Is the Articulatory Trajectory of Changing Syllables Important for Achieving Higher Syllable Rates Compared to Repeated Syllables?

Purpose: The production of speech-like sequences composed of varying syllables has been reported to achieve higher syllable rates than the production of repeated syllables (commonly designed as sequential motion rate [SMR] and alternating motion rate [AMR] tasks, respectively). The faster rate for SMR relative to AMR sequences is explained by different interpretative hypotheses, which remain empirically unexplored. In the present study, we aimed to investigate whether the high syllable rates of SMR sequences are due to the specific sequences used in most studies that involve front-to-back articulatory movements.

The encoding of speech modes in motor speech disorders: whispered versus normal speech in apraxia of speech and hypokinetic dysarthria.

Speakers with motor speech disorders (MSD) present challenges in speech production, one of them being the difficulty to adapt their speech to different modes. However, it is unclear whether different types of MSD are similarly affected when it comes to adapting their speech to various communication contexts. This study investigates the encoding of speech modes in individuals with AoS following focal brain damage and in individuals with hypokinetic dysarthria (HD) secondary to Parkinson's disease.

What Do Differences between Alternating and Sequential Diadochokinetic Tasks Tell Us about the Development of Oromotor Skills? An Insight from Childhood to Adulthood.

Oral diadochokinetic (DDK) tasks are common research and clinical tools used to test oromotor skills across different age groups. They include alternating motion rate (AMR) and sequential motion rate (SMR) tasks. AMR tasks involve repeating a single syllable, whereas SMR tasks involve repeating varying syllables.

Microstate ERP Analyses to Pinpoint the Articulatory Onset in Speech Production.

The use of electroencephalography (EEG) to study overt speech production has increased substantially in the past 15 years and the alignment of evoked potential (ERPs) on the response onset has become an extremely useful method to target "latest" stages of speech production. Yet, response-locked ERPs raise a methodological issue: on which event should the point of alignment be placed? Response-locked ERPs are usually aligned to the vocal (acoustic) onset, although it is well known that articulatory movements may start up to a hundred milliseconds prior to the acoustic onset and that this "articulatory onset to acoustic onset interval" (AAI) depends on the phoneme properties. Given the previously reported difficulties to measure the AAI, the purpose of this study was to determine if the AAI could be reliably detected with EEG-microstates.