Articulation Onset Research Articles

Microstate ERP Analyses to Pinpoint the Articulatory Onset in Speech Production

The use of electroencephalography (EEG) to study overt speech production has increased substantially in the past 15 years and the alignment of evoked potential (ERPs) on the response onset has become an extremely useful method to target “latest” stages of speech production. Yet, response-locked ERPs raise a methodological issue: on which event should the point of alignment be placed? Response-locked ERPs are usually aligned to the vocal (acoustic) onset, although it is well known that articulatory movements may start up to a hundred milliseconds prior to the acoustic onset and that this “articulatory onset to acoustic onset interval” (AAI) depends on the phoneme properties. Given the previously reported difficulties to measure the AAI, the purpose of this study was to determine if the AAI could be reliably detected with EEG-microstates. High-density EEG was recorded during delayed speech production of monosyllabic pseudowords with four different onset consonants. Whereas the acoustic response onsets varied depending on the onset consonant, the response-locked spatiotemporal EEG analysis revealed a clear asynchrony of the same sequence of microstates across onset consonants. A specific microstate, the latest observed in the ERPs locked to the vocal onset, presented longer duration for phonemes with longer acoustic response onsets. Converging evidences seemed to confirm that this microstate may be related to the articulatory onset of motor execution: its scalp topography corresponded to those previously associated with muscle activity and source localization highlighted the involvement of motor areas. Finally, the analyses on the duration of such microstate in single trials further fit with the AAI intervals for specific phonemes reported in previous studies. These results thus suggest that a particular ERP-microstate is a reliable index of articulation onset and of the AAI.

Characterizing lexicalization and self-monitoring processes in bilingual speech production

Abstract The present study aimed to explore the bilingual disadvantage in the course of speech production by comparing the naming performance and the temporal dynamics of object naming in three groups of participants: monolinguals, L1 bilinguals and L2 bilinguals. To determine the origin of the bilingual disadvantage, whether lexical or post-lexical, we manipulated the lexical frequency of the picture names across repetitions. The ERP frequency effect (ERPs associated to high versus low-frequency words) across repetitions, taken as an estimate of lexical processing, was explored before and after articulation was engaged and compared across groups. Additionally, to explore the extent of the bilingual disadvantage in the course of naming, correct responses and errors were compared across groups in the same time-ranges in which lexical frequency was measured. The results before articulation showed earlier frequency effects for monolinguals than bilinguals, while no differences were observed between the two groups of bilinguals. Correctness effects appeared with a similar chronometry as the frequency effects and only for monolinguals. After articulation onset, the three groups of participants showed a larger positivity for low-frequency words and only monolinguals showed frontal error-related activity, supporting that monitoring mechanisms in charge of detecting conflicting responses are influenced by bilingualism. These results suggest a lexical origin of the bilingual disadvantage, with bilinguals being delayed relative to monolinguals in engaging lexical selection. Furthermore, they suggest that self-monitoring might not be implemented in the same way in bilinguals and monolinguals.

Anterior and Posterior Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus Contribute to the Implementation of Grammatical Determiners During Language Production

The left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) is a key region for language comprehension and production. Previous studies point to a preferential involvement of left anterior IFG (aIFG) in lexical and semantic processes, while the posterior IFG (pIFG) has been implicated in supporting syntactic and phonological processes. Here we used focal neuronavigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to probe the functional involvement of left IFG in lexical and grammatical processing at the sentence level. We applied 10 Hz TMS effective or sham bursts to left aIFG and pIFG, while healthy volunteers performed an adjective-noun production task contrasting grammatical and lexical determiners. For each trial, we measured the time from the stimulus onset to the moment of articulation (response time) and the time from articulation onset to the end of articulation (duration). Focal TMS of IFG generally delayed response times. The TMS-induced delay in response times was relatively stronger for the grammatical condition compared to the lexical condition, when TMS targeted aIFG. Articulation of the determiner was generally shorter in trials presenting grammatical determiners relative to lexical determiners. The shorter articulation time for grammar determiners was facilitated by effective TMS to pIFG. Together, the effects of TMS on task performance provide novel evidence for a joint involvement of anterior and posterior parts of left IFG in implementing grammatical determiners during language production, suggesting an involvement of aIFG in the initiation and pIFG in the production of grammatically appropriate verbal responses at the sentence level.

Network dynamics of Broca's area during word selection.

Current models of word-production in Broca’s area (i.e. left ventro-lateral prefrontal cortex, VLPFC) posit that sequential and staggered semantic, lexical, phonological and articulatory processes precede articulation. Using millisecond-resolution intra-cranial recordings, we evaluated spatiotemporal dynamics and high frequency functional interconnectivity between left VLPFC regions during single-word production. Through the systematic variation of retrieval, selection, and phonological loads, we identified specific activation profiles and functional coupling patterns between these regions that fit within current psycholinguistic theories of word production. However, network interactions underpinning these processes activate in parallel (not sequentially), while the processes themselves are indexed by specific changes in network state. We found evidence that suggests that pars orbitalis is coupled with pars triangularis during lexical retrieval, while lexical selection is terminated via coupled activity with M1 at articulation onset. Taken together, this work reveals that speech production relies on very specific inter-regional couplings in rapid sequence in the language dominant hemisphere.

Uncovering the functional anatomy of the human insula during speech.

The contribution of insular cortex to speech production remains unclear and controversial given diverse findings from functional neuroimaging and lesional data. To create a precise spatiotemporal map of insular activity, we performed a series of experiments: single-word articulations of varying complexity, non-speech orofacial movements and speech listening, in a cohort of 27 patients implanted with penetrating intracranial electrodes. The posterior insula was robustly active bilaterally, but after the onset of articulation, during listening to speech and during production of non-speech mouth movements. Preceding articulation there was very sparse activity, localized primarily to the frontal operculum rather than the insula. Posterior insular was active coincident with superior temporal gyrus but was more active for self-generated speech than external speech, the opposite of the superior temporal gyrus. These findings support the conclusion that the insula does not serve pre-articulatory preparatory roles.

Word onset phonetic properties and motor artifacts in speech production EEG recordings.

Electrophysiological research using verbal response paradigms faces the problem of muscle artifacts that occur during speech production or in the period preceding articulation. In this context, this paper has two related aims. The first is to show how the nature of the first phoneme influences the alignment of the ERPs. The second is to further characterize the EEG signal around the onset of articulation, both in temporal and frequency domains. Participants were asked to name aloud pictures of common objects. We applied microstate analyses and time-frequency transformations of ERPs locked to vocal onset to compare the EEG signal between voiced and unvoiced labial plosive word onset consonants. We found a delay of about 40 ms in the set of stable topographic patterns for /b/ relative to /p/ onset words. A similar shift was observed in the power increase of gamma oscillations (30-50 Hz), which had an earlier onset for /p/ trials (∼150 ms before vocal onset). This 40-ms shift is consistent with the length of the voiced proportion of the acoustic signal prior to the release of the closure in the vocal responses. These results demonstrate that phonetic features are an important parameter affecting response-locked ERPs, and hence that the onset of the acoustic energy may not be an optimal trigger for synchronizing the EEG activity to the response in vocal paradigms. The indexes explored in this study provide a step forward in the characterization of muscle-related artifacts in electrophysiological studies of speech and language production.

Modulation of Orthographic Decoding by Frontal Cortex.

Word reading is a critical part of everyday life. When the ability to read is disrupted, it can lead to learning disorders, as well as emotional and academic difficulties. The neural mechanisms underlying word reading are not well understood due to limitations in the spatial and temporal specificity of prior word reading studies. Our research analyzed data recorded from sensors implanted directly from surface of human brains while these individuals performed a word reading task. Our research analyzed these recordings to infer how brain regions communicate during word reading. Our original results improve upon current models of word reading and can be used to develop treatment plans for individuals with reading disabilities.

"When" Does Picture Naming Take Longer Than Word Reading?

Differences between the cognitive processes involved in word reading and picture naming are well established (e.g., visual or lexico-semantic stages). Still, it is commonly thought that retrieval of phonological forms is shared across tasks. We report a test of this second hypothesis based on the time course of electroencephalographic (EEG) neural activity, reasoning that similar EEG patterns might index similar processing stages. Seventeen participants named objects and read aloud the corresponding words while their behavior and EEG activity were recorded. The latter was analyzed from stimulus onset onward (stimulus-locked analysis) and from response onset backward (response-locked analysis), using non-parametric statistics and the spatio-temporal segmentation of ERPs. Behavioral results confirmed that reading entails shorter latencies than naming. The analysis of EEG activity within the stimulus-to-response period allowed to distinguish three phases, broadly successive. Early on, we observed identical distribution of electric field potentials (i.e., topographies) albeit with large amplitude divergences between tasks. Then, we observed sustained cross-task differences in topographies accompanied by extended amplitude differences. Finally, the two tasks again revealed the same topographies, with significant cross-task delays in their onsets and offsets, and still significant amplitude differences. In the response-locked ERPs, the common topography displayed an offset closer to response articulation in word reading compared with picture naming, that is the transition between the offset of this shared map and the onset of articulation was significantly faster in word reading. The results suggest that the degree of cross-task similarity varies across time. The first phase suggests similar visual processes of variable intensity and time course across tasks, while the second phase suggests marked differences. Finally, similarities and differences within the third phase are compatible with a shared processing stage (likely phonological processes) with different temporal properties (onset/offset) across tasks. Overall, our results provide an overview of when, between stimulus and response, word reading and picture naming are subtended by shared- versus task-specific neural signatures. This in turn is suggestive of when the two tasks involve similar vs. different cognitive processes.

Time-varying dynamic Bayesian network model and its application to brain connectivity using electrocorticograph

Cortical networks for speech production are believed to be widely distributed and highly organized over temporal, parietal, and frontal lobes areas in the human brain cortex. Effective connectivity demonstrates an inherent element of directional information propagation, and is therefore an information dense measure for the relevant activity over different cortical regions. Connectivity analysis of electrocorticographic (ECoG) recordings has been widely studied for its excellent signal-to-noise ratio as well as high temporal and spatial resolutions, providing an important approach to human electrophysiological researches. In this paper, we evaluate two patients undergoing invasive monitoring for seizure localization, in which both micro-electrode and standard clinical electrodes are used for ECoG recordings from speech-related cortical areas during syllable reading test. In order to explore the dynamics of speech processing, we extract the high gamma frequency band (70-110 Hz) power from ECoG signals by the multi-taper method. The trial-averaged results show that there is a consistent task-related increase in high gamma response for micro-ECoG electrodes for patient 1 and standard-ECoG electrodes for both patients 1 and 2. We demonstrate that high gamma response provides reliable speech localization compared with electrocortical stimulation. In addition, a directed connectivity network is built in single trial involving both standard ECoG electrodes and micro-ECoG arrays using time-varying dynamic Bayesian networks (TV-DBN). The TV-DBN is used to model the time-varying effective connectivity between pairs of ECoG electrodes selected by high gamma power, with less parameter optimization required and higher computational simplicity than short-time direct directed transfer function. We observe task-related connectivity modulations of connectivity between large-scale cortical networks (standard ECoG) and local cortical networks (micro-ECoG), as well as between large-scale and local cortical networks. In addition, cortical connectivity is modulated differently before and after response articulation onset. In other words, electrodes located over sensorimotor cortex show higher connectivity before articulation onset, while connectivity appears gradually between sensorimotor and auditory cortex after articulation onset. Also, the connectivity patterns observed during articulation are significantly different for three different places of articulation for the consonants. This study offers insights into preoperative evaluation during epilepsy surgery, dynamic real-time brain connectivity visualization, and assistance to understand the dynamic processing of language pronunciation in the language cortex.

Do speakers have access to a mental syllabary? ERP comparison of high frequency and novel syllable production

The transformation of an abstract phonological code into articulation has been hypothesized to involve the retrieval of stored syllable-sized motor plans. Accordingly, gestural scores for frequently used syllables are retrieved from memory whereas gestural scores for novel and possibly low frequency syllables are assembled on-line. The present study was designed to test this hypothesis. Participants produced disyllabic pseudowords with high frequency, low frequency and non-existent (novel) initial syllables. Behavioral results revealed slower production latencies for novel than for high frequency syllables. Event-related potentials diverged in waveform amplitudes and global topographic patterns between high frequency and low frequency/novel syllables around 170ms before the onset of articulation. These differences indicate the recruitment of different brain networks during the production of frequent and infrequent/novel syllables, in line with the hypothesis that speakers store syllabic-sized motor programs for frequent syllables and assemble these motor plans on-line for low frequency and novel syllables.

Functional and time-course changes in single word production from childhood to adulthood

Picture naming tasks are widely used both in children and adults to investigate language production for research and for assessment purposes. The main theoretical models of single word production based on the investigation of picture naming in adults provide a detailed account of the principal mental operations involved in the transformation of an abstract concept into articulated speech and their temporal dynamics. These models and in particular their time-course do not apply directly to children who display much longer production latencies than adults. Here we investigate the functional processes and the temporal dynamics of word encoding in school-age children and adults. ERPs were analysed from picture onset to the onset of articulation in 32 children and 32 adults performing the same overt picture naming task. Waveform analyses were not informative since differences appeared throughout the entire period, due to an early shift of waveform morphology and to larger amplitudes in children. However, when the sequences of periods of topographic stability were considered, different patterns of electric fields at scalp only appeared in approximately the first third of the analysed period, corresponding to the P1–N1 complex. From about 200ms in adults and from 300ms in children to articulation onset similar patterns of global topography were observed across groups but with a different time distribution. These results indicate qualitative changes in an early time-window, likely corresponding to pre-linguistic processes, and only quantitative changes in later time-windows, suggesting similar mental operations underlying lexical processes between age-school children and adults, with temporal dynamic changes during development.

ERP correlates of word production predictors in picture naming: a trial by trial multiple regression analysis from stimulus onset to response.

A major effort in cognitive neuroscience of language is to define the temporal and spatial characteristics of the core cognitive processes involved in word production. One approach consists in studying the effects of linguistic and pre-linguistic variables in picture naming tasks. So far, studies have analyzed event-related potentials (ERPs) during word production by examining one or two variables with factorial designs. Here we extended this approach by investigating simultaneously the effects of multiple theoretical relevant predictors in a picture naming task. High density EEG was recorded on 31 participants during overt naming of 100 pictures. ERPs were extracted on a trial by trial basis from picture onset to 100 ms before the onset of articulation. Mixed-effects regression models were conducted to examine which variables affected production latencies and the duration of periods of stable electrophysiological patterns (topographic maps). Results revealed an effect of a pre-linguistic variable, visual complexity, on an early period of stable electric field at scalp, from 140 to 180 ms after picture presentation, a result consistent with the proposal that this time period is associated with visual object recognition processes. Three other variables, word Age of Acquisition, Name Agreement, and Image Agreement influenced response latencies and modulated ERPs from ~380 ms to the end of the analyzed period. These results demonstrate that a topographic analysis fitted into the single trial ERPs and covering the entire processing period allows one to associate the cost generated by psycholinguistic variables to the duration of specific stable electrophysiological processes and to pinpoint the precise time-course of multiple word production predictors at once.

Dynamics of phonological–phonetic encoding in word production: Evidence from diverging ERPs between stroke patients and controls

While the dynamics of lexical-semantic and lexical-phonological encoding in word production have been investigated in several event-related potential (ERP) studies, the estimated time course of phonological–phonetic encoding is the result of rather indirect evidence. We investigated the dynamics of phonological–phonetic encoding combining ERP analyses covering the entire encoding process in picture naming and word reading tasks by comparing ERP modulations in eight brain-damaged speakers presenting impaired phonological–phonetic encoding relative to 16 healthy controls. ERPs diverged between groups in terms of local waveform amplitude and global topography at ∼400ms after stimulus onset in the picture naming task and at ∼320–350ms in word reading and sustained until 100ms before articulation onset. These divergences appeared in later time windows than those found in patients with underlying lexical-semantic and lexical-phonological impairment in previous studies, providing evidence that phonological–phonetic encoding is engaged around 400ms in picture naming and around 330ms in word reading.

Planning at the Phonological Level during Sentence Production

In two picture-word interference experiments we examined whether phrase boundaries affected how far in advance speakers plan the sounds of words during sentence production. Participants produced sentences of varying lengths (short determiner + noun + verb or long determiner + adjective + noun + verb) while ignoring phonologically related and unrelated words to the verb of the sentence. Response times to begin producing both types of sentences were faster in the presence of a related versus unrelated distractor. The results suggest that the activation of phonological properties of words outside the first phrase and first and second phonological word affect onset of articulation during sentence production. The results are discussed in the light of previous evidence of phonological planning during multi-word production. Implications for the phonological facilitation effect in the picture-word interference paradigm are also discussed.

The relation between semantics and lexical properties in spoken word production

Previous research has demonstrated facilitation in speech production when multiple levels are activated. In the present study a time course of facilitation and the contribution of various lexical and semantic properties in facilitating spoken word production was investigated. An experiment was conducted that examined the effects of semantics and lexical properties on acoustic-phonetic duration on spoken word production. Specifically, the primary interest was how duration changed as a function of semantic context and its interaction with the frequency and similarity neighborhood of CVC words. The semantic contexts and targets were presented using a visual naming paradigm. Target words were presented either 100 or 1500 ms after the offset of a simultaneous presentation of a string of three primes. The three primes were either all semantically related to the target, all semantically unrelated to the target, or all nonlinguistic characters neutral to the target. Duration of the target stimuli and reaction times to onset of articulation were measured. The results will be discussed in terms of interactive activation. [Work supported by NIH NIDCD Grant R01 0265801.]

Picture naming and word frequency: Comments on Alario, Costa and Caramazza, Language and Cognitive Processes, 17(3), 299-319

This commentary on Alario et al. (2002) addresses two issues: (1) Different from what the authors suggest, there are no theories of production claiming the phonological word to be the upper bound of advance planning before the onset of articulation; (2) Their picture naming study of word frequency effects on speech onset is inconclusive by lack of a crucial control, viz., of object recognition latency. This is a perennial problem in picture naming studies of word frequency and age of acquisition effects.

Cluttering and stuttering exhibited in a young professional

S 18, a young adult professional, was self-referred for stuttering. Assessment indicated deficits consistent with both stuttering and cluttering, including prolongations, syllable repetitions, secondary escape behaviors, rapid speech rate, and poor expressive language. The client had no awareness of cluttering characteristics. Therapy goals included improved breath control, slowed rate, easier onset of articulation, and increased awareness of speech. Progress toward therapeutic goals was consistent. However, his motivation decreased as therapy progressed. He was discharged from direct treatment after 13 months, at which time he could employ therapeutic techniques to improve his fluency and intelligibility when speech was disordered.

The role of the gross spectral shape as perceptual cues to place of articulation in stop consonants

This series of studies explored the extent to which the gross shape of the onset spectrum is used by the listener for the identification of place of articulation in stop consonants. Synthetic stimuli were generated with onset frequencies appropriate to the syllables [ba bi bu da di du] with the gross shape of the onset spectrum manipulated to be appropriate for either alveolar consonants (diffuse‐rising) or labial consonants (diffuse‐falling). Stimuli were presented for identification and discrimination. In addition, adaptation effects of stimuli containing appropriate frequency and shape and inappropriate frequency and shape were explored on a place of articulation onset continuum. Although identification performance was determined by onset frequency rather than gross shape of the spectrum, presentation of stimuli in which shape was inconsistent with frequency reduced identification performance. Further, subjects could discriminate stimuli which varied only in spectral shape. Finally, significantly less adaptation was found for a [da] onset with a labial spectrum shape than a [da] onset with an alveolar spectrum shape. These results suggest a dichotomy between the role of invariants in providing a classifactory framework for the phonetic dimensions of natural language, and in providing the primary perceptual attributes in ongoing speech processing. [Supported by an NIH Grant.]