Sensorimotor entrainment of the respiratory and orofacial systems in humans

By S.M. Barlow, C. Boliek, and D.S. Finan

The objective of the current report is to evaluate experimental findings on modal and cross-modal sensorimotor entrainment of neural systems involved in centrally patterned motor behavior in a variety of animal and human models, including data collected in our own laboratories. Special emphasis is directed towards vocal tract muscle systems, including the chest wall and orofacial complex during patterned motor output. Several experiments have demonstrated that central pattern generators, including orofacial systems, can be modified through endogenous and external loads to produce entrainment. This feature of sensorimotor control in the human vocal tract provides adaptive and predictive mechanisms vital to both developing and mature control systems.