Abstract: The study of speech production is a challenging question in language research. The topic of this paper is to review the development of speech production research from the point of view of cognitive neuroscience. There are two major theories about the lexical access in speech production – two-step interactive activation theory and discrete stage theory. Their important differences are the time course of the lexical access and the interactive between two stages. Using the dual GO/NOGO tasks, the ERP researches provided much more detailed evidences about the time course of speech production by LRP and N200 indices. Summarizes the core findings of the neuropsychology and the brain imaging of speech production. Based on the meta-analysis of a number of the studies of brain imaging, concludes every stage’s corresponding dynamic brain areas in the time course of speech production. The network of producing words is almost completely left-lateralized.

Key words: speech production, LRP, N200, the core processes of speech production