# Exploring the expressive language function of the supplementary motor area

> **NIH NIH F32** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2024 · $83,932

## Abstract

Project Summary
The goal of this fellowship is to provide excellent multidisciplinary training in psycholinguistics, functional
neuroanatomy, and intracranial neurophysiology by developing mechanistic understanding of expressive
language function in the multiple regions in the medial frontal wall, specifically the supplementary motor area
(SMA) and preSMA. Dysfunction in these regions has been tied to a variety of motor and language deficits
including issues with motor initiation and sequencing, articulation, and sentence planning as well as speech
disorders including developmental stuttering. The SMA has been studied with respect to vocalization in non-
human primate models, but the functional role of the preSMA and SMA in language production can only be
explored in humans. While there are multiple motor and speech-critical cortical areas in the medial frontal wall,
this proposal hypothesizes that the preSMA and SMA have unique roles in both speech/language and motor
production, with the former involved in selection of action and the latter in sequencing of action. By hypothesis,
PreSMA is involved in selection of elements and sequences in language and motor functions, while SMA
sequencing of speech and motor programs (e.g. articulation). While these regions interact with different
subcortical and cortical regions, sequence vs. selection is a critical variable that distinguishes activation in
these regions in both language and motor tasks. Critically, we hypothesize that the same regions perform
selection (preSMA) and sequencing (SMA) in motor and language tasks. To answer this question, we will
utilize stereo EEG (SEEG) intracranial recording in chronically-implanted epilepsy patients (N=20) in
conjunction with neuropsychological testing and functional MRI. In Aim 1, we will investigate the relationship of
sequencing vs. selection in motor and language tasks (repetition vs. generation of sequences of finger taps
and syllables) to broadband gamma activity in the preSMA and SMA. We hypothesize that preSMA and SMA
will be activated in the selection (generation) condition for both motor and language tasks, while sequencing
(repetition) tasks that will activate only SMA. We will then investigate the connectivity of the preSMA/SMA to
understand how language-relevant information is transferred to this region for the purposes of speech
production. In Aim 2, we will first use SEEG cortico-cortical evoked potentials to show direct effective
connectivity between preSMA/SMA and language regions including speech motor cortex (output), inferior
frontal gyrus (phonologic selection), and posterior middle temporal gyrus (semantic selection). We will then use
SEEG functional connectivity to demonstrate that functional connectivity to language regions increases during
language tasks in comparison to motor tasks. The cross-disciplinary approach proposed here will tie the
functional neuroanatomy of preSMA/SMA to psycholinguistic analyses of expressive language. Tra...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10640110
- **Project number:** 5F32DC020644-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Arka Narayana Mallela
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $83,932
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-07-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10640110

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10640110, Exploring the expressive language function of the supplementary motor area (5F32DC020644-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10640110. Licensed CC0.

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