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Cited by 278Neurobiology of Language and BilingualismHallucinations in medical conditionsSocial Representations and Identity

Functional anatomy of inner speech and auditory verbal imagery

McGuire, P. K., Silbersweig, D. A., Murray, R. M., David, A. S., Frackowiak, R. S. J., Frith, C. D.·1996·Psychological Medicine
DOI 10.1017/s0033291700033699
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Abstract

The neural correlates of inner speech and of auditory verbal imagery were examined in normal volunteers, using positron emission tomography (PET). Subjects were shown single words which they used to generate short, stereotyped sentences without speaking. In an inner speech task, sentences were silently articulated, while in an auditory verbal imagery condition, subjects imagined sentences being spoken to them in an another person's voice. Inner speech was associated with increased activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus. Auditory verbal imagery was associated with increases in the same region, and in the left premotor cortex, the supplementary motor area and the left temporal cortex. The data suggest that the silent articulation of sentences involves activity in an area concerned with speech generation, while imagining speech is associated with additional activity in regions associated with speech perception.

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  • Inner speech was associated with left IFG activation, while imagining another's speech involved SMA, premotor cortex, and left superior and middle temporal gyri.

    “Contrasts using PET scanning indicated that inner speech was associated with left IFG activation, while imagining another’s speech involved SMA, premotor cortex, and left superior and middle temporal gyri.”

    From Inner Speech: Development, Cognitive Functions, Phenomenology, and Neurobiology (2015) · cites this paper as McGuire et al., 1996

  • This pattern of activity supports the general fronto-temporal network of areas highlighted in inner speech elicitation studies.

    “This, when combined with evidence from studies of verbal working memory, would seem to support the general fronto-temporal network of areas highlighted in inner speech elicitation studies (e.g., McGuire et al., 1996), notwithstanding their lack of behavioral controls.”

    From Inner Speech: Development, Cognitive Functions, Phenomenology, and Neurobiology (2015) · cites this paper as McGuire et al., 1996

  • Inner speech paradigms are commonly associated with left inferior frontal gyrus, left insula, and left STG activation; auditory imagery for speech and other sounds is associated with activation of SMA, posterior parietal cortex, and STG/MTG bilaterally.

    “Despite some overlap in activations, inner speech paradigms are commonly associated with left inferior frontal gyrus, left insula, and left STG activation (Fegen et al., 2015; McGuire et al., 1996); in contrast, auditory imagery for speech (whether imagining hearing one’s own voice or another’s) and auditory imagery for other sounds is associated with activation of SMA, posterior parietal cortex,”

    From Inner Speech: Development, Cognitive Functions, Phenomenology, and Neurobiology (2015) · cites this paper as McGuire et al., 1996

  • The left IFG is critically involved in self-generated auditory imagery of spoken speech.

    “Wernicke’s-seeded FC was computed for subregions of the left IFG based on studies highlighting the critical involvement of the latter during self-generated auditory imagery of spoken speech (22,23), perception of external speech (24,25), and AVHs themselves (26,27).”

    From Elevated functional connectivity along a corticostriatal loop and the mechanism of auditory/verbal hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia (2011) · cites this paper as [22]

  • Auditory/verbal hallucinations are blocked in a patient subgroup by partial disconnection of frontotemporal and frontostriatal pathways that ordinarily underlie speech generation, imagery and perception.

    “Our findings suggest that AVHs are blocked in a patient subgroup, however, by partial disconnection of frontotemporal and frontostriatal pathways that ordinarily underlie speech generation, imagery and perception (22–25,56,58).”

    From Elevated functional connectivity along a corticostriatal loop and the mechanism of auditory/verbal hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia (2011) · cites this paper as [22]

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Authors
McGuire, P. K., Silbersweig, D. A., Murray, R. M., David, A. S., Frackowiak, R. S. J., & Frith, C. D.
Affiliations
Hammersmith Hospital (GB)
Corresponding author
McGuire, P. K.
ORCID
Venue
Psychological Medicine
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Published
1996-01
Volume
26
Issue
1
Pages
29-38
ISSN
  • 0033-2917 (ISSN-L)
  • 1469-8978
DOI
10.1017/s0033291700033699
OpenAlex
W2132338600
Cited by
277
References
64
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 13
FWCI
4.72
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified, 4938 d)
Locations
  • Psychological Medicine (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Wellcome Trust
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Hallucinations in medical conditions
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Representations and Identity
Keywords
inner speech, left inferior frontal gyrus, supplementary motor area, left temporal cortex, speech generation, speech perception, neural correlates, mental imagery
MeSH terms
Adult, Arousal, Attention, Brain Mapping, Cerebral Cortex, Dominance, Cerebral, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Imagination, Male, Regional Blood Flow, Speech Perception, Thinking, Tomography, Emission-Computed, Verbal Behavior

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