Language

Question 1

What is language?

Answer 1

Universal across cultures
Method of human interaction, either spoken/signed/written
Interpretating words in a structured and conventional way
All all languages share some universal feature of structure
An infinite number of combinations can be produced in any language

Question 2

What are phonemes?

Answer 2

Smallest units of sound e.g. ‘pat’ ‘p’
44 phonemes in English - this number varies depending on the language
Word recognition from speech relies on a combination of phonemes
Human speech can produce a huge range of sounds, language makes us use phonemes

Question 3

What are morphemes?

Answer 3

Smallest unit of meaning
Content morphemes: express the fundamental meaning of the word e.g. bake
Function morphemes: modify the function of the word e.g. -er, -s
e.g. new noun = baker (bake + er)

Question 4

What is syntax?

Answer 4

Rules of ordering sentence components
English has a subject verb object order
Subject: who performs the action
Verb: the action
Object: who receives the action
e.g. the human pats the dog
This depends on the language, in Japan they do subject object verb

Question 5

What are semantics?

Answer 5

How we get meanings from words
Even when words are in the right order there can be ambiguity
e.g. time flies like an arrow

Question 6

What is the mental lexicon?

Answer 6

How words and representations are stored in the brain
This is what links semantics, phonological forms, orthographic forms and syntax

Question 7

What are orthographic and phonological forms?

Answer 7

Orthographic: how words look
Phonological: how words sound

Question 8

What is lexicon access, lexical selection and lexical integration?

Answer 8

Auditory input coming into our ears and into the mental lexicon
Lexical access: activation of word form, syntax and semantics
Lexical selection: best matching representation is selected
Lexical integration: the word is placed in the context of the full sentence

Question 9

What are the organisational principles (morphemes, usage frequency, phoneme neighbourhoods, semantic representations) used in mental lexicons?

Answer 9

Morphemes
Usage frequency: more frequently used word accessed easier than less frequently
Phoneme neighbourhoods: words which differ by only one phoneme are stored together closer
Semantic representations: words which are related in terms of their meaning are linked

Question 10

What is the organisation of the mental lexicon?

Answer 10

Conceptual semantic networks
Words are represented as nodes
Nodes connect to one a other based on their meanings
Activation spreads to each node
Closer nodes activate more than distant ones
However there is debate if words are stored by their definitions or by how prototypical they are

Question 11

What is the definitional theory?

Answer 11

Each word is a bundle of meaning/semantic features
Words are integrated into categories which share features
Categories are organised hierarchically
Definitions don’t cover all words in a category
Some category members fit better than others
Some definitions span multiple categories

Question 12

What is the protype theory?

Answer 12

Each word is categorised by how much it resembles the prototype
High prototypicality: close resemblance to prototype
Low prototypicality: does not resemble prototype
Prototypical category members are more affected by priming

Question 13

What is the state feedback control theory?

Answer 13

Input activates a conceptual representation of a corresponding word
Phonological level is split into a motor and sensory phonological system
Each have their own feedback loops

Question 14

What is the segmentation problem?

Answer 14

Unlike written words, speech doesn’t contain reliable spaces or full stops
Speech can instead be comprehended through prosody, visual cues and an interpretation of phonemes

Question 15

What is prosody?

Answer 15

Conveying meaning beyond the words themselves
pitch
intonation
Rhythm
Stress

Question 16

What is the Ganong effect?

Answer 16

Perceive ambiguous speech sound as a phoneme that would complete a real world, rather than complete a nonsense/fake word

Question 17

What is the McGurk effect?

Answer 17

What we see overrides what we hear
The mouth movements we see influences what we believe we are hearing

Question 18

What is the cohort model?

Answer 18

Acoustic input activates word representations sequentially
Candidate words are deactivated if acoustic input is inconsistent
e.g. if you hear ‘p’ ‘i’ endings will activate ‘n’ ‘g’
Context can narrow the pool of candidates but this comes later
Mispronunciation of a word beginning interferes with the process of this model

Question 19

What is the TRACE model?

Answer 19

Words are recognised based on their acoustic features, phonemes, and semantics
As speech level starts, feature, and phoneme levels are activated, exciting matching and inhibiting non-matching representation at all levels
Higher levels can influence interpretation of the lower levels

Question 20

What is phonetic reading?

Answer 20

Grapheme phoneme correspondence

Question 21

What is whole word reading?

Answer 21

Familiar words are not sounded out from grapheme to phoneme but recognised as a whole

Question 22

What is phonic mediation?

Answer 22

Unpronounceable
Pronounceable
Pseudowords
Pseudohomophone

Question 23

What is the interactive activation model?

Answer 23

Visual features of letters activate or inhibit representations of individual letters
Activation/inhibition of letters can activate/inhibit words
We better recognise letters when they are presented in a word VS alone VS in a non word (word superiority effect)

Question 24

What is the dual route model?

Answer 24

Lexical route: orthographic input and phonological output
Sublexical route: grapheme phoneme rule system

Question 25

How can context influence a word?

Answer 25

Low level sensory inputs: hearing or seeing the word
High level contextual inputs: sentence or phrase the word is found in
Debate over how much high level information can influence low level perception.
Modular models argue that information is bottom up whereas Interactive models argue all levels an influence word recognition

Question 26

What did the study by Zwitserlood 1989 find on context?

Answer 26

Lexical decision task
Participants faster to respond to target words which were related to the context of the previous sentence, even if the exact word was missing

Question 27

What is syntactic parsing?

Answer 27

The brain stores individual words but not entire sentences as that’s impractical
Syntactic parsing helps us understand what is happening in a sentence
Large brain responses when syntactic or semantic information is unexpected or inconsistent

Question 28

What is telegraphic speech?

Answer 28

1 and a half years to 2 years
Two word sentences combining a noun and a verb or adjective and noun

Question 29

What is competent speech?

Answer 29

4-5 years
Full sentences with conventional grammar, through less complex structure

Question 30

What is babbling?

Answer 30

3-5 months
Sound patterns of own language in babbling precedes onset of first words
Reduplicative- repeated syllables e.g. ba ba ba
Variegated- mix of syllables e.g. ba da ca
Tunes the speech system
Deaf infants babble suggested it’s innate

Question 31

What are first words in language learning?

Answer 31

10-14 months
Tend to learn words of things which are interacted with e.g. teddy, blanket
Fast mapping- quick learning of new content words
Over extension- applying word to wider range than appropriate
Under extension- applying word to narrow range than appropriate

Question 32

What is the acquisition of grammar?

Answer 32

18-20 months
Expanding words from there
applying rules to new items
Object nouns, noun phrases, verbs, articles, prepositional phrases, complex sentences

Most frequently used verbs are irregular e.g. threw/throw buy/bought
Children initially use irregular verbs correctly because they are used more
Once they learn paste tense, they use irregular verbs everywhere. e.g. she hitted me not she hit me

Question 33

What does the language acquisition device suggest about language learning?

Answer 33

Children make hypotheses about grammatical rules
Hearing speech tests hypothesis
Language acquisition device guides hypothesis
Brain is hard wired to learn language, no reinforcement needed
Limited to the critical period

Question 34

What does the social learning theory suggest about language learning?

Answer 34

Reinforcement of sounds made by children results in recognisable words
Learning is via imitation and conditioning
Trial and error process

Question 35

What is the critical period?

Answer 35

Aspects of development must happen within a certain time frame
The critical period is when the brain is most response to input
Must be exposed to language from 2 years old to puberty
More modern views suggest it can be even earlier before birth
The period ends when neurochemistry prevents further structural change

Question 36

What is Broca’s area? What other regions are involved in this process?

Answer 36

Speech production
Supplementary motor cortex
Insula
Cerebellum
Thalamus
Basal ganglia
Sensorimotor cortex (mouth area)
Inferior temporal gyrus (Broca’s area)

Question 37

What is Broca’s aphasia?

Answer 37

Impairment of speech production
Omission of most pronouns, conjunctions, tense, verbs and numbering endings
Language comprehension is good
Difficulty understanding some of the words they omit
Patients are aware of their condition and are responsive in therapy
Can understand some but not all aspects of grammar

Question 38

What is Wernicke’s area? What other regions are involved in this process?

Answer 38

Speech production
Posterior superior temporal gyrus
Middle temporal gyrus
Middle superior temporal gyrus
Inferior temporal gyrus
Angular gyrus
Temporal pole
Wernicke’s area
Heschl’s gyrus (primary auditory cortex, auditory association cortex)

Question 39

What is Wernicke’s aphasia?

Answer 39

Impaired language comprehension for both written and spoken language
Inability to remember names of objects
Person still speaks smoothly
Grammar is impaired
Content lacks meaning and cohesion
Ability to find words is impaired
Recognition of items isn’t impaired
Articular speech with pauses to find the right word
Lack of self awareness because of difficulties with comprehension. Frustration, unresponsiveness to treatment

Question 40

What is the neuroanatomy of the written word processing?

Answer 40

Written word processing occurs in the occipitotemporal regions in the left hemisphere
Anterior cingulate gyrus
Precuneus
Angular gyrus
Anterior fusiform gyrus
Left posterior midfusiform gyrus

Question 41

What is the visual word form area?

Answer 41

Linked to reading but there’s debate over this
Links to temporal and frontoparietal regions in the brain
Temporal links to predict language abilities
Frontoparietal links to predict visuo-spatial attention abilities

Question 42

What is the case study of the patient who helped us find Broca’s area?

Answer 42

Patient had only been able to speak a single word ‘tan’
Brain lesion in the posterior inferior temporal gyrus (now referred to as Broca’s area)

Question 43

What case study of a patient helped us find Wernicke’s area?

Answer 43

Damage in posterior region of the superior temporal gyrus
Damage to this area itself doesn’t cause the impairment, but damage to the surrounding tissue/swelling does