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Brain Sciences
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Language, Communication and the Brain
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Language, Communication and the Brain

A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Neurolinguistics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 November 2024) | Viewed by 16682

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Jayanthi Sasisekaran

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Interests: psycholinguistics; phonology; phonetics; speech; language processing; electroen-cephalography; stutter
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Speech production is a highly localized yet networked activity involving several brain centers. Psycholinguistic studies of language production identify semantic, phonological, and syntactic processes that are sensitive to temporal demands. Speech sensorimotor processes engage a network of neural centers in the left and the right hemispheres. Both language and speech motor processes are supported by cognitive resources including the dorsal and ventral attention networks and verbal and non-verbal working memory processes. Finally, the limbic system motivates actions and conveys the suprasegmental and emotional aspects of speech. The aim of this Special Issue is to enhance our understanding of the different cognitive, linguistic, and sensorimotor processes and systems supporting speech production in neurotypical and neurodiverse speakers who experience communication disabilities.

We encourage submissions that provide a nuanced and enhanced understanding of the systems and processes and how they function in the neurotypical and neurodiverse speakers. We welcome submissions of studies that are designed to address the intersectionality of age, sex, or other biological and non-biological (e.g., treatment effects) variables and their interactions with group membership in influencing speech and language production. Submissions can include data-driven studies on attentional effort, phonological working memory, executive functions, language planning, and sensorimotor mechanisms supporting speech. Alternatively, theoretical postulations on the neural processes and biological systems supporting speech and language production and/or augmented communication will also be considered. Submissions can include group designs with varying levels of experimental control, single–subject designs, behavioral measures, temporally and spatially sensitive neural measures, and artificial intelligence-driven innovative data analyses of behavioral and/or neural data that contribute uniquely to understanding speech production.

Dr. Jayanthi Sasisekaran
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • cognitive
  • attention
  • working memory
  • executive functions
  • linguistic
  • language planning
  • speech production
  • fluency
  • sensorimotor
  • hearing
  • speech and language production
  • neurotypical
  • neurodiverse
  • autism
  • apraxia
  • dysarthria
  • stuttering
  • speech sound disorders
  • artificial intelligence
  • data science
  • theoretical
  • data-driven

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Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

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22 pages, 513 KiB  
Article
Linguistic Prediction in Autism Spectrum Disorder
by Aimee O’Shea and Paul E. Engelhardt
Brain Sci. 2025, 15(2), 175; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15020175 - 10 Feb 2025
Viewed by 611
Abstract
Background: Autism spectrum disorder has been argued to involve impairments in domain-general predictive abilities. There is strong evidence that individuals with ASD have trouble navigating the dynamic world due to an inability to predict the outcomes of particular events. There is also evidence [...] Read more.
Background: Autism spectrum disorder has been argued to involve impairments in domain-general predictive abilities. There is strong evidence that individuals with ASD have trouble navigating the dynamic world due to an inability to predict the outcomes of particular events. There is also evidence that this is apparent across the diagnostic criteria of ASD and common among correlates of ASD. However, the question remains as to whether this impairment in predictive abilities is domain-specific or domain-general, with little research investigating prediction in linguistic measures. Methods: The current study investigated whether individuals with ASD showed atypicalities in linguistic prediction using a cloze probability task. In Experiment 1, 33 individuals with ASD were compared to 64 typically developing individuals in an offline cloze task. Results: There was no significant effect of an ASD diagnosis on the cloze probability. However, individuals with higher levels of autistic traits were significantly more likely to produce lower-probability (non-modal) cloze responses. In Experiment 2, 19 individuals with ASD were compared to 22 typically developing individuals in a lab-based cloze task, in which we also measured the reaction times to begin speaking (i.e., voice onset time). The results showed that individuals with ASD had significantly slower reaction times (~200 ms) but, similarly to Experiment 1, did not show differences in the cloze probability of the responses produced. Conclusions: We conclude that individuals with ASD do show inefficiency in linguistic prediction, as well as indicating which ASD traits most strongly correlate with these inefficiencies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Language, Communication and the Brain)
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14 pages, 2538 KiB  
Article
Sex Differences in Processing Emotional Speech Prosody: Preliminary Findings from a Multi-Feature Oddball Study
by Chieh Kao and Yang Zhang
Brain Sci. 2024, 14(12), 1216; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci14121216 - 30 Nov 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1044
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Emotional prosody, the intonation and rhythm of speech that conveys emotions, is vital for speech communication as it provides essential context and nuance to the words being spoken. This study explored how listeners automatically process emotional prosody in speech, focusing on different [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Emotional prosody, the intonation and rhythm of speech that conveys emotions, is vital for speech communication as it provides essential context and nuance to the words being spoken. This study explored how listeners automatically process emotional prosody in speech, focusing on different neural responses for the prosodic categories and potential sex differences. Methods: The pilot data here involved 11 male and 11 female adult participants (age range: 18–28). A multi-feature oddball paradigm was used, in which participants were exposed to sequences of non-repeating English words with emotional (angry, happy, sad) or neutral prosody while watching a silent movie. Results: Both mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a components were observed, indicating automatic perceptual grouping and neural sensitivity to emotional variations in speech. Women showed stronger MMN to angry than sad prosody, while men showed stronger MMN to angry than happy prosody. Happy prosody elicited the strongest P3a, but only in men. Conclusions: The findings challenge the notion that all facets of emotion processing are biased toward female superiority. However, these results from 22 young adult native English speakers should be interpreted with caution, as data from a more adequate sample size are needed to test the generalizability of the findings. Combined with results from studies on children and elderly adults, these preliminary data underscore the need to explore the complexities of emotional speech processing mechanisms to account for category and sex differences across the lifespan in a longitudinal perspective. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Language, Communication and the Brain)
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19 pages, 2938 KiB  
Article
Neuropsychological Diagnosis and Assessment of Alexia: A Mixed-Methods Study
by Ahmed Alduais, Hessah Saad Alarifi and Hind Alfadda
Brain Sci. 2024, 14(7), 636; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci14070636 - 25 Jun 2024
Viewed by 2226
Abstract
The neuropsychological diagnosis and assessment of alexia remain formidable due to its multifaceted presentations and the intricate neural underpinnings involved. The current study employed a mixed-method design, incorporating cluster and thematic analyses, to illuminate the complexities of alexia assessment. We used the Web [...] Read more.
The neuropsychological diagnosis and assessment of alexia remain formidable due to its multifaceted presentations and the intricate neural underpinnings involved. The current study employed a mixed-method design, incorporating cluster and thematic analyses, to illuminate the complexities of alexia assessment. We used the Web of Science and Scopus to retrieve articles spanning from 1985 to February 2024. Our selection was based on identified keywords in relation to the assessment and diagnosis of alexia. The analysis of 449 articles using CiteSpace (Version 6.3.R1) and VOSviewer (Version 1.6.19) software identified ten key clusters such as ‘pure alexia’ and ‘posterior cortical atrophy’, highlighting the breadth of research within this field. The thematic analysis of the most cited and recent studies led to eight essential categories. These categories were synthesized into a conceptual model that illustrates the interaction between neural, cognitive, and diagnostic aspects, in accordance with the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICFDH) framework. This model emphasizes the need for comprehensive diagnostic approaches extending beyond traditional reading assessments to include specific tasks like character identification, broader visual processing, and numerical tasks. Future diagnostic models should incorporate a diverse array of alexia types and support the creation of advanced assessment tools, ultimately improving clinical practice and research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Language, Communication and the Brain)
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21 pages, 2154 KiB  
Article
Childhood Apraxia of Speech: A Descriptive and Prescriptive Model of Assessment and Diagnosis
by Ahmed Alduais and Hind Alfadda
Brain Sci. 2024, 14(6), 540; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci14060540 - 24 May 2024
Viewed by 4742
Abstract
Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) represents a significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenge within the field of clinical neuropsychology, characterized by its nuanced presentation and multifactorial nature. The aim of this study was to distil and synthesize the broad spectrum of research into a [...] Read more.
Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) represents a significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenge within the field of clinical neuropsychology, characterized by its nuanced presentation and multifactorial nature. The aim of this study was to distil and synthesize the broad spectrum of research into a coherent model for the assessment and diagnosis of CAS. Through a mixed-method design, the quantitative phase analyzed 290 studies, unveiling 10 clusters: developmental apraxia, tabby talk, intellectual disabilities, underlying speech processes, breakpoint localization, speech characteristics, functional characteristics, clinical practice, and treatment outcome. The qualitative phase conducted a thematic analysis on the most cited and recent literature, identifying 10 categories: neurobiological markers, speech motor control, perceptual speech features, auditory processing, prosody and stress patterns, parent- and self-report measures, intervention response, motor learning and generalization, comorbidity analysis, and cultural and linguistic considerations. Integrating these findings, a descriptive and prescriptive model was developed, encapsulating the complexities of CAS and providing a structured approach for clinicians. This model advances the understanding of CAS and supports the development of targeted interventions. This study concludes with a call for evidence-based personalized treatment plans that account for the diverse neurobiological and cultural backgrounds of children with CAS. Its implications for practice include the integration of cutting-edge assessment tools that embrace the heterogeneity of CAS presentations, ensuring that interventions are as unique as the children they aim to support. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Language, Communication and the Brain)
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Review

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23 pages, 450 KiB  
Review
Schizophasia and Cognitive Impairment in Schizophrenia: A Literature Review
by Sylwia Niedźwiadek and Agata Szulc
Brain Sci. 2025, 15(1), 25; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15010025 - 29 Dec 2024
Viewed by 1166
Abstract
Background: Cognitive functions are the basis for the development of language skills. Cognitive disorders occur in schizophrenia and may be present even before the first symptoms of psychosis. Language deficits are also mentioned as one of the diagnostic symptoms of this disease. Methods: [...] Read more.
Background: Cognitive functions are the basis for the development of language skills. Cognitive disorders occur in schizophrenia and may be present even before the first symptoms of psychosis. Language deficits are also mentioned as one of the diagnostic symptoms of this disease. Methods: A literature search was performed using the PubMed database. Articles comparing linguistic and cognitive functioning in schizophrenia were searched for. Following the inclusion and exclusion criteria, twenty-six original articles were selected. Results: Most studies have observed a partial correlation between language and cognitive deficits. The correlation most often involved some cognitive functions or some components of language assessment. Conclusions: The correlation reported in many studies shows that there is a correlation between language and cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. However, numerous studies contradict these reports. It is, therefore, possible that this correlation exists, but not in all patients. Future research should therefore be aimed at identifying in which patients this correlation is present. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Language, Communication and the Brain)
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37 pages, 2449 KiB  
Review
Adapting to Changes in Communication: The Orbitofrontal Cortex in Language and Speech Processing
by Xiaoming Jiang, Xiquan Ma, Ryan Sanford and Xun Li
Brain Sci. 2024, 14(3), 264; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci14030264 - 8 Mar 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2738
Abstract
Despite most studies on the neurobiology of language demonstrating the central part of the perisylvian network involved in language and speech function, this review attempts to complement this view by focusing on the role of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). This region is primarily [...] Read more.
Despite most studies on the neurobiology of language demonstrating the central part of the perisylvian network involved in language and speech function, this review attempts to complement this view by focusing on the role of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). This region is primarily involved in goal-directed adaptive behavior. Recently, there has been increasing evidence that the OFC is involved in language and speech tasks. This review demonstrates that not only the linguistic tasks that involve the processing of socially, pragmatically and emotionally relevant information engage OFC and its neurobiological mechanisms, but also specific receptive and expressive language performances rely on specific neurophysiological properties of this region (e.g., the gray matter volume and the functional activation of OFC and the uncinate fasciculus that connects OFC), which in many cases, demand executive functions. These findings highlight: (1) The OFC plays a relevant role in the adaptive neurobiological function of language; (2) the neurobiological mechanisms beyond linguistic and speech processes complement and interplay with the language-unique processes to achieve successful comprehension and production in the changing communicative contexts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Language, Communication and the Brain)
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Other

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36 pages, 5610 KiB  
Hypothesis
Syllable as a Synchronization Mechanism That Makes Human Speech Possible
by Yi Xu
Brain Sci. 2025, 15(1), 33; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15010033 - 30 Dec 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1216
Abstract
Speech is a highly skilled motor activity that shares a core problem with other motor skills: how to reduce the massive degrees of freedom (DOF) to the extent that the central nervous control and learning of complex motor movements become possible. It is [...] Read more.
Speech is a highly skilled motor activity that shares a core problem with other motor skills: how to reduce the massive degrees of freedom (DOF) to the extent that the central nervous control and learning of complex motor movements become possible. It is hypothesized in this paper that a key solution to the DOF problem is to eliminate most of the temporal degrees of freedom by synchronizing concurrent movements, and that this is performed in speech through the syllable—a mechanism that synchronizes consonantal, vocalic, and laryngeal gestures. Under this hypothesis, syllable articulation is enabled by three basic mechanisms: target approximation, edge-synchronization, and tactile anchoring. This synchronization theory of the syllable also offers a coherent account of coarticulation, as it explicates how various coarticulation-related phenomena, including coarticulation resistance, locus, locus equation, diphone, etc., are byproducts of syllable formation. It also provides a theoretical basis for understanding how suprasegmental events such as tone, intonation, phonation, etc., are aligned to segmental events in speech. It may also have implications for understanding vocal learning, speech disorders, and motor control in general. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Language, Communication and the Brain)
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24 pages, 4425 KiB  
Brief Report
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Facilitates Neural Speech Decoding
by Lindy Comstock, Vinícius Rezende Carvalho, Claudia Lainscsek, Aria Fallah and Terrence J. Sejnowski
Brain Sci. 2024, 14(9), 895; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci14090895 - 2 Sep 2024
Viewed by 1385
Abstract
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been widely used to study the mechanisms that underlie motor output. Yet, the extent to which TMS acts upon the cortical neurons implicated in volitional motor commands and the focal limitations of TMS remain subject to debate. Previous [...] Read more.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been widely used to study the mechanisms that underlie motor output. Yet, the extent to which TMS acts upon the cortical neurons implicated in volitional motor commands and the focal limitations of TMS remain subject to debate. Previous research links TMS to improved subject performance in behavioral tasks, including a bias in phoneme discrimination. Our study replicates this result, which implies a causal relationship between electro-magnetic stimulation and psychomotor activity, and tests whether TMS-facilitated psychomotor activity recorded via electroencephalography (EEG) may thus serve as a superior input for neural decoding. First, we illustrate that site-specific TMS elicits a double dissociation in discrimination ability for two phoneme categories. Next, we perform a classification analysis on the EEG signals recorded during TMS and find a dissociation between the stimulation site and decoding accuracy that parallels the behavioral results. We observe weak to moderate evidence for the alternative hypothesis in a Bayesian analysis of group means, with more robust results upon stimulation to a brain region governing multiple phoneme features. Overall, task accuracy was a significant predictor of decoding accuracy for phoneme categories (F(1,135) = 11.51, p < 0.0009) and individual phonemes (F(1,119) = 13.56, p < 0.0003), providing new evidence for a causal link between TMS, neural function, and behavior. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Language, Communication and the Brain)
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