Spoken and Inner Speech-related EEG Connectivity in Different Spatial Direction

Although a significant number of studies have been devoted to the investigation of the electrographic correlates and neurophysiological mechanisms of spoken and inner (imagined) speech, there is a question on which EEG characteristics reflect its content. Considering that speech is a complex cognitive process which requires coordinated activity of a number of cortical structures of the large hemispheres, the EEG coherence values were studied. The values were recorded from 14 channels of 10 young men in the process of real verbalization (spoken speech) and during pronunciation of imagined words designating directions in space (up, down, right, left, forward, backward). It was shown that the level of EEG coherence is generally higher for real verbalization, most significantly at gamma-2-rhythm frequencies (55–70 Hz). Spatial coherence patterns specific to a number of words are formed in the left cerebral hemisphere during imagined utterance of words at gamma-2 frequencies. The application of machine learning and neural network classification has demonstrated a significant similarity of the generated spatial coherent patterns of spoken and inner (imagined) speech. The Multi-layer Perceptron (MLP) neural network classification method has shown the accuracy of word detection in the imagined speech according to brain activity patterns up to 49–61% for 3 classes and 33–40% for 7 classes, with a random recognition rate of 33,3 and 14,2% respectively. The latter indicates a promising application of coherence values and imagined speech denoting directions in space for the development of Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs).