scholarly journals Stone Tools and the Linguistic Capabilities of Earlier Hominids

1995 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Steele ◽  
Angus Quinlan ◽  
Francis Wenban-Smith
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Speech Motor Control ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Single Dimension ◽  
Evolution Of Speech ◽  
Speech Motor

The evolution of human manipulative abilities may be clearly linked to the evolution of speech motor control Both creativity and complexity in vocal and manipulative gestures may be closely linked to a single dimension of brain evolution — the evolution of absolute brain size. Inferring the linguistic capabilities of earlier hominids from their lithic artefacts, however, required us to take account of domain-specific constraints on manipulative skill In this article we report on a pilot flint-knapping experiment designed to identify such constraints ‘in action’.

Manual versus speech motor control and the evolution of language

1995 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 197-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Lieberman
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Speech Motor Control ◽  
Evolution Of Language ◽  
Homo Habilis ◽  
Neural Substrate ◽  
Form Part ◽  
Neurophysiological Data ◽  
Speech Motor

AbstractInferences made from endocasts of fossil skulls cannot provide information on the function of particular neocortical areas or the subcortical pathways to prefrontal cortex that form part of the neural substrate for speech, syntax, and certain aspects of cognition. The neural bases of syntax cannot be disassociated from “communication.” Manual motor control was probably a preadaptive factor in the evolution of humansyntactic ability, but neurophysiological data on living humans show that speech motor control and syntax are more closely linked. The evolution of fully modern speech occurred fairly recently; though Homo habilis may have had some degree of speech and syntactic ability, it was not fully modern. Stone tools are uncertain indices of language or cognition.

scholarly journals Evolution of Speech: Anatomy and Control

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (8S) ◽  
pp. 2932-2945 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bart de Boer
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Related Species ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Observational Research ◽  
Speech Motor Control ◽  
Present Moment ◽  
Evolution Of Speech ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
And Control ◽  
Speech Motor

Purpose This article critically reviews work on the evolution of speech in the context of motor control. It presents a brief introduction to the field of language evolution, of which the study of the evolution of speech is an integral component, and argues why taking the evolutionary perspective is useful. It then proceeds to review different methods of studying evolutionary questions: comparative research, experimental and observational research, and computer and mathematical modeling. Conclusions On the basis of comparative analysis of related species (specifically, other great apes) and on the basis of theoretical results, this article argues that adaptations for speech must have evolved gradually and that it is likely that speech motor control is one of the key aspects that has undergone observable selection related to speech, because, in this area, all the necessary precursors are present in closely related species. This implies that it must be possible to find empirical evidence for how speech evolved in the area of speech motor control. However, such research is only in its infancy at the present moment.

Physiologic Studies Provide New Perspectives on Early Speech Development

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-36
Author(s):  
Erin M. Wilson ◽  
Ignatius S. B. Nip
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Motor Development ◽  
Motion Tracking ◽  
Speech Development ◽  
Speech Motor Control ◽  
Therapeutic Approaches ◽  
Facial Motion ◽  
Disordered Speech ◽  
Speech Motor ◽  
Physiologic Data

Abstract Although certain speech development milestones are readily observable, the developmental course of speech motor control is largely unknown. However, recent advances in facial motion tracking systems have been used to investigate articulator movements in children and the findings from these studies are being used to further our understanding of the physiologic basis of typical and disordered speech development. Physiologic work has revealed that the emergence of speech is highly dependent on the lack of flexibility in the early oromotor system. It also has been determined that the progression of speech motor development is non-linear, a finding that has motivated researchers to investigate how variables such as oromotor control, cognition, and linguistic factors affect speech development in the form of catalysts and constraints. Physiologic data are also being used to determine if non-speech oromotor behaviors play a role in the development of speech. This improved understanding of the physiology underlying speech, as well as the factors influencing its progression, helps inform our understanding of speech motor control in children with disordered speech and provide a framework for theory-driven therapeutic approaches to treatment.

Goal-based speech motor control: A theoretical framework and some preliminary data

1995 ◽  
Vol 23 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 23-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph S. Perkell ◽  
Melanie L. Matthies ◽  
Mario A. Svirsky ◽  
Michael I. Jordan
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Preliminary Data ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Speech Motor Control ◽  
Speech Motor

scholarly journals Consistency influences altered auditory feedback processing

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (10) ◽  
pp. 2371-2379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias K Franken ◽  
Daniel J Acheson ◽  
James M McQueen ◽  
Peter Hagoort ◽  
Frank Eisner
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Speech Motor Control ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Feedback Processing ◽  
Motor Commands ◽  
Consistent Condition ◽  
Consistency Effect ◽  
Speech Motor

Previous research on the effect of perturbed auditory feedback in speech production has focused on two types of responses. In the short term, speakers generate compensatory motor commands in response to unexpected perturbations. In the longer term, speakers adapt feedforward motor programmes in response to feedback perturbations, to avoid future errors. The current study investigated the relation between these two types of responses to altered auditory feedback. Specifically, it was hypothesised that consistency in previous feedback perturbations would influence whether speakers adapt their feedforward motor programmes. In an altered auditory feedback paradigm, formant perturbations were applied either across all trials (the consistent condition) or only to some trials, whereas the others remained unperturbed (the inconsistent condition). The results showed that speakers’ responses were affected by feedback consistency, with stronger speech changes in the consistent condition compared with the inconsistent condition. Current models of speech-motor control can explain this consistency effect. However, the data also suggest that compensation and adaptation are distinct processes, which are not in line with all current models.

Cortical networks for speech motor control in unilateral vocal fold paralysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 129 (9) ◽  
pp. 2125-2130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Molly L. Naunheim ◽  
Katherine C. Yung ◽  
Sarah L. Schneider ◽  
Jennifer Henderson‐Sabes ◽  
Hardik Kothare ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Vocal Fold ◽  
Vocal Fold Paralysis ◽  
Speech Motor Control ◽  
Unilateral Vocal Fold Paralysis ◽  
Cortical Networks ◽  
Speech Motor

scholarly journals Abnormal Speech Motor Control in Individuals with 16p11.2 Deletions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carly Demopoulos ◽  
Hardik Kothare ◽  
Danielle Mizuiri ◽  
Jennifer Henderson-Sabes ◽  
Brieana Fregeau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Spectral Peak ◽  
Motor Deficits ◽  
Speech Motor Control ◽  
Sensorimotor Adaptation ◽  
Speech And Language ◽  
Vowel Production ◽  
Identity Changes ◽  
Speech Motor

AbstractSpeech and motor deficits are highly prevalent (>70%) in individuals with the 600 kb BP4-BP5 16p11.2 deletion; however, the mechanisms that drive these deficits are unclear, limiting our ability to target interventions and advance treatment. This study examined fundamental aspects of speech motor control in participants with the 16p11.2 deletion. To assess capacity for control of voice, we examined how accurately and quickly subjects changed the pitch of their voice within a trial to correct for a transient perturbation of the pitch of their auditory feedback. When compared to sibling controls, 16p11.2 deletion carriers show an over-exaggerated pitch compensation response to unpredictable mid-vocalization pitch perturbations. We also examined sensorimotor adaptation of speech by assessing how subjects learned to adapt their sustained productions of formants (speech spectral peak frequencies important for vowel identity), in response to consistent changes in their auditory feedback during vowel production. Deletion carriers show reduced sensorimotor adaptation to sustained vowel identity changes in auditory feedback. These results together suggest that 16p11.2 deletion carriers have fundamental impairments in the basic mechanisms of speech motor control and these impairments may partially explain the deficits in speech and language in these individuals.

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