At a loss for words

Research on speech production in healthy individuals has proposed detailed models that dissect lexical retrieval into separate cognitive and neurobiological components. However, neurological data suggests that lexical retrieval deficits are a common feature of language disorders, regardless of the underlying brain lesion. To reconcile the discrepancy between these two views, it is necessary to assume that speech production follows both modularity (the exclusive association of a brain area with a single mechanism) and granularity (the association of a brain area with more than one mechanism). In this talk, I will discuss how a combination of these two principles can explain lexical retrieval deficits, depending on the underlying brain pathology and the type of both linguistic and control processes involved in the task.