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Contribution of the basal ganglia to spoken language: Is speech production like the other motor skills?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2014

Alexandre Zenon  and
Etienne Olivier
Alexandre Zenon
Affiliation:
Institute of Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Université catholique de Louvain, UCL, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium. alexandre.zenon@uclouvain.be
Etienne Olivier
Affiliation:
Institute of Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Université catholique de Louvain, UCL, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium. alexandre.zenon@uclouvain.be FondazioneIstituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), 16163 Genova, Italy. etienne.olivier@uclouvain.be www.coactionslab.com
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Abstract

Two of the roles assigned to the basal ganglia in spoken language parallel very well their contribution to motor behaviour: (1) their role in sequence processing, resulting in syntax deficits, and (2) their role in movement “vigor,” leading to “hypokinetic dysarthria” or “hypophonia.” This is an additional example of how the motor system has served the emergence of high-level cognitive functions, such as language.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 37 , Issue 6 , December 2014 , pp. 576
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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