Predicting and imagining language

To what extent is predicting language akin to imagining language? Recently, researchers have argued that covert simulation of the production system underlies both articulation imagery and predicting what somebody is about to say. Moreover, experimental evidence implicates potentially similar production-related mechanisms in prediction during language comprehension and in mental imagery tasks. We discuss evidence in favour of this proposal and argue that imagining others’ utterances can also implicate covert simulation. Finally, we briefly review evidence that speakers in joint language tasks cannot help but mentally represent (i.e., imagine) whether others are engaging in language production, and that they do so using mechanisms that are also implicated in preparing to speak.