Chapter 19: Language

Question 1

What is language

Answer 1

rule-based system of communication that can be oral, visual, olfactory to convey information

Question 2

What are the core language skills

Answer 2

1. categorizing
2. category labeling
3. sequencing behaviours
4. mimicry

Question 3

Define categorization as a core language skill

Answer 3

necessary to categorize information because of the extreme amounts of sensory information that is received to create a single perception of reality

Question 4

Define labeling categories as a core language skill

Answer 4

this process of categorization can stimulate the production of word forms about that concept/category

includes identifying the category and also organizing information within that category (ex. within category “tools” our brain organizes hammers as a noun)

Question 5

Define sequencing behaviours as a core language skill

Answer 5

transitional larynx movements, LH structures associated with language form, also sequence face, body, arm movements

Question 6

Define mimicry as a core language skill

Answer 6

babies prefer listening to speech then other sounds

mimicking speech, children may adda as many as 60 new words

Question 7

What are the basic theories of the origins of language

Answer 7

1. continuity
2. discontinuity

Question 8

Define continuity theory of language

Answer 8

that language evolved gradually. It began with similarities in the genes and behaviours of our ancestors which changed in unique ways to humans that eventually became language

Question 9

Define discontinuity theory of language

Answer 9

that language evolved rapidly and appeared suddenly in modern humans

Question 10

What is the role of social group size in language

Answer 10

is important in how language develops and how we use it

primates have limits on group sizes, but language can manage larger groups up to 50

Question 11

What is the McGurk effect

Answer 11

“seeing sounds”

That we understand language much better if we can see the face

speaker is mouthing ga, but hearing da, the listener hears ga

Question 12

What can be concluded from studies of language-like processes in apes (Lana)

Answer 12

1. can teach apes to speak, but like humans learn, we need to teach them as a chimp and not an adult
2. ability to learn ASL to communicate ideas
3. apes can learn using tokens - symbolic communication
4. an ape was trained, and her child observed, child did better than the mother - need to start early and abilities can be acquired naturally, not through direct training

Question 13

What is the evidence for localization of language

Answer 13

1. most of the brain takes part in language one way or another

Question 14

What role does the RH play in language

Answer 14

storytelling

Question 15

What is the one important ability that the RH cannot do (in right-handed people)

Answer 15

syntactic language is all in the LH
(rule s and structures to construct sentences - grammar, punctuation, sentence structure)

Question 16

What are the effects of brain stimulation on language

Question 17

What are the effects of lesions on language

Question 18

What do PET and fMRI studies tell us about language that is different from the Wernicke-Geschwind model

Question 19

What do TMS studies show about the two major regions of Broca’s area

Question 20

How extensive is the posterior language zone beyond wernicke’s area

Question 21

What are the two broad classes of disorders of language

Question 22

In what ways can the same word be represented in >1 cortical area