The DIVA model: A neural theory of speech acquisition and production

Abstract

The DIVA model of speech production provides a computationally and neuroanatomically explicit account of the network of brain regions involved in speech acquisition and production. An overview of the model is provided along with descriptions of the computations performed in the different brain regions represented in the model. The latest version of the model, which contains a new right-lateralised feedback control map in ventral premotor cortex, will be described, and experimental results that motivated this new model component will be discussed. Application of the model to the study and treatment of communication disorders will also be briefly described.

Keywords:

• Speech production
• DIVA model
• Functional magnetic resonance imaging
• Motor learning
• Computational modeling

Acknowledgements

Supported by the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (R01 DC02852, F. Guenther PI).

Notes

¹Performance of these motor programs relies on contributions from bilateral premotor, motor, and subcortical regions (see below), areas that are active bilaterally during normal speech production.

²The activity of cells representing glottal opening and pressure are not determined dynamically via input from the feedforward and feedback velocity commands. Their activity is given by a weighted sum of Maeda vocal tract parameters that are set manually.