Speech map in the human ventral sensory-motor cortex

•Somatotopy of speech articulators is localized to ventral sensory-motor cortex.•vSMC may have certain functional and anatomical specializations for speech.•Dynamics of vSMC are organized by phonetic features.

The study of spatial maps of the ventral sensory-motor cortex (vSMC) dates back to the earliest cortical stimulation studies. This review surveys a number of recent and historical reports of the features and function of spatial maps within vSMC towards the human behavior of speaking. Representations of the vocal tract, like other body parts, are arranged in a somatotopic fashion within ventral SMC. This region has unique features and connectivity that may give insight into its specialized function in speech production. New methods allow us to probe further into the functional role of this organization by studying the spatial dynamics of vSMC during natural speaking in humans.