Language Flashcards
what can be used to understand word meaning?
semantic networks
what do semantic networks propose?
a hierarchical structure of unitary nodes and labelled links between them
why are semantic networks useful?
to understand how properties are inherited, and can predict sentence verification times
issues with semantic networks
do not consider familiarity or typicality effects
what does part of semantic memory consist of?
world knowledge
hagoort et al. (2004) concluded…
determined word meaning and world knowledge are integrated at the same time
where is broca’s area located?
in the inferior frontal gyrus
residing in the left cerebral hemisphere
broca’s aphasia
deficit in speech production, that can also impair reading and writing
what may broca’s aphasia also be involved in?
muscle movements, syntax, grammar, and verbal working memory
where is wernicke’s area located?
posterior temporal lobe
residing in the left cerebral cortex
wernicke’s aphasia
damage produces a deficit where patients can produce speech that resembles fluent language, but is meaningless
the wernicke-geschwind model suggests…
- meaningful speech is created in WA
- BA determines the movements needed for vocalisation and sends info to the motor cortex
challenges with processing language
- meaning integration
- syntactic integration
meaning integration
the meaning of words must be computed to create different meaning representations
syntactic integration
different grammatical sentences can be made based on the syntactic role of words
how is syntactic comprehension studied?
using priming paradigms and repetition suppression
which brain regions underlie syntactic comprehension?
- left inferior frontal gyrus
- posterior temporal lobe
- parietal regions, frontal cortex, premotor cortex
- right inferior frontal gyrus
which brain regions underlie language comprehension?
similar activity between networks, regardless of production or comprehension
what is bilingualism?
“an individual who has the mental representation of more than one language for the purpose of speaking and understanding”
how is bilingualism measured?
functional usage (how much) and verbal proficiency (how well)
where can dual language activation be seen?
in listening, speaking, and reading tasks
why are priming effects present for bilinguals?
as words can be semantically and phonologically related
what do dual language activation and priming effects suggest?
evidence that the brain is able to accommodate the presence of two languages
cross-language competition in speech planning is resolved by…
- develop skills in attended to the critical information that signals language status
- learn to inhibit irrelevant information once activated
benefits of managing two languages
- promote cognitive benefits
- executive function and frontal lobe development
- delays the onset of dementia symptoms
why are there bilingual advantages in the stroop test and simon task?
reduced incongruency effects can be explained by experience in resolving competition across the two languages
what tasks are bilinguals poorer at?
word retrieval and fluency
brain activity in bilingualism
- activated a lesser portion of the ACC
- greater grey matter volume in inferior parietal lobe, which correlated with L2 proficiency and age of acquisition
unimodal bilinguals
two spoken languages
linguistic output channel of unimodal bilinguals
vocal articulation
bimodal bilinguals
a signed and a spoken language
linguistic output channel of bimodal bilinguals
vocal and manual articulation
bimodal bilinguals and ASL
produce on average 4 ASL signs when talking to a non-signer
what was concluded about bilingual bimodalism?
inhibition was less necessary when languages do not compete for the same articulators
what is there no evidence of for bimodal bilinguals?
that they are better at inhibition tasks
