Chapter 11

Question 1

aphasia

Answer 1

collective deficits in language comprehension and production even though articulatory mechanisms are intact

Question 2

dysarthria

Answer 2

speech problems via loss of control over articulatory muscles

Question 3

speech apraxia

Answer 3

speech problems via motor planning of articulation

Question 4

anomia

Answer 4

a form of aphasia characterized by an inability to name objects (tip-of-the-tongue-problem)

Question 5

Broca’s aphasia

Answer 5

(expressive) problems with producing speech and some comprehension deficits related to syntax; often telegraphic and large amounts of heterogeneity with difficulty finding the appropriate word or combination of words

Question 6

Wernicke’s aphasia

Answer 6

(receptive) deficits primarily in language comprehension; speech is fluent but can be nonsensical

Question 7

conduction aphasia

Answer 7

damage to the arcuate fasciculus (bundle of axons that connects Wernicke’s and Broca’s areas; understand words that they hear or see and know speech errors but cannot repair them; problems with spontaneous speech, repeating speech, and incorrect word use

Question 8

properties of spoken language

Answer 8

1. Meaning: (mental lexicon) store of information including semantic, syntactic, and details of word forms
2. Phonological or Orthographic: sound-based or vision based

Question 9

semantic representations

Answer 9

word meanings are represented in a semantic network in which words, depicted as conceptual nodes, are connected to each other; not restricted to left hemisphere

Question 10

spoken input

Answer 10

understanding speech; separate relevant speech signals from noise and recognizing phoneme, segmentation, and rhythm and pitch

Question 11

phoneme

Answer 11

smallest unit of sound

Question 12

alexia

Answer 12

condition in which patients cannot read words, even though other aspects of language are normal

Question 13

visual word form area (VWFA)

Answer 13

heavily interconnected with regions of L language system, including inferior frontal, temporal, inferior parietal cortical regions

Question 14

N400 wave

Answer 14

reaches peak amplitude around 400 ms, with greater amplitude in response to semantically incongruent events; specific to semantic analysis

Question 15

P600 wave

Answer 15

syntactic positive shift (SPS) thought to be elicited by hearing or reading grammatical errors and other syntactic anomalies

Question 16

evolution of language

Answer 16

nonhuman primate’s vocalization can carry meaning and show evidence of rudimentary syntax, but animal calls tend to be inflexible and linked to a specific emotional state or stimulus

Question 17

Kanzi (bonobo)

Answer 17

learned to use abstract visual symbols or lexigrams to communicate

Question 18

left hemisphere specialization

Answer 18

a prominent projection of the arcuate fasciculus in the temporal lobe is significantly smaller or entirely absent in nonhuman primates; this specialization in humans may be relevant to language evolution