The Influence of Articulatory Interference on Inner Pronouncing of Words

In the current work, the subjects internally pronounced dictated Russian words “caxap” (“sahar”, sugar) and “шaшлык” (“shashlik”, shish kebab) under two conditions: with and without the use of external articulatory interference. Articulatory interference presents itself as a wooden stick and it supposed to be clamped between the teeth horizontally. The study revealed that articulatory pre-setting systematically influences the process of internal word pronouncing, manifested in event-related brain potentials in the brain structures responsible not only for articulatory, but also for sensory components of speech. Myographic sensor detected minimal muscle activity during the study. The analysis of the obtained data was carried out using the author’s method of “virtually implanted electrode”. The results showed that articulatory pre-setting affects the process of internal word pronunciation depending on the influence of artificial interference that hinders the reproduction of the habitual muscle pattern characteristic of the external speech. For the analysis based on the new method of brain activity localization “virtually implanted electrode” ([4], Patent RU 2 785 268 C1, developer A.V. Vartanov), 41 points selected according to the MNI152 atlas, representing the centers of the main structures of brain. As a result, Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas were selected, which demonstrate the most revealing distinctions expressed in event-related brain potentials under the condition of presence or absence of the external articulatory interference that alters the pre-setting of the speech apparatus during the process of internal word pronunciation.