# Sensory Basis for Speech Motor Learning

> **NIH NIH R01** · HASKINS LABORATORIES, INC. · 2021 · $499,277

## Abstract

Project Summary / Abstract
This project will test a new model of speech motor learning that focuses on plasticity in sensory systems
and its effects on speech movements and speech perception. The associated experiments are motivated
by the results of our preliminary work and each tests a novel hypothesis related to our new model. The
studies in Aim 1 use continuous theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation to disrupt activity in auditory
and somatosensory cortex following speech motor adaptation to test the hypothesis that these sensory
areas of the brain are involved in the consolidation of speech motor memory. Aim 2 tests the hypothesis
that sensory working memory plays a determining role in speech motor learning. If this is the case, then if
brain areas in prefrontal cortex that are associated with sensory working memory are suppressed, both
learning and working memory should be impaired. In Aim 3, we test the hypothesis that speech perception
is influenced by the repeated pairing of auditory and somatosensory feedback during speech motor
learning. If this is the case, then manipulating somatosensory inputs in an experimental model of speech
learning, which includes paired somatosensory and auditory signals, should result in subsequent changes
to the perceptual classification of speech sounds. Our preliminary work on each of the three aims supports
the idea that sensory plasticity plays a key role in speech motor learning and perception, and underscores
the need to include these effects in models of speech motor learning. A more complete model of speech
motor learning is critical if we are to understand basic mechanisms and develop novel approaches to
treatment and rehabilitation for people who are affected by speech motor disorders.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10229385
- **Project number:** 5R01DC017439-03
- **Recipient organization:** HASKINS LABORATORIES, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** DAVID J OSTRY
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $499,277
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-08-01 → 2024-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10229385

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10229385, Sensory Basis for Speech Motor Learning (5R01DC017439-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10229385. Licensed CC0.

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