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A voice without a mouth no more: The neurobiology of language and consciousness
Open accessAbstract
Most research on the neurobiology of language ignores consciousness and vice versa. Here, language, with an emphasis on inner speech, is hypothesised to generate and sustain self-awareness, i.e., higher-order consciousness. Converging evidence supporting this hypothesis is reviewed. To account for these findings, a 'HOLISTIC' model of neurobiology of language, inner speech, and consciousness is proposed. It involves a 'core' set of inner speech production regions that initiate the experience of feeling and hearing words. These take on affective qualities, deriving from activation of associated sensory, motor, and emotional representations, involving a largely unconscious dynamic 'periphery', distributed throughout the whole brain. Responding to those words forms the basis for sustained network activity, involving 'default mode' activation and prefrontal and thalamic/brainstem selection of contextually relevant responses. Evidence for the model is reviewed, supporting neuroimaging meta-analyses conducted, and comparisons with other theories of consciousness made. The HOLISTIC model constitutes a more parsimonious and complete account of the 'neural correlates of consciousness' that has implications for a mechanistic account of mental health and wellbeing.
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Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Skipper, J. I.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Skipper, Jeremy I.
- ORCID
- Skipper, Jeremy I.
- Venue
- Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2022-09
- Volume
- 140
- Pages
- 104772
- ISSN
- 0149-7634 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4285008516
- Cited by
- 31
- References
- 456
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 0.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- University College London
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Representations and Identity
- Keywords
- neurobiology of language, consciousness, inner speech, self-awareness, higher-order consciousness, neural correlates of consciousness, holistic model, default mode network, prefrontal cortex, thalamus, brainstem, mental health, well-being
- MeSH terms
- Brain, Consciousness, Humans, Language, Mouth, Neurobiology
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