Chapter 3

Question 1

Who studies the structures and functions of the nervous system that relate to language?

Answer 1

Neurolinguists

Question 2

What is synaptogenesis?

Answer 2

The creation of a synapse

Question 3

What composes gray matter?

Answer 3

Cell bodies and dendrites

Question 4

What composes white matter?

Answer 4

Axonal fibers that are myelinated

Question 5

What are the three meninges?

Answer 5

Dura mater, arachnoid mater, and pia mater

Question 6

What are the protective features of the brain?

Answer 6

The skull, the meningeal envelope, and cerebrospinal fluid

Question 7

What is the function of CSF?

Answer 7

CSF carries chemicals important to metabolic processes and protects the CNS (buffer against jolts)

Question 8

What are the seven cranial nerves closely associated with speech and language?

Answer 8

V, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII

Question 9

What do spinal nerves do?

Answer 9

They mediate reflexes, sensory activity, and conscious motor activity

Question 10

What is the function of the frontal lobe?

Answer 10

Activating and controlling fine and complex motor movement and executive functions (higher order cognitive abilities)

Question 11

What is the function of the primary motor cortex?

Answer 11

Initiation of skilled voluntary movements

Question 12

What is the function of Broca’s area?

Answer 12

Speech production

Question 13

What is the function of the occipital lobe?

Answer 13

Visual reception and processing

Question 14

What is the function of the parietal lobes?

Answer 14

Perceiving and integrating sensory and perceptual information, comprehending oral and written language, and performing mathematical calculations

Question 15

What is the function of the primary somatosensory cortex?

Answer 15

It receives and processes pain, temperature, touch, pressure, and movement from receptors throughout the body, and is important to working memory

Question 16

What is the function of the temporal lobes?

Answer 16

Control of auditory processing and langauge comprehension

Question 17

Define word deafness

Answer 17

Intact processing of nonword auditory stimuli but no understanding of spoken words

Question 18

What is the function of Wernicke’s area?

Answer 18

Speech comprehension

Question 19

What is the function of the brainstem?

Answer 19

1. Transmits sensory information to the brain and motor information away from it
2. It’s a relay station for cranial nerves and for controlling vision and audition
3. Associated with metabolism and arousal

Question 20

What are the three major reflex centers of the brainstem?

Answer 20

1. Cardiac center (controls the heart)
2. Vasomotor center (controls the blood vessels)
3. Respiratory center (controls breathing

Question 21

What is the function of the cerebellum?

Answer 21

Regulation of motor and muscular activity, balance, posture, coordination (involuntary)

Question 22

What do connectionist models do?

Answer 22

Attempt to represent the computational architecture of the brain as it processes information

Question 23

Where is semantics processed in the brain?

Answer 23

Frontal lobe: word storage and knowledge
Temporal lobe: word storage and organization of semantic memories and categories

Question 24

Where is pragmatics processed in the brain?

Answer 24

Primarily in the frontal lobe

Question 25

What is willful attention?

Answer 25

Maintaining attention to a given task when competing stimuli are present

Question 26

What is a sensitive period?

Answer 26

A time frame of development during which a particular aspect of neuroanatomy or neurophysiology underlying a capacity undergoes growth or change

Question 27

What are the three features of a sensitive period?

Answer 27

1. Corresponds to a time of active change
2. Is a time of opportunity but also of risk
3. Has a beginning and end point

Question 28

What does neural plasticity refer to?

Answer 28

The malleability of the CNS

Question 29

What is experience-expectant plasticity?

Answer 29

The ongoing sculpting of brain structures that occur as a result of normal experiences

Question 30

What is experience-dependent plasticity?

Answer 30

The unique personal experiences that change an individual (highly specific experiences)

Question 31

What is linguistic isolation?

Answer 31

When a child develops with little or no exposure to a spoken or signed language

Question 32

What is language instinct?

Answer 32

An individual’s ability to rapidly and automatically process the rules of syntax and morphology