Brain and Language Flashcards
What does contralateral mean?
The sensory input and motor control of one side of the body are linked to the opposite hemisphere e.g. right hand communicated with left hemisphere etc
Where does the left hemisphere get visual input from?
The right visual field
Where does the right hemisphere get visual input from?
The left visual field
In right handed people, which side of the brain is responsible for most language functions?
The left hemisphere
In left handed people, which side of the brain is responsivle for most language functions?
Right hemisphere dominance is only observed in 30% of left-handers - most could be left-dominance or it could be distributed
What could affect why only 30% of left-handers have right-dominated laguage processing?
They could have naturally been forced to use their right hand for lots of things like writing or throwing etc but right-handed people may be more lateralised.
It could also be genetic.
When is naming objects fastest and why?
If the object is presented to the RVF because RVF projects directly to the left hemisphere.
Why can split brain patients not name objects presented in the LVF?
Because the visual information is projected to the RH and would need to be shared to the LH to find the name, but cannot since the corpus callosum is severed.
Presenting words in which visual field increases increases performance in lexical decision tasks?
RVF - more correct, and quicker.
Longer word = longer processing
How are speech sounds affected by the contralateral brain?
Speech sounds are more left-lateralised and LH dominated so we will be better at understanding words and information coming into our right ear.
How is music affected by the contralateral brain?
Music is right-lateralised and RH dominated, so we will be better at understanding and recognising music coming into our left ear.
Where is the primary visual cortex?
Occipital lobe
Where is the auditory cortex?
Superior temporal gyrus
Where is Wernicke’s area located?
Left hemisphere - temporal lobe
Where is the angular gyrus?
Parietal lobe
Where is Broca’s area located?
Left hemisphere - frontal lobe
Where is the motor cortex located?
frontal lobe
What is the processing pathway of speech perception?
Primary auditory cortex, Wernicke’s area, STG
- Extracts sound identity/perception
What is pure word deafness?
Patients are able to hear and recognise environmental sounds but are not able to recognise spoken words.
What is the processing pathway for understanding spoken words?
Ventral route from auditory regions to the temporal pole - ventral route is involved in understanding meaningful sounds. It responds more strongly to intelligible speech than unintelligible speech
What is the processing pathway for sound repetition?
Involved in first and second language learning, engages the dorsal route, but does not necessarily activate meaning.
How is white matter affected in the adult network with development?
The white matter increases with development.
How is grey matter affected in the adult network with development?
The frontal grey matter first goes up then down. The peak going down is part of adolescence.
What is experience-expectant development?
Typical development shared by all members of the species
What is experience-specific development?
Individual-specific experiences
How does institutional neglect affect neural pathways?
Staying in the institutional means the children are creating less pathways as they are not surrounded by a lot of stimulation, unlike a family setting.
How does congenital blindness affect neural pathways?
The visual cortex can be repurposed to do other things like echolocation because the visual cortex isn’t innately determined to process visual stimuli.
What does it mean to be functionally illiterate?
May be able to read road signs because they can recognise shapes, but they cannot read text.
How many people are functionally illiterate in England?
5.1 million adults
How do we read different fonts?
When we learn to read, we abstract the specific visual form of the word to pick up the critical features that quickly allow you to recognise what it means.
Does reading require global or serial recognition?
Global - can read words with jumbled letters as long as the first and last letter are in the right place.
What is the orthographic form of a word?
Writing a word with the proper letters and form due to word recognition
What is the phonological form of a word?
Sounding out the word
Why is word recognition slower when presented in the LVF/RH?
The processing is more serial, and words are recognised by identifying letters and sharing them with the LH - this is why the number of letters in a word matters when words are presented in the LVF, and processing is slower for longer words.
What is the triangle model of reading?
Orthography, Phonology, and Semantics
Which parts of the triangle model do we use when reading non-words?
Orthography and phonology
What is the VWFA?
Visual Word Form Area