Cognitive Control of Language

The cognitive control of speech is central to human social communication. Two frontal brain regions seem to have a critical role: 1) Broca's area (BA) and 2) the mid-cingulate cortex (MCC). Current rehabilitation strategy is clearly based on therapies promoting language performance. However, there is few evidence that rehabilitation strategies based on nonlinguistic aspects of brain function may enhance recovery. Such strategies may benefit from knowledge about the primary -nonlinguistic- function of the BA-MCC network. The aim of LANGUAGE is to identify this primary function. One hypothesis is that, in non-speaking primates, this network is involved in cognitive control of voluntary vocal/orofacial production. Specifically, whereas BA may be responsible for the high-level selection of orofacial and vocal responses during learning, the face motor representation within the MCC may be responsible for performance monitoring, a process inherently required in learning. LANGUAGE aims to test this hypothesis by determining in human the anatomo-functional organization of the BA-MCC network thanks to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).