Chapter 17 Language Flashcards
Language is most strongly associated with what two regions?
These two regions are densely interconnected, but ________ support different aspects of language processing.
- Left Inferior frontal gyrus (Broca’s area)
- Left Posterior Auditory Association Cortex (Wernicke’s Area)
-independently
Language processing occurs in _____ hemisphere.
The inferior portion contains “____ area” and is involved in ________ of language.
The posterior portion contains “______ area” and is involved in ______ of language.
Left hemisphere
inferior: Broca’s = Production
Posterior: Wernicke’s = Comprehension
The specialization in language (Brocas vs Wernicke’s) was identified through region brain damage, often as a result of a _____.
Stroke
Damage to Broca’s leads to ________ deficits such as:
-_____ speech
-tendency to ___ phrases or words (perserveration)
-Disordered ____ & _____
-Disordered ___ of individual words
BUT _________ is intact.
These are all characteristics of Broca’s ______.
Production deficits (Characteristics of Broca’s Aphasias (disorder that effects how you communicate)
-halting speech
-repeat phrases/words
-disordered syntax & grammar
-Disordered structure of individual words
BUT comprehension is in tact!!
Damage to Wernicke’s Area leads to _________ deficits.
Characteristics of Wernickle’s
-_________ Speech
-Little spontaneous ______.
-Adequate _____ & ______.
-_____ or inappropriate words
_______ is NOT in tact.
Comprehension deficits.
-fluent speech
-little spontaneous repetition
-adequate syntax and grammar
-contrived or inappropriate words
Comprehension is NOT in tact.
There is a significant role for the right hemisphere in language processing and production. ________ also called “robotic speech” results from damage from the right hemisphere.
Aprodosia (“robotic speech”)
The left-hemisphere is involved in ______ and _____ language, ___ and ____. Whereas, the right-hemisphere is involved in ______ of language and _____ speech.
Left:
-lexical and syntactical language
-writing
-speech
Right:
-emotional coloring of language
-rudimentary speech (basic/elementary)
The left hemisphere is activated by all words with and without meaning but the words must have _____ to activate right hemisphere.
meaning
Efficient language processing is dependent on ________ about upcoming words within a sentence.
We anticipate “______” words that are likely to follow other words and if a word doesn’t meet these expectations, a ______ ERP appears. This is similar to conflict monitoring in ________.
expectations; anticipate predictable words; if don’t meet expectations -> N400 ERP appears; similar to conflict monitoring in DLPFC.
Non-semantic changes (a word presented in a different _____), or spoken by a different person evokes a _______-like ERP.
font; evokes a P300-like ERP
Only meaning-based violations trigger the ______. The bigger the deviation, the larger the ____.
N400
Any given language is made up of _____ phones - or speech sounds.
30-100
There are only ~____ total phones in all languages.
200
Infants lose the ability to distinguish phones outside of their native language by ~___ years of age.
2
When someone hears a phone, what is perceived is called a _______.
Phoneme
The Phenome could be different than the phone as a result of ____, ____, or a ___ between sound and sight of speaker.
expectations, context effects, or a conflict
If your language doesn’t include that phone, you will percieve it as your _________.
nearest phone
A swedish 3 year old can classify 17 vowel phones correctly. A spanish 3 year old will only hear 5, and ‘force’ the other phones into the _____ spanish ______.
nearest spanish equivalent
Language is strongly _______. We use both the sound and sight of someone speaking to decipher language.
When the sight doesn’t match the sound, we often percieve a ______ phenome, not actually present in either modality.
multimodal; if they don’t match -> percieve 3rd phenome
When did language emerge in human evolution?
~7 million years ago
When humans split from primates due to a specific genetic mutations
Humans share the ______ gene with all mammals, but they contain ___ copies. This distinction may partially underly our language abilities.
FOXP2; two copies
In humans without a second ______ copy, speech and language is seriously _____. This discovery led to the manipulation of FOXP2 in mouse models.
FOXP2; speech and language is compromised
Darwin’s model of evolved traits was based on __________.
Gradualism- a slow, continuous refinement of a trait providing an extra fitness benefit
In contrast to Darwin’s model of evolved traits, he considered human language to have appeared ______.
suddenly
Darwin believed human language appeared suddenly due to ______.
genetic mutations in vocal and brain anatomy
Darwin’s idea that language suddenly appeared as a consequence of a genetic mutation in vocal and brain anatomy made the identified ______ gene an attractive ‘____ story’ for human language.
This could explain the lack of _______ in language evolution.
FOXP2 gene is an attractive ‘origin story’ for human language. Explains lack of gradualism.
There is little evidence of non-human primate language. But Ghazanfar suggests there may be more to it than just _____.
more to it than FOXP2
One trait all primates share is ________.
facial action
Facial action in all primates is used to communicate _______, and need for ______.
communicate social intent, and need for joint attention.
Structural connections between ______ and ______ areas exist in chimps, but are much weaker.
brocas and wernickes
Ghazanfar & others review data suggesting that language could have evolved more ______. Maybe other primates’ language is better than we think.
gradually
Ghazanfar presents evidence for 3 features?
- Its audiovisual nature (it involved facial cues)
- Rhythmicity (speech timing, meter)
- Its turntaking pattern (conversation coordination)
