Neuromotor organization of speech production

The production of speech is a multistep process requiring close coordination between neurolinguistic, neurocognitive, and neuromotor processes to communicate fluently and seemingly effortlessly. This complex process, which combines speech-specific and domain-general neural mechanisms, involves a closed repertoire of motor programs to control over 100 muscles distributed over the face, neck, and abdomen. The process requires neuromotor mechanisms to implement phonological planning, response selection, sequencing, and timing, contextual adjustments of the motor programs, as well as action execution and response monitoring. Recent advances in neuroimaging and neuromodulation techniques have led to the emergence of neurobiologically realistic models of speech production, leading to more comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms involved in producing speech. This chapter reviews the most up-to-date knowledge on the neural organization of the brain systems involved in producing speech.