09.05.23 - Pierre Mégevand

Speech is so central to the human experience that impairments of communication through speech are among the most devastating consequences of neurological illness. Invasive recordings are a privileged technique to investigate the cortical activity that underlies the processing and production of speech. I will present the results of two recent projects. First, I will show the crucial role of oscillatory phase in the cortical processing of visual speech cues, and its impact on the perception of audiovisual speech. Then, turning to speech production, I will examine the neural correlates of inner, or covert, speech. This fascinating topic has gained importance as progress in neurotechnology now makes it possible to envision brain-computer interfaces based on chronic cortical implants to restore speech.