chapter 15: language and our divided brain Flashcards
spatial cognition
the ability to navigate and to understand the spatial relationship between objects
stuttering
the tendency of otherwise normal people to produce speech sounds only haltingly, tripping over certain syllables or unable to start vocalizing certain words
Williams syndrome
a disorder characterized by impairments of spatial cognition and IQ, but superior linguistic abilities
phoneme
a sound that is produced for language
morpheme
the smallest grammatical unit of a language; a word or a meaningful part of a word
sensitive or critical period
the period during development in which an organism can be permanently altered by a particular experience or treatment
aphasia
an impairment in language understanding and/or production that is caused by brain injury
paraphasia
a symptom of aphasia that is distinguished by the substitution of a word by a sound, an incorrect word, an unintended word, or a neologism (a meaningless word)
agraphia
the inability to write
alexia
the inability to read
apraxia
an impairment in the ability to carry out complex sequential movements, even though there is no muscle paralysis
Broca’s area
a region of the frontal lobe of the brain that is involved in the production of speech
nonfluent or Broca’s aphasia
a language impairment characterized by difficulty with speech production but not with language comprehension; related to damage in Broca’s area
hemiplegia
partial paralysis involving one side of the body
hemiparesis
weakness of one side of the body
Wernicke’s area
a region of the temporoparietal cortex in the brain that is involved in the perception and production of speech
fluent aphasia or Wernicke’s aphasia
a language impairment characterized by fluent, meaningless speech and little language comprehension; related to damage in Wernicke’s area
anomia
the inability to name persons or objects readily
global aphasia
the total loss of ability to understand language, or to speak, read, or write
connectionist model of aphasia
a theory proposing that left-hemisphere language deficits result from disconnection between the brain regions in a language network, each of which serves a particular linguistic function; also called Wernicke-Geschwind model
arcuate fasciculus
a fiber tract classically viewed as a connection between Wernicke’s and Broca’s speech areas
conduction aphasia
an impairment in the ability to repeat words and sentences
motor theory of language
the theory of speech mechanisms proposing that the left-hemisphere language zones are motor control systems that are concerned with both the precise production and the perception of the extremely complex movements that go into speech
dyslexia
a reading disorder attributed to brain impairment; also called alexia
deep dyslexia
acquired dyslexia in which the patient reads a word as another word that is semantically related
surface dyslexia
acquired dyslexia in which the patient seems to attend only to the fine details of reading
split-brain individual
an individual whose corpus callosum has been severed, halting communication between the right and left hemispheres
contralateral
in anatomy, pertaining to a location on the opposite side of the body
dichotic presentation
the simultaneous delivery of different stimuli to both the right and the left ears at the same time
tachistoscope test
a test in which stimuli are very briefly presented to either the left or right visual half field
planum temporale
an auditory region of the superior temporal cortex
prosody
the perception of emotional tone-of-voice aspects of language
astereognosis
the inability to recognize objects by touching and feeling them
prosopagnosia or face blindness
a condition characterized by the inability to recognize faces
fusiform gyrus
a region on the inferior surface of the cortex, at the junction of the temporal and occipital lobes, that has been associated with recognition of faces
agnosia
the inability to recognize objects, despite being able to describe them in terms of form and color; may occur after localized brain damage
recovery of function
the recovery of behavior capacity following brain damage from stroke or injury
embryonic stem cell
a cell, derived from an embryo, that has the capacity to form any type of tissue
lesion momentum
the phenomenon in which the brain is impaired more by a lesion that develops quickly than by a lesion that develops slowly
constraint-induced movement therapy
a therapy for recovery of movement after stroke or injury in which the person’s unaffected limb is constrained while she is required to perform tasks with the affected limb
concussion
minor brain injury, usually occurring when the brain is impacted by a blow
chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)
results after many concussion, impairs cognitive abilities and creates abnormalities in the brain
