Neurophysiologic Markers of Motor Speech Related Cortical Areas

Abstract This is a unique study describing the methods for eliciting neurophysiologic markers of the primary motor cortex (M1) for laryngeal muscles and premotor cortex of inferior frontal gyrus (Broca's area).The neurophysiologic markers were elicited by: (a) navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) in a group of healthy participants, (b) direct cortical stimulation (DCS) in a group of patients during standard awake craniotomy treatment. The findings of this study are of particular importance for pathophysiologic studies aimed at understanding the mechanisms of motor speech disorders (stuttering).