CORTICAL REPRESENTATION OF SPEECH PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION, AS REVEALED BY DIRECT CORTICAL ELECTRICAL INTERFERENCE

The relationship between speech perception and production was studied using deficits produced by direct cortical electrical stimulation. Stimulation was applied through indwelling subdural electrode grids in three patients with epilepsy. Without stimulation, patients performed at ceiling on tasks of auditory syllable discrimination, identification, comprehension, naming, reading, and repetition. With electrical interference, speech perception and production errors co-occurred at multiple sites on the lateral left temporal and inferior frontal cortex. These findings add to existing evidence that suggest that some aspects of speech perception and production share functional and neural resources. This in turn argues against classical notions of a strict functional and anatomic separation between speech perception and speech production.