The Role of Feedback in the Parallel Architecture of Language

Feedback interconnections are widespread in the brain; yet clear explanations for most of them are currently lacking. We explore current experimental evidence on the relationship between the auditory and motor parts of the brain during speech perception and production, and we propose a simple internal feedback model between the motor system and the auditory system that explains experimental observations. These models provide a plausible explanation for how the structure of language, as described in the Parallel Architecture, is implemented in the brain. Moreover, we provide a plausible account for how the Parallel Architecture of language originates as a result of functional constrains in the sensorimotor system. Furthermore, we compare the brain’s implementation of the language capacity with other cognitive capacities, such as vision or motor planning and control, which also have massive internal feedbacks that our new theory explains for the first time. We argue that the conceptual structure of the Parallel Architecture extend beyond the domain of language, and can indeed be applied to the brain more broadly, as well as to other technological tools (particularly those for communication) where both architectures and components are widely known.