Brain activation during non-habitual speech production: Revisiting the effects of simulated disfluencies in fluent speakers

Over the past decades, brain imaging studies in fluently speaking participants have greatly advanced our knowledge of the brain areas involved in speech production. In addition, complementary information has been provided by investigations of brain activation patterns associated with disordered speech. In the present study we specifically aimed to revisit and expand an earlier study by De Nil and colleagues, by investigating the effects of simulating disfluencies on the brain activation patterns of fluent speakers during overt and covert speech production. In contrast to the De Nil et al. study, the current findings show that the production of voluntary, self-generated disfluencies by fluent speakers resulted in increased recruitment and activation of brain areas involved in speech production. These areas show substantial overlap with the neural networks involved in motor sequence learning in general, and learning of speech production, in particular. The implications of these findings for the interpretation of brain imaging studies on disordered and non-habitual speech production are discussed.