Multiple cortical speech control

By Quenton Castellon

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2122345119

Multiple cortical speech control - Speech is a uniquely human form of communication which uses vocalization to express thoughts and feelings. Vocalization is built on the exquisitely coordinated control over respiration, phonation, and articulation. Historically, the enhanced vocal motor skills of humans have been attributed to alterations in the peripheral mechanisms for sound production (1, 2). However, recent studies of laryngeal biomechanics have ruled out this explanation (3). Instead, modifications in central neural circuits are the likely basis of the enhanced vocal abilities of humans (1). Here, we used a comparative approach to identify the adaptations in the cerebral cortex that provide a substrate for the enhanced vocal motor abilities of some monkeys.