The computational neuroanatomy of speech production in the context of a dual stream framework for language by Greg Hickok

The computational neuroanatomy of speech production in the context of a dual stream framework for language by Greg Hickok (Dept. Cognitive Sciences & Language Science – University of California Irvine)

The dual stream framework for the cortical organization of language is grounded in evolutionary biology in that it proposes an organization that is homologous to that found in non-linguistic sensorimotor systems from which it is hypothesized to have evolved. While it was controversial when first proposed in the early 2000s, a substantial body of evidence now supports the basic claims. Significant progress has been made in working out the functional anatomy of the model, particularly the dorsal auditory-motor pathway, which will be the primary focus of this talk. I will provide a brief overview of the dual stream framework, show how well-established psycholinguistic models of speech production are neatly relatable to it, and then detail a decade of progress in understanding the neuroanatomy and some computational details of dorsal stream function. A major conclusion is that the integration of psycholinguistic and motor control models of speech production represents a promising new direction for research on the neurobiology of speech and language progressing, including its evolutionary origins.