brain & language

Question 1

encephalization

Answer 1

the proportional size of the brain relative to body size

Question 2

social intelligence hypothesis

Answer 2

brain expansion allowed primates to cope with and exploit increasingly more complex social relationship (Dunbar, 1998)

Question 3

ecological intelligence hypothesis

Answer 3

selection for enhance solving abilities in the ecological domain
navigating environement, finding/processing food

Question 4

brain stem

Answer 4

regulates basic body functions

Question 5

cerebellum

Answer 5

integrates sensory perception, coordination & motor control, learning new motor skills

Question 6

cerebrum (neocortex)

Answer 6

higher cognitive functions

Question 7

implications of cortical reorganization

Answer 7

decrease in primary areas & huge increase in association areas

Question 8

characteristics of human language (8)

Answer 8

• modality of human comm
• defining feature of humans
• cultural transmission
• voluntarily & socially learned
• semantic
• syntax
• recursive (hierarchy)
• displacement (able to speak of not present)

Question 9

protolanguage

Answer 9

hypothetical, intermediate stage of animal comm to modern language

Question 10

broca’s area

Answer 10

speech production

Question 11

wernicke’s area

Answer 11

speech comprehension

Question 12

arcuate fasciculus

Answer 12

bundle of axons that connects temporal cortex and parietal cortex to locations in the frontal lobe

Question 13

language area asymm

Answer 13

95% of modern humans, language function lateralized to left hemisphere; more recent

Question 14

vocal anatomy that makes modern human speech possible

Answer 14

larynx lower position than chimps
tongue differs in shape

Question 15

FOXP2 gene

Answer 15

involved in speech & language, regulations expression of other genes that influence development of language impairments
- human version differs from chimp version in 2 amino acid changes = functional differences
- neandertals share derived version of FOXP2 w/humans