Motor Levels of Speech Timing: Evidence From Studies of Ataxia.
| Number | 776 |
|---|---|
| Year | 1991 |
| Drawer | 14 |
| Entry Date | 11/05/1999 |
| Authors | Bell-Berti, F., & Chevrie-Muller, C. |
| Contact | |
| Publication | In Peters, Hulstijn and Starkweather (eds.), Speech Motor Control and Stuttering. (pp.293-301). |
| url | http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Reprints/HL0776.pdf |
| Abstract | Among the hypotheses about the nature of speech timing control is Bonnot’s, which postulates two control levels; a motor planning and a motor execution level. Timing patterns resulting from planning are thought to reflect linguistic intent, whereas those resulting from the execution reflect the biomechanical properties of the system. This study was designed to exploit the idea that neurophysiological pathologies can be used to test this hypothesis of seperate motor planning and execution levels. Our hypothesis was that pathologies at the final stages of motor realization would lead to global slowing of speech, whereas perturbations at higher levels would lead to problems in timing and sequencing parts of a piece of speech. This study of ataxic dysarthria addresses the question of whether utterance-position and length effects persist in the face of cerbellar disease. Contrary to the hypothesis that there would be global slowing of speech in ataxic dysarthria, we have found a systematic but not constant disruption in the timing of parts of the speech sequence, leading us to suggest that final lengthening arises in the execution of a motor sequence. We also found evidence of a tendency to preserve compensatory shortening effects, suggesting its origin is in the motor plan. |
| Notes |
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