Distinct neural mechanisms support different forms of inner speech
Humans have the ability to mentally examine speech. This covert form of speech production is often accompanied by sensory (e.g., auditory) percepts. However, the cognitive and neural mechanisms that generate these percepts are still debated. According to a prominent proposal, inner speech has at least two distinct phenomenological components: inner speaking and inner hearing. Here we use transcranial magnetic stimulation to test whether these two phenomenologically distinct processes are supported by distinct cerebral mechanisms. We hypothesise that inner speaking relies more strongly on an online motor-to-sensory simulation that constructs a multisensory experience, whereas inner hearing relies more strongly on a memory-retrieval process, where the multisensory experience is reconstructed from stored motor-to-sensory associations. We predict that the speech motor system will be involved more strongly during inner speaking than inner hearing. This will be revealed by modulations of TMS evoked responses at muscle level following cortical stimulation of the lip primary motor cortex.