Science
fromPsychology Today
3 days agoBeyond Broca: The Two Routes to Speaking
Human speech relies on two parallel frontal-lobe systems: a ventral hierarchy for articulation and a unique dorsal laryngeal motor cortex for voluntary pitch control.
Evolution rarely invents entirely new solutions. Instead, it tinkers with existing systems, repurposing and refining them for new functions. Before our ancestors developed language, they already possessed sophisticated systems for controlling movement-reaching for objects, grasping tools, navigating space. These systems shared a common architecture: a motor planning component in the frontal lobes, a sensory target component in the temporal and parietal lobes, and a translation system connecting the two.