Monitoring and control in language production

Nozari, N. B.

A large body of research has explored the nature of representations in the language production system. In comparison, little is known about how language production is monitored and regulated. I will argue that the production system is monitored and controlled in a fashion similar to other cognitive and motor systems, and endorse this claim with behavioral data from individuals with aphasia and typically-developing children, as well as electrophysiological data from neurotypical adult speakers. At the same time, I will present evidence showing that monitoring and the ensuing control are based directly on the information within specific parts of a cognitive system. Thus, to the degree that such information is specific to a domain or sub-domain, so is the cognitive control that regulates that part of the system. In summary, I will endorse a monitoring-control model of language production that is domain-general in its computational principles and neural correlates, but operates specifically to meet the needs of the language production system.