8. Language

Question 1

Pars opercularis

Answer 1

BA 44
Broca’s area

Found to be damaged in px by broca 1861 with language deficit

Question 2

Paul Broca

Answer 2

1861

Studied a px with language deficits
Post more, examinations revealed damage to LEFT HEMISPHERE in the pars opercularis, insula, lower motor cortex

Question 3

Semantics

Answer 3

Meaning of words

Question 4

Syntax

Answer 4

How words fit grammatically into sentences

Language rules

Question 5

Morphology

Answer 5

How words are constructed

Ie plural rules etc

Question 6

Phonology

Answer 6

Sounds that make up words

Question 7

Blood supply of language areas

Answer 7

Middle cerebral artery

Question 8

Most common causes of aphasias

Answer 8

Ischaemia

Embolism
Thrombosis
Haemorrhage

Question 9

Features of brocas aphasia (non fluent)

Answer 9

Effortful, slow, halting speech

Disturbed speech timing (dysprosody)

Telegraphic speech (loss of function words)

Missing bound morphemes (keep content words but NO GRAMMAR)

Phonomic paraphrasia (incorrect sounds)

Spared comprehension

Question 10

Caplan and hildebrandt

Answer 10

1988

Studies using active and passive sentences with pictures to see if patients could match them up

Boy ate apple
Boy was eaten by Apple
Patients don’t understand the difference here because don’t understand the grammar

Monkey and elephant example, patients use world knowledge to interpret the most likely event and select the correct picture

Brocas aphasia is not a production deficit

Question 11

Karl Wernicke

Answer 11

1874

Stoke patient could speak and hear but could not comprehend spoken or written language

Postmortem showed lesions in the left posterior parietal/temporal regions

Concluded this area is involved in comprehension

Question 12

Characteristics of fluent (wernickes aphasia)

Answer 12

Word salad 
phonemic paraphrasia- wrong sounds 
semantic paraphrasia- wrong words that sound similar 
Poor comprehension 
Neologisms (made up words) 
Intonation and grammar are preserved

Question 13

Connection between language areas

Answer 13

Arcuate fasiculus

Damage here can cause conduction aphasia
Impaired repetition

Question 14

Penfield

Answer 14

Unknown year

Described the sensory and motor homonculus in epilepsy operations

He wanted to know which areas were important not to damage

Question 15

Rasmussen and Milner

Answer 15

1975

Brain stimulation studies causing speech arrest were mapped

Matched broca and wernickes areas

Question 16

Winner and Gardner

Answer 16

1977

Looked and left and right brain damaged px (left = brocas) with normal controls

“He had a heavy heart”
Shown pictures

People with right hemisphere damage could not interpret the alternate meaning of the phrase

Question 17

Kutas and Hillyard

Answer 17

1980

ERP responses to different semantics

Increased P400 when sentences are unusual or there is unexpected semantics- indicated extra processing to make sense

Reduced P400 when words are familiar and common. Also when double meaning words are placed in a sentence which helps to identify the correct meaning

P600 involved with incorrect grammar

Question 18

Binder et al

Answer 18

2009

Meta analysis of 100 fMRI studies

Summarises the results of brain activation in language

In line with other findings involving temporal and parietal and frontal areas, including brocas and wernickes areas

Question 19

Posner and raichle

Answer 19

1994

fMRI studies

Passive viewing - occipital areas
Listening- along lateral fissure
Speaking- brocas
Generating associations- broca and wernickes areas, complex cortical areas

Question 20

Support for language specific areas

Answer 20

Rasmussen and Milner 1975- stimulation studies mapped into areas

Penfield- epilepsy operations and homonculus

Binder et al 2009- meta analysis of 100 fMRIs

Posner and Raichle 1994- fMRIs, of listening, speaking and associations with brain areas