Download PDF
Semin Speech Lang 2008; 29(4): 267-275
DOI: 10.1055/s-0028-1103390
© Thieme Medical Publishers

Speech versus Nonspeech: Different Tasks, Different Neural Organization

Kate Bunton1
  • 1Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
04 December 2008 (online)

Also available at
    Permissions and Reprints

ABSTRACT

This article reviews the extant studies of the relation of oromotor nonspeech activities to speech production. The relevancy of nonspeech oral motor behaviors to speech motor performance in assessment and treatment is challenged on several grounds. First, contemporary motor theory suggests that movement control is task specific. In other words, it is tied to the unique goals, sources of information, and characteristics of varying motor acts. Documented differences in movement characteristics for speech production versus nonspeech oral motor tasks support this claim. Second, advantages of training nonspeech oral motor tasks versus training speech production are not supported by current principles of motor learning and neural plasticity. Empirical data supports experience-specific training. Finally, functional imaging studies document differences in activation patterns for speech compared with nonspeech oral motor tasks in neurologically healthy individuals.

KEYWORDS

Nonspeech - speech production - motor learning - task specificity

REFERENCES

  • 1 Rosenfeld-Johnson S. Oral-Motor Exercises for Speech Clarity. Tucson, AZ; Talk Tools 2001
    Google Scholar
  • 2 Chapman Bahr D. Oral Motor Assessment and Treatment: Ages and Stages. Boston, MA; Allyn & Bacon 2001
    Google Scholar
  • 3 Lof G, Watson M A. Nationwide survey of nonspeech oral motor exercise use: implications for evidence-based practice.  Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch. 2008;  39 392-407
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 4 Weismer G. Philosophy of research in motor speech disorders.  Clin Linguist Phon. 2006;  20 315-349
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 5 Weismer G. Assessment of Oromotor, Nonspeech Gestures in Speech-Language Pathology: A Critical Review. Telerounds #35 (videotape). Tucson, AZ; National Center for Neurogenic Communication Disorders, University of Arizona 1997
    Google Scholar
  • 6 Ziegler W. Speech motor control is task-specific: evidence from dysarthria and apraxia of speech.  Aphasiology. 2003;  17 3-36
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 7 Folkins J, Moon J, Luschei E, Robin D, Tye-Murray N, Moll K. What can nonspeech tasks tell us about speech motor disabilities?.  J Phon. 1995;  23 139-147
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 8 Ballard K, Robin D, Folkins J. An integrative model of speech motor control: a response to Ziegler.  Aphasiology. 2003;  17 37-48
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 9 Stetson R. Motor Phonetics: A Study of Speech Movements in Articulation. Amsterdam, The Netherlands; North-Holland 1951
    Google Scholar
  • 10 Perkell J, Matthies M, Lane H et al.. Speech motor control: acoustic goals, saturation effects, auditory feedback, and internal models.  Speech Commun. 1997;  22 227-250
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 11 Perkell J, Guenther F, Lane H et al.. A theory of speech motor control and supporting data from speakers with normal hearing and with profound hearing loss.  J Phon. 2000;  28 233-272
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 12 Kent R. The uniqueness of speech among motor systems.  Clin Linguist Phon. 2004;  18 495-505
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 13 Folkins J, Abbs J. Lip and jaw motor control during speech: responses to resistive loading of the jaw.  J Speech Hear Res. 1975;  18 207-220
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 14 Abbs J, Gracco V. Compensatory responses to low magnitude loads applied to the lower lip during speech.  J Acoust Soc Am. 1981;  70(Suppl 1) S78
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 15 Abbs J, Gracco V. Control of complex motor gestures: orofacial muscle responses to load perturbations of lip during speech.  J Neurophysiol. 1984;  51 705-723
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 16 Nelson W, Perkell J, Westbury J. Mandible movements during increasingly rapid articulations of single syllables: preliminary observations.  J Acoust Soc Am. 1984;  75 945-951
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 17 Gentil M, Gay T. Neuromuscular specialization of the mandibular motor system: speech versus nonspeech movements.  Speech Commun. 1986;  5 69-82
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 18 Ostry D, Flanagan J, Feldman A, Munhall K. Human jaw motor control in mastication and speech. In: Requin J, Stelmach G Tutorials in Motor Neuroscience. Dordrecht, The Netherlands; Kluwer Academic 1991: 535-543
    Google Scholar
  • 19 Moore C, Smith A, Ringel R. Task-specific organization of activity in human jaw muscles.  J Speech Hear Res. 1988;  31 670-680
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 20 Moore C. Symmetry of mandibular muscle activity as an index of coordinative strategy.  J Speech Hear Res. 1993;  36 1145-1157
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 21 Moore C, Ruark J. Does speech emerge from earlier appearing oral motor behaviors?.  J Speech Hear Res. 1996;  39 1034-1047
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 22 Wohlert A B, Goffman L. Human perioral muscle activation patterns.  J Speech Hear Res. 1994;  37 1032-1040
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 23 Ruark J, Moore C. Coordination of lip muscle activity by 2-year-old children during speech and nonspeech tasks.  J Speech Lang Hear Res. 1997;  40 1373-1385
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 24 O'Dwyer N, Neilson P, Guitar B, Quinn P, Andrews G. Control of upper airway structures during nonspeech tasks in normal and cerebral-palsied subjects: EMG findings.  J Speech Hear Res. 1983;  26 162-170
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 25 Kuehn D P, Moon J B. Levator palatini muscle activity in relation to intraoral air pressure variation.  J Speech Hear Res. 1994;  37 1260-1270
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 26 Martin R. A Comparison of Lingual Movement in Swallowing and Speech Production [dissertation]. Madison, Wisconsin; University of Wisconsin-Madison 1994
    Google Scholar
  • 27 Bunton K, Weismer G. Evaluation of a reiterant force-impulse task in the tongue.  J Speech Hear Res. 1994;  37 1020-1031
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 28 Dworkin J P, Abkarian G G, Johns D F. Apraxia of speech: the effectiveness of a treatment regimen.  J Speech Hear Disord. 1988;  53 280-294
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 29 Magill R. Motor Learning: Concepts and Applications. Boston, MA; McGraw-Hill 1988
    Google Scholar
  • 30 Adams J A. Historical review and appraisal of research on learning, retention, and transfer of human motor skills.  Psychol Bull. 1987;  101 41-74
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 31 Naylor J C, Briggs G. Effects of task complexity and task organization of the relative efficiency of part and whole training methods.  J Exp Psychol. 1963;  65 217-224
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 32 Forrest K. Are oral-motor exercises useful in the treatment of phonological/articulatory disorders?.  Semin Speech Lang. 2002;  23 15-25
    Article in Thieme ConnectPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 33 Wightman D C, Lintern G. Part-task training for tracking and manual control.  Hum Factors. 1985;  27 267-283
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 34 Peterson-Falzone S, Trost-Cardomone J, Karnell M, Hardin-Jones M. The Clinician's Guide to Treating Cleft Palate Speech. St. Louis, MO; Mosby Elsevier 2006
    Google Scholar
  • 35 Nittrouer S. Children learn separate aspects of speech production at different rates: evidence from spectral moments.  J Acoust Soc Am. 1995;  97 520-530
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 36 Kleim J, Jones T. Principles of experience-dependent neural plasticity: implications for rehabilitation after brain damage.  J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2008;  51 S225-S239
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 37 Ludlow C, Hoit J, Kent R et al.. Translating principles of neural plasticity into research on speech motor control recovery and rehabilitation.  J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2008;  51 S240-S258
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 38 Huang J, Carr T, Cao Y. Comparing cortical activation for silent and over speech using event-related fMRI.  Hum Brain Mapp. 2002;  15 39-53
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 39 Robbins J, Gangnon R E, Theis S, Kays S A, Hewitt A L, Hind J A. The effects of lingual exercise on swallowing in older adults.  J Am Geriatr Soc. 2005;  59 1483-1489
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 40 Wildgruber D, Ackermann H, Klose U, Kardatzki R, Grodd W. Functional lateralization of speech production in the primary motor cortex: a fMRI study.  Neuroreport. 1996;  7 2791-2795
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 41 Riecker A, Ackermann J, Wildgruber D, Dogil G, Gross W. Opposite hemispheric lateralization effects during speaking and singing at motor cortex, insula, and cerebellum.  Neuroreport. 2000;  11 1997-2000
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 42 Grafton S, Woods R, Mazziotta J, Phelps M. Somatotopic mapping of the primary motor cortex in humans: activation studies with cerebral blood flow and positron emission tomography.  J Neurophysiol. 1991;  66 735-743
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 43 Horowitz B, Amunts K, Bhattacharyya R et al.. Activation of Broca's area during the production of spoken and signed language: a combined cytoarchitectonic mapping and PET analysis.  Neuropsychologia. 2003;  41 1868-1876
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 44 Bonilha L, Moser D, Rorden C, Baylis G, Fridriksson J. Speech apraxia without oral apraxia: can normal brain function explain the physiopathology?.  Neuroreport. 2006;  17 1027-1031
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 45 Karni A, Meyer G, Rey-Hipolito C et al.. The acquisition of skilled motor performance: fast and slow experience driven changes in primary motor cortex.  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1998;  95 861-868
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 46 Ungerleider L G, Doyon J, Karni A. Imaging brain plasticity during motor skill learning.  Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2002;  78 553-564
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 47 Muellbacher W, Ziemann U, Boroojerdi B, Cohen L, Hallett M. Role of the human motor cortex in rapid motor learning.  Exp Brain Res. 2001;  136 431-438
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 48 Pascual-Leone A, Nguyet D, Cohen L, Brasil-Neto J, Cammarota A, Hallett M. Modulation of muscle responses evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation during the acquisition of new fine motor skills.  J Neurophysiol. 1995;  74 1037-1045
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 49 Perez M, Lungholt B, Nyborg K, Nielsen J. Motor skill training induces changes in the excitability of the leg cortical area in healthy humans.  Exp Brain Res. 2004;  159 197-205
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 50 Hixon T J, Hardy J C. Restricted motility of the speech articulators in cerebral palsy.  J Speech Hear Disord. 1964;  29 293-306
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 51 La Pointe L L, Wertz R. Oral movement abilities and articulatory characteristics of brain-injured adults.  Percept Mot Skills. 1974;  39 39-46
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 52 Dworkin J, Aronson A, Mulder D. Tongue force in normals and in dysarthric patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.  J Speech Hear Res. 1980;  23 828-837
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 53 Barlow S, Abbs J. Orofacial fine force control impairments in congenital spasticity: evidence again hypertonus-related performance deficits.  Neurology. 1984;  34 145-150
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 54 Barlow S, Abbs J. Fine force and position control of select orofacial structures in the upper motor neuron syndrome.  Exp Neurol. 1986;  94 699-713
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 55 Dworkin J, Aronson A. Tongue strength and alternate motion rates in normal and dysarthric subjects.  J Commun Disord. 1986;  19 115-132
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 56 DePaul R, Brooks B. Multiple orofacial indices in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.  J Speech Hear Res. 1993;  36 1158-1167
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 57 Langmore S, Lehman M. Physiologic deficits in the orofacial system underlying dysarthria in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.  J Speech Hear Res. 1994;  37 28-37
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 58 McHenry M A, Minton J T, Wilson R L, Post Y V. Intelligibility and nonspeech orofacial strength and force control following traumatic brain injury.  J Speech Hear Res. 1994;  37 1271-1283
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 59 Solomon N, Robin D, Lorell D, Rodnitzky R, Luschei E. Tongue function testing in Parkinson's disease: indications of fatigue. In: Till J, Yorkston K, Beukelman D Motor Speech Disorders: Advances in Assessment and Treatment. Baltimore, MD; Paul H Brookes 1994: 147-160
    Google Scholar
  • 60 Solomon N, Lorell D, Robin D, Rodnitzky R, Luschei E. Tongue strength and endurance in mild to moderate Parkinson's disease.  J Med Speech Lang Pathol. 1995;  3 15-26
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 61 Thompson E, Murdoch B, Stokes P. Tongue function in upper motor neuron type dysarthria following cerebrovascular accident.  J Med Speech-Lang Pathol. 1995;  3 27-40
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 62 Thompson E, Murdoch B, Stokes P. Lip function in subjects with upper motor neuron type dysarthria following cerebrovascular accidents.  Eur J Disord Commun. 1995;  30 451-466
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 63 Theodoros D, Murdoch B, Stokes P. A physiological analysis of articulatory dysfunction in dysarthric speakers following severe closed-head injury.  Brain Inj. 1995;  9 237-254
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 64 Solomon N, Robin D, Luschei E. Strength, endurance, and stability of the tongue and hand in Parkinson disease.  J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2000;  43 256-267
    PubMedGoogle Scholar

Kate BuntonPh.D. 

1131 E. 2nd Street

PO Box 210071, Tucson, AZ 85721-0071

Email: Bunton@u.arizona.edu