Cortical control of posture in fine motor skills: evidence from inter-utterance rest position.

The vocal tract continuously employs tonic muscle activity in the maintenance of postural configurations. Gamma-band activity in the sensorimotor cortex underlies transient movements during speech production, yet little is known about the neural control of postural states in the vocal tract. Simultaneously, there is evidence that sensorimotor beta-band activations contribute to a system of inhibition and state maintenance that is integral to postural control in the body.

Postural adaptation to microgravity underlies fine motor impairment in astronauts' speech.

Understanding the role of anti-gravity behaviour in fine motor control is crucial to achieving a unified theory of motor control. We compare speech from astronauts before and immediately after microgravity exposure to evaluate the role of anti-gravity posture during fine motor skills. Here we show a generalized lowering of vowel space after space travel, which suggests a generalized postural shift of the articulators.

Reduction of vowel space in Alzheimer's disease.

Reduced vowel space area (VSA) is a known effect of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease (PD). Using large publicly available corpuses, two experiments were conducted comparing the vowel space of speakers with and without Alzheimer's disease (AD) during spontaneous and read speech. First, a comparison of vowel distance found reduced distance in AD for English spontaneous speech, but not Spanish read speech.

Robustness of lateral tongue bracing under bite block perturbation.

Lateral tongue bracing is a lingual posture in which the sides of the tongue are held against the palate and upper molars, and has been observed cross-linguistically. However, it is unknown whether lateral bracing makes adjustments to external perturbation like other body postures. The present study aims to test the robustness of lateral tongue bracing with three experiments.

F0-related head movement in blind versus sighted speakers.

This study investigated the relationship between head movement and fundamental frequency (F0) during speech by comparing continuous speech of congenitally blind and sighted speakers from YouTube videos. Positive correlations were found between F0 (measured in semitones) and vertical head movement for both speaker groups, with a stronger correlation for blind speakers. In addition, larger head movements and larger head movement per semitone ratios were observed for sighted speakers.

Effects of Voluntary Exercise on Cell Proliferation and Neurogenesis in the Dentate Gyrus of Adult FMR1 Knockout Mice.

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common cause of inherited intellectual disability that can be traced to a single gene mutation. This disorder is caused by the hypermethylation of the gene, which impairs translation of Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein (FMRP). In knockout (KO) mice, the loss of FMRP has been shown to negatively impact adult hippocampal neurogenesis, and to contribute to learning, memory, and emotional deficits.