Education

PhD Communicative Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison

BA & MA Speech Pathology, San Diego State University

Research interests

My research focuses on the neuroscience of human communication using multiple neuroimaging modalities and physiological techniques. Current research areas focus on the development and mechanisms of sensorimotor control for spoken language, sensorimotor dysfunctions associated with stuttering and other speech motor disorders, neuroplasticity and sensorimotor learning, bilingualism and the neural changes following cochlear implantation in children.

Representative Publications

Abbs JH, Gracco VL (1983). Sensorimotor actions in the control of multimovement speech gestures. Trends in Neurosciences, 6(9), 391-395.

Gracco VL (1988). Timing factors in the coordination of speech movements. Journal of Neuroscience, 8(12), 4629-4639.

Gracco VL, Abbs JH (1989). Sensorimotor characteristics of speech motor sequences. Experimental Brain Research, 75, 586-598.

Connor N, Abbs JH, Cole KJ, Gracco VL (1989). Parkinsonian deficits in serial multiarticulate movements for speech. Brain, 112, 997-1009.

Gracco VL, Tremblay P, Pike GB (2005). Imaging speech production using fMRI. NeuroImage. 26, 294-301.

Tremblay P, Gracco VL (2006) Contribution of the frontal lobe to externally and internally specified verbal responses: fMRI evidence. NeuroImage, 33, 947-957.

DeNil LF, Beal DS, Lafaille SJ, Kroll RM, Crawley AP, Gracco VL (2008) The effects of simulated stuttering and prolonged speech on neural activation patterns of stuttering and nonstuttering speakers. Brain and Language, 107(2), 114-123.

Tremblay P, Gracco VL (2009) The essential role of the pre-SMA in the production of words and non-speech oral motor gestures, as revealed by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Brain Research, 1268, 112-24.

Beal D, Quraan M, Cheyne D, Taylor M, Gracco VL, DeNil L (2011) Speech-induced suppression of evoked auditory fields in children who stutter. NeuroImage, 54(4), 2994-3003.

Feng Y, Gracco VL, Max L (2011) Integration of auditory and somatosensory error signals in the neural control of speech movements. Journal of Neurophysiology, 106(2), 667-679.

Shum M, Shiller D, Baum S, Gracco VL (2011) Sensorimotor integration for speech motor learning involves the inferior parietal cortex. European Journal of Neuroscience, 34(11), 1817-1822.

Tremblay P, Deschamps I, & Gracco,VL (2013) Regional heterogeneity in the processing and the production of speech in the human planum temporale. Cortex, 49: 143-157.

Arnaud L, Sato M, Menard L, Gracco VL (2013). Speech adaptation reveals enhanced neural processing in the associative occipital and parietal cortex of congenitally blind adults. PLoS ONE 8(5): e64553. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0064553.

Deschamps I, Baum S, Gracco VL (2014). On the role of the supramarginal gyrus in phonological processing and verbal working memory: evidence from rTMS studies. Neuropsychologia, 53:39-46.

Berken JA, Gracco VL, et al. (2015). Neural activation in speech production and reading aloud in native and non-native languages. NeuroImage, 112, 208-217.

Beal D, Lerch J Cameron B, Henderson R, Gracco VL, De Nil LF (2015). The trajectory of gray matter development in Broca’s area is abnormal in people who stutter. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 9, 89-94. PMCID: PMC4347452.

Berken JA, Chai X, Chen J-K, Gracco VL, Klein D (2016). Effects of early and late bilingualism on resting-state functional connectivity. Journal of Neuroscience, 36(4):1165-1172; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1960-15.2016.

Deroche M, Nguyen D, Gracco VL (2017). Modulation of speech motor learning with transcranial direct current stimulation of the inferior parietal lobe. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience. 11, 35 DOI: 10.3389/fnint.2017.00035.

Bourguignon N, Ohashi H, Nguyen D, Gracco VL (2017). The neural dynamics of competition resolution for language production in the prefrontal cortex. Human Brain Mapping, DOI: 10.1002/hbm.23927

Arnaud L, Gracco VL, Menard L (2018). Enhanced Perception of Pitch Changes in Speech and Music in Early Blind Adults. Neuropsychologia, 117, 261-270.

van den Bunt MR, Groen MA, Frost SJ, Lau A, Preston JL, Gracco VL, Pugh KR , Verhoeven L (2018). Sensorimotor control of speech and reading development. Scientific Studies of Reading, 22(6), 503-516

Sares A, Deroche M, Shiller D, Gracco VL (2018). Timing variability of sensorimotor integration during vocalization in individuals who stutter. Scientific Reports. DOI:10.1038/s41598-018-34517-1

Mollaei F, Shiller DM, Baum SR, Gracco VL (2019). The relationship between speech perceptual discrimination and speech production in Parkinson’s disease. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, Nov, 1-13.

Sengupta, R., Yaruss, J. S., Loucks, T., Gracco, V., Pelczar, K., & Nasir, S. (2019). Theta modulated neural phase coherence facilitates speech fluency in adults who stutter. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 13, 394.

Bourguignon NJ, Gracco VL (2019). A dual architecture for the cognitive control of language: Evidence from functional imaging and language production. NeuroImage, 192, 26-37.

Sares A, Deroche M, Shiller D, Gracco VL (2019). Adults who stutter and metronome synchronization: evidence for a domain-general timing deficit. Annals of the New York Academy of Science, doi: 10.1111/nyas.14117

Mollaei F, Shiller DM, Baum SR, Gracco VL (2019). The relationship between speech perceptual discrimination and speech production in Parkinson’s disease. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 1-13.

Ito T, Ohashi H, Gracco VL (2020). Changes of orofacial somatosensory event-related potentials during speech production. Neuroscience Letters. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2020.135045

Sares A, Deroche M, Ohashi H, Shiller D, Gracco VL (2020). Neural correlates of vocal pitch compensation in individuals who stutter. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 14, 18.

Giroud, N., Baum, S. R., Gilbert, A. C., Phillips, N. A., & Gracco, V. (2020). Earlier age of second language learning induces more robust speech encoding in the auditory brainstem in adults, independent of amount of language exposure during early childhood. Brain and Language, 207, 104815.

Ito, T., Ohashi, H., & Gracco, V. L. (2021). Somatosensory contribution to audio-visual speech processing. Cortex, 143, 195-204.

Wolf J, Deroche M, Neumann S…..Gracco VL (2021). Factors Associated with Speech Recognition Performance in School-Aged Children with Cochlear Implants and Early Auditory-Verbal Intervention. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, 32(7), 433-444. doi.org/10.1055/s-0041-1730413.

Mollaei F, Shiller DM, Baum SR, Gracco VL (2022). Early auditory responses to speech sounds in Parkinson’s disease: Preliminary data. Scientific Reports, 12, 1019; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-05128-8

Jossinger J, Sares A, Zislis A, Suri-Barot D, Gracco, V, Ben-Shachar M (2022). White matter correlates of sensorimotor synchronization in persistent developmental stuttering. J Communication Disorders, 95, 106169.

Gracco VL, Sares A, Koirala N (in press) Structural brain network topological alterations in stuttering adults. Brain Communications.

ResearchGate CV.