Sensorimotor characteristics of speech motor sequences

Summary The present experiment focused on the characteristics of sequential speech movements. Subjects generated two successive lip and jaw closing movements associated with the two p's in sapapple. By selectively manipulating the lower lip perturbation it was possible to discern the role of somatic sensory interactions with the presumed sequential movement programming. Lower lip perturbation duration was manipulated to yield two different load conditions. In the Load On (LN) condition, the perturbation remained on for both closing movements. In the Load On/Off (LNF) condition, the perturbation was removed at variable times prior to the second closing movement. Analyses focused on comparing the EMG and resulting kinematic changes for the second p closure across the two load conditions relative to the normal control (no load) condition. The second p closure was differentially affected by the load conditions resulting in changes in the upper and lower lip compensations. Upper lip changes reflected consistent load duration differences; however, the magnitude of the lower lip EMG and kinematic adjustments did not mirror those of the upper lip. In contrast to the differential upper lip/ lower lip changes observed for the magnitude adjustments, timing adjustments were similar for both upper lip and lower lip suggesting a separation between the specification of magnitude and timing of speech movements. Differential load effects were also observed for the timing of the second closing movements. For the LN condition, the onset of muscle activity and subsequent movement occurred earlier (re: control); for the LNF condition, load removal delayed the onset of muscle activity and the subsequent movement (re: control). Further, the opening movement preceding the second closing movement was modified for both load conditions suggesting that all movements in the sequence, not just closing movements, can be modified. The present results suggest that the programming of speech movement sequences is a dynamic process involving scaling and timing of motor commands relying on various degrees of sensory interaction. The apparent separation in the magnitude and timing specification of the movement sequences suggests the parallel influences of different neural systems. The consequence of this control scheme is that specification of movement parameters for sequential motor acts is a flexible real-time sensorimotor process interacting with less-flexible well-established central motor relations. Further, motor programs for speech may reflect certain generalized movement actions (e.g., oral opening, oral closing) rather than individual words, syllables, or other linguistic categories programmed on a movement-to-movement basis.     

Central patterning of speech movements

Summary Previous speech kinematic studies have demonstrated systematic timing relations among the upper lip, lower lip, and jaw suggesting the operation of a central pattern generator (CPG). The present study evaluated the consistency of these timing relations following unanticipated perturbation of the lower lip. Using this approach, it was also possible to evaluate the influence of sensory information on the timing of motor output and subsequent coordination of the multiple speech movements. Perturbations were applied to the lower lip during the closing movement associated with the first p in sapapple. Muscle activity and movements of the upper lip, lower lip, and jaw were obtained. Changes in movement displacement, velocity and duration, the timing and sequencing of peak velocities, EMG area, and EMG rise time were analyzed for the control and load conditions. Similar to previous perturbation results, significant magnitude compensations from the muscles and movements of the upper lip, lower lip, and jaw were observed. In contrast, movement durations and the sequencing of peak velocities were relatively unaffected by the lower lip load. The timing of peak EMG amplitude and consequently the timing of peak closing velocity for all structures (UL, LL, and J) occurred earlier relative to the preceding opening movement. These results are consistent with the interaction of phasic sensory input with centrally-driven commands resulting in a phase-advanced motor output. Further, as the timing of one structure is modified so were all the functionally-linked components thereby maintaining the necessary coordination. As in other rhythmic motor behaviors such as locomotion and chewing, there appears to be a centrally patterned framework for speech movement coordination.     

Control of complex motor gestures: orofacial muscle responses to load perturbations of lip during speech

The contribution of ascending afferents to the control of speech movement was evaluated by applying unanticipated loads to the lower lip during the generation of combined upper lip-lower lip speech gestures. To eliminate potential contamination due to anticipation or adaptation, loads were applied randomly on only 10-15% of the trials. Physical characteristics of the perturbations were within the normal range of forces and movements involved in natural lip actions for speech. Compensatory responses in multiple facial muscles and lip movements were observed the first time a load was introduced, and achievement of the multimovement speech goals was never disrupted by these perturbations. Muscle responses were seen in the lower lip muscles, implicating corrective, feedback processes. Additionally, compensatory responses to these lower lip loads were also observed in the independently controlled muscles of the upper lip, reflecting the parallel operation of open-loop, sensorimotor mechanisms. Compensatory responses from both the upper and lower lip muscles were observed with small (1 mm) as well as large (15 mm) perturbations. The latencies of these compensatory responses were not discernible by conventional ensemble averaging. Moreover, responses at latencies of lower brain stem-mediated reflexes (i.e., 10-18 ms) were not apparent with inspection of individual records. Response latencies were determined on individual loaded trials through the use of a computer algorithm that took into account the variability of electromyograms (EMG) among the control trials. These latency measures confirmed the absence of brain stem-mediated responses and yielded response latencies that ranged from 22 to 75 ms. Response latencies appeared to be influenced by the time relation between load onset and the initiation of muscle activation. Examination of muscle activity changes for individual loaded trials revealed complementary variations in the magnitude of responses among multiple muscles contributing to a movement compensation. These observations may have implications for limb movement control if multimovement speech gestures are considered analogous to a limb action requiring coordinated movements around multiple joints. In this context, these speech motor control data might be interpreted to suggest that for complex movements, both corrective feedback and open-loop predictive processes are operating, with the latter involved in the control of coordination among multiple movement subcomponents.     

Dynamic control of the perioral system during speech: kinematic analyses of autogenic and nonautogenic sensorimotor processes

Afferent contributions to the motor control of speech were evaluated by applying unanticipated loads to the lower lip during the combined upper lip-lower lip gesture associated with the oral closing movements for a "b" sound. Loads were introduced randomly in approximately 15% of the trials to minimize subject anticipation or adaptation. A total of 490 load trials (in five naive subjects) were distributed within a restricted interval (100 ms) centered on the initiation of agonist muscle contraction associated with the lip-closing movements. Kinematic adjustments of the upper and lower lips to these perturbations were examined in detail. In all subjects, load-induced changes in upper and lower lip displacement, movement time, and closing velocity were statistically significant and observed the first time a perturbation was introduced. Load timing variations within the target interval resulted in systematic changes in the site of the compensatory adjustments (upper versus lower lip) and in the magnitude of the kinematic responses. These kinematic changes appeared to reflect the dynamic nature of underlying control processes and clearly contrasted the different response characteristics of autogenic (lower lip) and nonautogenic (upper lip) compensatory actions. Although both upper and lower lip adjustments contributed to perturbation compensations, autogenic responses were found to predominate when loads occurred 20-55 ms before muscle activation. For these early loads, autogenic responses provided approximately 75% of the total compensation. For later loads, when the evolving speech motor action was more time constrained, nonautogenic (open-loop) compensations predominated, providing approximately 65% of the total compensation. The variations in upper and lower lip compensatory response magnitude did not parallel the time course of facial muscle activation. Lower lip kinematic adjustments were reduced 10-15 ms prior to the onset of agonist muscle activation, whereas upper lip adjustments increased in magnitude 10-20 ms after agonist onset. Apparently the dynamic modulation of these responses is controlled independently from facial motoneuron excitation, possibly involving sensorimotor processing via supranuclear centers. Overall the compensatory movement displacements were highly related to the magnitude of the perturbation displacement, especially for loads introduced prior to agonist muscle onset, reflecting a well-calibrated readjustment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Spontaneous facial motility in infancy: a 3D kinematic analysis

Early spontaneous orofacial movements have rarely been studied experimentally, though the motor experiences gained from these behaviors may influence the development of motor skills emerging for speech. This investigation quantitatively describes developmental changes in silent, spontaneous lip and jaw movements from 1 to 12 months of age using optically based 3D motion capture technology. Twenty-nine typically developing infants at five ages (1, 5, 7, 9, and 12 months) were studied cross-sectionally. Infants exhibited spontaneous facial movements at all ages studied. Several age-related changes were detected in lip and jaw kinematics: the occurrence of spontaneous movements increased, movement speed increased, the duration of movement epochs decreased and movement coupling among different facial regions increased. Additionally, evidence for stereotypic movements was not strong. The present findings suggest that, during the first year of life, early spontaneous facial movements undergo significant developmental change in the direction of skill development for speech.     

Role of proprioceptive information in the temporal coordination between joints

Ten subjects made rapid, simultaneous movements of jaw (elevation or lowering) and right foot (ankle flexion or extension) in two experimental situations: (1) in response to an external signal (reaction-time situation), and (2) in a self-paced situation. We calculated the mean time intervals between the onsets of electromyographic (EMG) activity of agonist muscles (tibialis anterior or gastrocnemius lateralis compared with masseter or digastricus pars anterior) and those between the onsets of movement acceleration at each joint. Despite the fact that subjects reported simultaneous jaw-foot movements, there was always a short time interval between the two movements as between the agonist EMG activities. When the subjects were asked to perform a jaw elevation movement simultaneously with an ankle movement (flexion or extension), the sign of the time interval was dependent on the situation of movement initiation. In the reaction-time situation, the jaw motor activity preceded that of the ankle, whereas the reverse temporal order was observed in the self-paced situation. This is consistent with a previous hypothesis suggesting that the simultaneity of two motor actions is centrally established through two separate central processes: reactive or predictive. When subjects tried to perform simultaneous jaw lowering and foot flexion or extension movements, the strict temporal order observed when considering jaw elevation and ankle movements disappeared. The jaw motor activity generally preceded that of ankle in the reactive situation, but, depending on the subjects, it preceded or followed the ankle motor activity during self-paced movements. It is likely that the specific spindle supply of jaw muscles accounts for these results. Indeed, the jaw depressor muscles, in contrast to the elevators, lack muscle spindles. Our results suggest that the kinesthetic inputs used by the upper central nervous system to synchronize two rapid voluntary movements are mainly those from spindles located in the muscles that accelerate the movement, suggesting a strong α-γ linkage. Received: 31 October 1996 / Accepted: 1 September 1997     

The Müller-Lyer illusion affects the planning and control of manual aiming movements

Participants made perceptual judgments about the length of, and manual aiming movements to the opposite end of, formerly visible Müller-Lyer stimuli. The Müller-Lyer illusion affected both perceptual judgments and aiming amplitude. Manipulations of stimulus duration (10 ms or 3000 ms) and memory delay length (10 ms or 3000 ms) had no impact on the illusory effect. Aiming movements executed with vision of the hand were less affected by the illusion than movements executed without vision of the hand. The effect of the illusion on aiming amplitude remained the same between peak velocity and the end of the movement even though participants were engaged in on-line control between peak deceleration and the end of the movement. This latter finding was counter to the predictions of a hypothesis (Glover 2002) stating that illusions should only affect the early (planning) stages of movement and not the late (control) stages of movement. We conclude that a single visual representation is used for perception, motor planning, and motor control.     

Task-specific sensorimotor interactions in speech production

Speaking involves the activity of multiple muscles moving many parts (articulators) of the vocal tract. In previous studies, it has been shown that mechanical perturbation delivered to one moving speech articulator, such as the lower lip or jaw, results in compensatory responses in the perturbed and other non-perturbed articulators, but not in articulators that are uninvolved in the specific speech sound being produced. These observations suggest that the speech motor control system may be organized in a task-specific manner. However, previous studies have not used the appropriate controls to address the mechanism by which this task-specific organization is achieved. A lack of response in a non-perturbed articulator may simply reflect the fact that the muscles examined were not active. Alternatively, there may be a specific gating of somatic sensory signals due to task requirements. The present study was designed to address the nature of the underlying sensorimotor organization. Unanticipated mechanical loads were applied to the upper lip during the "p" in "apa" and "f" in "afa" in six subjects. Both lips are used to produce "p", while only the lower lip is used for "f". For "apa", both upper lip and lower lip responses were observed following upper lip perturbation. For "afa", no upper lip or lower lip responses were observed following the upper lip perturbation. The differential response of the lower lip, which was phasically active during both speech tasks, indicates that the neural organization of these two speech tasks differs not only in terms of the different muscles used to produce the different movements, but also in terms of the sensorimotor interactions within and across the two lips.     

Cortical activity during speech and non-speech oromotor tasks: A magnetoencephalography (MEG) study

We used whole-head magnetoencephalography to investigate cortical activity during two oromotor activities foundational to speech production. 13 adults performed mouth opening and phoneme (/pa/) production tasks to a visual cue. Jaw movements were tracked with an ultrasound-emitting device. Trials were time-locked to both stimulus onset and peak of jaw displacement. An event-related beamformer source reconstruction algorithm was used to detect areas of cortical activity for each condition. Beamformer output was submitted to iterative K-means clustering analyses. The time course of neural activity at each cluster centroid was computed for each individual and condition. Peaks were identified and latencies submitted for statistical analysis to reveal the relative timing of activity in each brain region. Stimulus locked activations for the mouth open task included a progression from left cuneus to left frontal and then right pre-central gyrus. Phoneme generation revealed the same sequence but with bilateral frontal activation. When time locked to jaw displacement, the mouth open condition showed left frontal followed by right frontal–temporal areas. Phoneme generation showed a complicated sequence of bilateral temporal and frontal areas. This study used three unique approaches (beamforming, clustering and jaw tracking) to demonstrate the temporal progression of neural activations that underlie the motor control of two simple oromotor tasks. These findings have implications for understanding clinical conditions with deficits in articulatory control or motor speech planning.     

Imagined and actual arm movements have similar durations when performed under different conditions of direction and mass

Several experiments have suggested that similar physiological substrates are involved in movement execution and motor imagery, and that the same laws of movement control apply to both processes. Using a mental chronometry paradigm, we examined the effects of movement direction and added mass on the duration of actual and imagined movements. Six subjects executed or imagined arm movements in the sagittal and horizontal plane, in three different loading conditions: without added mass, and with an added mass of 1 and 1.5 kg. The duration of both actual and imagined movements was measured by an electronic stopwatch. The actual movements were significantly increased in duration as a function of mass, for both movement directions. However, direction per se had no effect on duration. The duration of imagined movements was very similar to that of actual movements whatever the subject and mass and direction condition. These results show that both inertial and gravitational constraints are accurately incorporated in the timing of the motor imagery process, which appears therefore to be functionally very close to the process of planning and performing the actual movement.     

Motor imagery influences the execution of repetitive finger opposition movements

Motor imagery (MI) is the ability to imagine performing a movement without executing it. In literature, there have been numerous reports on the influence of MI on motor practice and the beneficial effects of “mental practice” on the physical performance has been suggested to rely to the close temporal association between motor rehearsal and actual performance. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate whether the addition of a period of motor imagery between two motor practice trials could modify movement execution in a repetitive finger opposition motor task performed at maximal speed and whether the effect of motor imagery on motor practice is dependant on the complexity of movement. We observed that the addition of motor imagery to the sole motor practice was able to influence the performance of repetitive finger opposition movements inducing an increase of the velocity of movement greater than that observed with the motor practice alone. Further the addition of motor imagery was able to induce a modification in the motor strategy in terms of duration of the main phases of movements. This was more evident when subjects executed a finger sequential task with respect to a simple finger tapping task. We assume that mental rehearsal facilitates the brain network involved in sensorimotor control, particularly acting on those neural structures involved in the motor program.     

Association of orofacial with laryngeal and respiratory motor output during speech

Speech motor coordination most likely involves synaptic coupling among neural systems that innervate orofacial, laryngeal, and respiratory muscles. The nature and strength of coupling of the orofacial with the respiratory and laryngeal systems was studied indirectly by correlating orofacial speeds with fundamental frequency, vocal intensity, and inspiratory volume during speech. Fourteen adult subjects repeated a simple test utterance at varying rates and vocal intensities while recordings were obtained of the acoustic signal and movements of the upper lip, lower lip, tongue, jaw, rib cage, and abdomen. Across subjects and orofacial speed measures (14 subjects x 4 structures), significant correlations were obtained for fundamental frequency in 42 of 56 cases, for intensity in 35 of 56 cases, and for inspiratory volume in 14 of 56 cases. These results suggest that during speech production there is significant neural coupling of orofacial muscle systems with the laryngeal and respiratory systems as they are involved in vocalization. Comparisons across the four orofacial structures revealed higher correlations for the jaw relative to other orofacial structures. This suggests stronger connectivity between neural systems linking the jaw with the laryngeal and respiratory systems. This finding may be relevant to the frame/content theory of speech production, which suggests that the neural circuitry involved in jaw motor control for speech has evolved to form relatively strong linkages with systems involved in vocalization.     

Temporal features of imagined locomotion in normal aging

Motor imagery is the ability to mentally simulate a movement without executing it. Previous investigations have reported a deterioration of this ability during complex arm movements in aged adults. In the present study, we aimed to extend these findings by investigating the temporal features of imagined precision gait in healthy elderly adults. Locomotion is a unique example of imagined movement because it involves simulated full-body movement and the concurrent updating of environmental spatial information. Nine young and nine older adults actually or mentally walked (walking distance: 5 m) along three paths having different widths (15 cm, 25 cm, and 50 cm). The narrowest path required balance control and accurate foot placement. We used the mental chronometry paradigm, notably the temporal similarity between actual and imagined movements, as an indicator of the accuracy of the motor imagery process. Our findings indicated that while motor imagery ability was preserved in the young group whatever the width of the path, it was significantly deteriorated in the elderly group. Aged adults systematically overestimated the duration of imagined movements with respect to those of executed movements. Moreover, paths width negatively influenced the motor imagery performances in the elderly group. We assume that motor imagery decline may reflect functional changes in the aging brain, and could be a clinical tool to detect deteriorations in motor planning and prediction in aged adults.     

Activity of neurons in the lower precentral cortex during voluntary and rhythmical jaw movements in the monkey

Summary The activity of 171 neurons in the lower precentral cortex and superior temporal gyrus were recorded in monkeys making voluntary and semiautomatic rhythmical jaw movements. The discharge pattern of 75% of the precentral neurons was related to the performance of jaw movements and repetitive electrical stimulation of the region containing responsive units evoked coordinated rhythmical masticatory movements. Responsive neurons were divided according to their patterns of discharge.Fifteen neurons discharged preferentially during all types of jaw opening movements. They apparently received a proprioceptive sensory input since they fired when the jaw was opened by the experimenter. Loads which aided jaw opening increased their discharge frequency during opening movements and the maximum discharge frequency was proportional to the maximum displacement of the mandible. It was suggested that these neurons excite jaw opening motoneurons and inhibit jaw closers.Thirty-six neurons fired with a weaker phase relationship to jaw opening, 25 neurons discharged when the jaw was open and 5 neurons discharged during protrusion of the tongue. These neurons may control the many jaw, face and tongue muscles which are not principally responsible for opening or closing the jaw. Sixteen neurons were excited or inhibited throughout a series of movements, but fluctuations in their discharge frequency were not correlated to the phase of movement.Only 4 neurons discharged preferentially during closure under all conditions. Their firing frequency was not affected by loads aiding or opposing closure and did not correlate with the velocity or displacement of the jaw.Thirteen neurons discharged when the teeth were in contact or when apple was crushed between the teeth and probably received a sensory input from the periodontal pressor receptors. It was suggested that this type of neuron could control the tension developed in jaw closing muscles when their contraction is opposed by a resistance between the teeth. However, unopposed closing movements, such as those occurring during rhythmical semiautomatic tasting movements, are probably controlled at the brain stem level.Supported by the Medical Research Council, Canada.Scholar of the Medical Research Council, Canada.Member, Medical Research Council Group in Neurological Sciences.     

Manipulating time-to-plan alters patterns of brain activation during the Fitts’ task

Fitts’ law predicts that there is an essential trade-off between speed and accuracy during movement. Past investigations of Fitts’ law have not characterized whether advance planning of upcoming fast and accurate movements impacts either behavior or patterns of brain activation. With an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm, we investigated the neural correlates of advance planning and movement difficulty of rapid, goal-directed aimed movements using a discrete version of the classic Fitts’ task. Our behavioral data revealed strong differences in response time, initial movement velocity, and end-point accuracy based on manipulation of both time to plan movements and response difficulty. We discovered a modulation of the neural network associated with executing the Fitts’ task that was dependent on the availability of time to plan the upcoming movement and motor difficulty. Specifically, when time to plan for the upcoming movement was available, medial frontal gyrus (BA 10), pre-SMA (BA 6), putamen and cerebellar lobule VI were uniquely active to plan movements. Further, their activation correlated with behavioral measures of movement. In contrast, manipulating movement difficulty invoked a different pattern of brain activations in regions that are known to participate in motor control, including supplementary motor area (BA 6), sensory motor cortex (BA 4, 3, 2) and putamen. Our finding that medial frontal gyrus (BA 10) was important for discrete, fast and accurate movements expands the known role of this brain region, which in the past has been identified as a cognitive processing system supporting stimulus-oriented attending. We now extend this conceptualization to include motor functions such as those employed for processing for rapid, goal-directed aimed movements.

Velocity curves of human arm and speech movements

Summary The velocity curves of human arm and speech movements were examined as a function of amplitude and rate in both continuous and discrete movement tasks. Evidence for invariance under scalar transformation was assessed and a quantitative measure of the form of the curve was used to provide information on the implicit cost function in the production of voluntary movement. Arm, tongue and jaw movements were studied separately. The velocity curves of tongue and jaw movement were found to differ in form as a function of movement duration but were similar for movements of different amplitude. In contrast, the velocity curves for elbow movements were similar in form over differences in both amplitude and duration. Thus, the curves of arm movement, but not those of tongue or jaw movement, were geometrically equivalent in form. Measurements of the ratio of maximum to average velocity in arm movement were compared with the theoretical values calculated for a number of criterion functions. For continuous movements, the data corresponded best to values computed for the minimum energy criterion; for discrete movement, values were in the range of those predicted for the minimum jerk and best stiffness criteria. The source of a rate dependent asymmetry in the form of the velocity curve of speech movements was assessed in a control study in which subjects produced simple raising and lowering movements of the jaw without talking. The velocity curves of the non-speech control gesture were similar in form to those of jaw movement in speech. These data, in combination with similar findings for human jaw movement in mastication, suggest that the asymmetry is not a direct consequence of the requirements of the task. The biomechanics and neural control of the orofacial system may be possible sources of this effect.     

Trajectories of arm pointing movements on the sagittal plane vary with both direction and speed

Five subjects performed arm upward and downward movements at different speeds (movement duration ranged from 0.26 to 1.2 s). Fingertip paths, velocity profiles and muscle activation patterns of arm and forearm were computed. Inspection of the electromyograph (EMG) revealed that for relatively slow speeds (>0.7 s) and for both directions, only the flexor muscles were active, mainly the anterior deltoid, for motor (upward) and braking action (downward) respectively. However, where gravity was no longer sufficient to accelerate downward and decelerate upward movements (<0.7 s), both flexors and extensors muscles were active. Path curvature and position of maximum deviation from straightness were lower for downward than for upward movements. In addition, the position of maximum deviation from straightness became progressively higher with increase in duration for both upward and downward movements. The ratio of acceleration duration to total movement duration was greater for downward than upward directions for all the range of speeds. The ratio of maximum to mean velocity was similar for upward and downward movements but decreased with decrease in speed. The results indicate that the brain accomplishes arm movements in the vertical plane with different planning processes for movements with or against gravity. Furthermore, they provide evidence that both gravitational and inertial forces are determinant for arm trajectory generation in the vertical plan. Electronic Publication     

Visual gravity influences arm movement planning

When submitted to a visuomotor rotation, subjects show rapid adaptation of visually guided arm reaching movements, indicated by a progressive reduction in reaching errors. In this study, we wanted to make a step forward by investigating to what extent this adaptation also implies changes into the motor plan. Up to now, classical visuomotor rotation paradigms have been performed on the horizontal plane, where the reaching motor plan in general requires the same kinematics (i.e., straight path and symmetric velocity profile). To overcome this limitation, we considered vertical and horizontal movement directions requiring specific velocity profiles. This way, a change in the motor plan due to the visuomotor conflict would be measurable in terms of a modification in the velocity profile of the reaching movement. Ten subjects performed horizontal and vertical reaching movements while observing a rotated visual feedback of their motion. We found that adaptation to a visuomotor rotation produces a significant change in the motor plan, i.e., changes to the symmetry of velocity profiles. This suggests that the central nervous system takes into account the visual information to plan a future motion, even if this causes the adoption of nonoptimal motor plans in terms of energy consumption. However, the influence of vision on arm movement planning is not fixed, but rather changes as a function of the visual orientation of the movement. Indeed, a clear influence on motion planning can be observed only when the movement is visually presented as oriented along the vertical direction. Thus vision contributes differently to the planning of arm pointing movements depending on motion orientation in space.     

Distinct developmental profiles in typical speech acquisition

Three- to five-year-old children produce speech that is characterized by a high level of variability within and across individuals. This variability, which is manifest in speech movements, acoustics, and overt behaviors, can be input to subgroup discovery methods to identify cohesive subgroups of speakers or to reveal distinct developmental pathways or profiles. This investigation characterized three distinct groups of typically developing children and provided normative benchmarks for speech development. These speech development profiles, identified among 63 typically developing preschool-aged speakers (ages 36-59 mo), were derived from the children's performance on multiple measures. These profiles were obtained by submitting to a k-means cluster analysis of 72 measures that composed three levels of speech analysis: behavioral (e.g., task accuracy, percentage of consonants correct), acoustic (e.g., syllable duration, syllable stress), and kinematic (e.g., variability of movements of the upper lip, lower lip, and jaw). Two of the discovered group profiles were distinguished by measures of variability but not by phonemic accuracy; the third group of children was characterized by their relatively low phonemic accuracy but not by an increase in measures of variability. Analyses revealed that of the original 72 measures, 8 key measures were sufficient to best distinguish the 3 profile groups.     

Correlation of orofacial speeds with voice acoustic measures in the fluent speech of persons who stutter

Stuttering is often viewed as a problem in coordinating the movements of different muscle systems involved in speech production. From this perspective, it is logical that efforts be made to quantify and compare the strength of neural coupling between muscle systems in persons who stutter (PS) and those who do not stutter (NS). This problem was addressed by correlating the speeds of different orofacial structures with vowel fundamental frequency (F0) and intensity as subjects produced fluent repetitions of a simple nonsense phrase at habitual, high, and low intensity levels. It is assumed that resulting correlations indirectly reflect the strength of neural coupling between particular orofacial structures and the respiratory-laryngeal system. An electromagnetic system was employed to record movements of the upper lip, lower lip, tongue, and jaw in 43 NS and 39 PS. The acoustic speech signal was recorded and used to obtain measures of vowel F0 and intensity. For each subject, correlation measures were obtained relating peak orofacial speeds to F0 and intensity. Correlations were significantly reduced in PS compared to NS for the lower lip and tongue, although the magnitude of these group differences covaried with the correlation levels relating F0 and intensity. It is suggested that the group difference in correlation pattern reflects a reduced strength of neural coupling of the lower lip and tongue systems to the respiratory-laryngeal system in PS. Consideration is given to how this may contribute to temporal discoordination and stuttering.