Language Flashcards
Communication
The transmission of information between individuals that occurs in many species
Language
What humans use to convey complex messages
Recursion
The largest differences between human language and most other communication systems
Split brain individuals
Could only verbally report words presented to left hemisphere
Dichotic presentation
Delivers different sounds to each ear at the same time
Right ear advantage
Right-handed people identify verbal stimuli delivered to the right ear more easily
Phonemes
Basic speech sounds
Morphemes
Simple units of meaning
Semantics
Units of meaning assembled into words with meaning
Aphasia
Impairment in language ability caused by a brain injury usually to left hemisphere
Paraphasia
A substitution of a word by a sound or wrong word
Agraphia
Impairment in writing
Alexia
Impairment in reading
Apraxia
Motor impairment
Broca’s area
Region of the left inferior frontal region involved in speech production
Non-fluent (Broca’s) aphasia
Difficulty speaking but has good comprehension of verbal material
Hemiplegia
Paralysis of one side of the body
Wernicke’s area
Region of the left posterior tempoproparietal cortex involved in speech perception
Fluent (Wernicke’s) aphasia
Fluent, meaningless speech accompanied by many paraphasia and minimal language comprehension
Global aphasia
Total loss of the ability to understand or produce language
Connectionist model of aphasia (Wernicke-Geschwind model)
Deficits result from disconnection between brain regions
Arcuate fasciculus
Connects Wernicke’s and Broca’s area. Probably actually terminates in the precentral gyrus though
Motor theory of language
Proposes that anterior and posterior left-hemisphere language zones originally evolved as specializations for programming and executing complex movements
Passively viewing
Posterior area within the left hemisphere is activated
Passively hearing
Temporal lobes are active
Repeating word
Motor and supplementary motor cortex is activated
Generating associated word
Language related regions of the left hemisphere including Broca’s area are activated
Subsong
Human babbling
Plastic song
Species specific notes and song elements but not fully formed song production
Crystallized song
A fully developed species specific song
FOXP2 gene
Is important for the acquisition of language
Deep dyslexia
Characterized by semantic errors eg reading the word “cow” as horse
Surface dyslexia
The person makes errors when reading
