditory and visual speech signals are integrated, and the recent work has revived interest in the role of speech production with respect to this process. Here, we discuss these issues from a developmental perspective. Because speech perception abilities typically outstrip speech production abilities in infancy and childhood, it is unclear how speech-like movements could influence audiovisual speech perception in development. While work on this question is still in its preliminary stages, there is nevertheless increasing evidence that sensorimotor processes (defined here as any motor or proprioceptive process related to orofacial movements) affect developmental audiovisual speech processing. We suggest three areas on which to focus in future research: (i) the relation between audiovisual speech perception and sensorimotor processes at birth, (ii) the pathways through which sensorimotor processes interact with audiovisual speech processing in infancy, and (iii) developmental change in sensorimotor pathways as speech production emerges in childhood.
Highlights
A unique property of speech—compared to other auditory signals—is that it is multisensory
Neuroimaging studies converge with these behavioral findings: For example, when visual-only or audiovisual speech are presented to subjects, activation is seen in primary auditory areas of the brain, such as the superior temporal sulcus (STS), and in areas traditionally associated with speech production, such as Broca’s area (Calvert et al, 1997; Calvert and Campbell, 2003; Ojanen et al, 2005; Pekkola et al, 2005)
We focus on three issues that we see as being pressing for future research: (i) the relation between audiovisual speech perception and sensorimotor processes at birth, (ii) the pathways through which sensorimotor processes interact with audiovisual speech processing in infancy, and (iii) developmental change in sensorimotor pathways as speech production emerges in infancy
Summary
A unique property of speech—compared to other auditory signals—is that it is multisensory. TMS studies have shown that the perception of visual and audiovisual speech is linked to primary motor cortex (Sundara et al, 2001; Sato et al, 2010), and from this accumulated evidence, there is emerging consensus that visual speech processing is closely linked to internal models of the vocal tract (Santi et al, 2003; van Wassenhove et al, 2005; Skipper et al, 2007a,b; Okada and Hickok, 2009; Dick et al, 2010; Swaminathan et al, 2013).
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