Do beta oscillations capture sensorimotor–linguistic coupling in speech production?

Determine whether neural oscillations, particularly beta-band activity, accurately capture the coupling of sensorimotor and linguistic processes in speech production and perception, and disentangle self-generated motor artifacts from genuine neural signals in naturalistic speech.

Background

Beta and alpha dynamics in motor and auditory cortices are implicated in speech preparation, execution, and feedback, with proposed roles in predictive control and coordination. However, production and perception are inseparably coupled in self-generated speech, complicating isolation of neural signals from movement-related artifacts.

A central unresolved question is whether observed beta dynamics reflect computational mechanisms of speech production/perception or are secondary to coupled low-frequency processes.