On words and brains: linking psycholinguistics with neural dynamics in speech production

Résumé En

Obtaining a neurophysiology of language production is a complex endeavour which, at present, is in its “infancy”. It will require the integration of long-standing psycholinguistic models and phenomena with the anatomical and dynamical constraints of neural coding. In our target article [Strijkers, K., & Costa, A. (2016). The cortical dynamics of speaking: Present shortcomings and future avenues. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 1–20. doi:10.1080/23273798.2015.1120878; henceforth S&C], we hypothesized that one promising way of doing so is by perceiving words as cortical assemblies in a proactive brain. Conceptualizing word production as such means that some of the traditional assumptions underlying psycholinguistic models will need to be re-assessed (or at least extended) in light of this novel perspective. However, it does not mean that it is the only conceivable way to integrate language and the brain nor that neuroscience should be prioritized over psycholinguistics. Rather, its importance lies in making the linking hypothesizes between linguistic function and neural code explicit so that we can empirically test the integration of both domains. Likely, some of the linking hypotheses proposed in S&C may be proven wrong, but more importantly, others may prove to be an advance in the right direction towards a mechanistic framework of the cortical dynamics of speaking.