Dorsal and ventral streams: a framework for understanding aspects of the functional anatomy of language
Abstract
Despite intensive work on language-brain relations, and a fairly impressive accumulation of knowledge over the last several decades, there has been little progress in developing large-scale models of the functional anatomy of language that integrate neuropsychological, neuroimaging, and psycholinguistic data. Drawing on relatively recent developments in the cortical organization of vision, and on data from a variety of sources, we propose a new framework for understanding aspects of the functional anatomy of language which moves towards remedying this situation. The framework posits that early cortical stages of speech perception involve auditory fields in the superior temporal gyrus bilaterally (although asymmetrically). This cortical processing system then diverges into two broad processing streams, a ventral stream, which is involved in mapping sound onto meaning, and a dorsal stream, which is involved in mapping sound onto articulatory-based representations. The ventral stream projects ventro-laterally toward inferior posterior temporal cortex (posterior middle temporal gyrus) which serves as an interface between sound-based representations of speech in the superior temporal gyrus (again bilaterally) and widely distributed conceptual representations. The dorsal stream projects dorso-posteriorly involving a region in the posterior Sylvian fissure at the parietal-temporal boundary (area Spt), and ultimately projecting to frontal regions. This network provides a mechanism fo…
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Inner speech production is associated with a time-locked and content-specific internal forward model, similar to the one that operates in the production of overt speech.
“These results suggest that inner speech production is associated with a time-locked and content-specific internal forward model, similar to the one that operates in the production of overt speech.”
From Neurophysiological evidence of efference copies to inner speech (2017) · cites this paper as Hickok and Poeppel, 2004
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- Authors
- Hickok, G., & Poeppel, D.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hickok, Gregory
- Venue
- Cognition
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2004-05
- Volume
- 92
- Issue
- 1-2
- Pages
- 67-99
- ISSN
- 0010-0277 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2132344070
- Cited by
- 2,212
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 79 · 2025: 108 · 2024: 116 · 2023: 110 · 2022: 137 · 2021: 130 · 2020: 117 · 2019: 122 · 2018: 100 · 2017: 125 · 2016: 108 · 2015: 146 · 2014: 102 · 2013: 135 · 2012: 102
- FWCI
- 4.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Cognition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (R01DC0361, R01DC005660, R01-DC05660)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Phonetics and Phonology Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Keywords
- dorsal stream, ventral stream, speech perception, auditory cortex, superior temporal gyrus, posterior middle temporal gyrus, speech production, fluent aphasia
- MeSH terms
- Aphasia, Brain, Humans, Language, Parietal Lobe, Speech Perception, Speech Production Measurement, Temporal Lobe
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