Language Flashcards
How was Broca’s area discovered?
Broca looked at autopsies of people who had trouble with language throughout life- studied Leborgne (with lesion in left posterior inferior frontal gyrus) who could not speak but understood language and communicated via gesture & emotional display. SO, Broca figured it was in left posterior inferior frontal gyrus.
What did Broca hypothesize about the location of language?
Gyri are constant and loci of higher functions. Language is lateralized to the left and language production is in the 3rd frontal gyrus!
How was Wernicke’s area discovered?
Patient (with lesion in superior temporal gyrus) had fluent paraphasic speech & poor comprehension. He thought speech production and comprehension had to be related, and underlying issue was with sound patterns of words.
What was Wernicke’s localization hypothesis? What did Geschwind add to this?
Sounds of words are stored in the superior temporal gyrus because of proximity to primary auditory cortex. Geschwind added that words have meaning beause of associations of sounds and sensory properties of objects in inferior parietal lobe.
List neurological bases of language (9)
Primary auditory or visual cortex: input of written/signed/spoken words & pragmatics
Wernicke’s: sounds into language
Angular gyrus: written words into language
Arcuate fasciculus: connects Wernicke’s to Broca’s (end of input)
Broca’s: organization of speech production/ASL
Supramarginal gyrus: integration for writing
Primary motor: activates areas for speech, voice, signs
Corpus callosum: interhemispheric communication (bilateral things that Broca missed)
Subcortical areas (thalamus, striatum…): regulated, gated feedback loop- not primary in language but can cause aphasic symptoms if stroke destroys
What area makes reading possible?
Angular gyrus integrates visual, auditory, and tactile information to carry out symbolic integration for reading
What happens when arcuate fasciculus is damaged?
Conduction aphasia
What parts of language are on the left versus the right?
Left: analytical for speech sounds, grammatical processing, local v. global, decoding of patterns and systems
Right: facial expressions, body language, integration of stimulus types, arousal/alertness/attn, global v. local
What deficits occur on the left versus the right?
Left: anomia, aphasia, dyslexia/dysgraphia, spoken/signed/written word deficit
Right: lack of initiation, can’t decode emotional state, can’t integrate face, voice, body, words…
94-96% of right handed people are ____ lateralized.
Left! Left handed could be either
Why is language on the left when the left hemisphere is good for math & problem solving? What is the right hemisphere good at?
Language is a code, and the left hemisphere likes to crack codes
Right hemisphere is for creativity, more experiential in nature
What are the two types of priming?
Semantic priming (associate cow with milk)
Phonetic priming
(sound of silk silk silk)
What are 3 category specific language subdivisions?
Animate v inanimate
Category specific deficits in aphasia
Imageable words
What are two parts of meaningful context?
Sounds v words
Words v sentences
What is aphasia? What does and doesn’t it affect? Why does it happen?
Acquired communication disorder that affects comprehension, expression, or both, as well as reading and writing sometimes, but not intelligence. Usually occurs due to CVA.
