Language

Question 1

limitation in language research

Answer 1

• can’t use animal models

- animals have many components of language, but are missing syntax!

Question 2

phonemes

Answer 2

fundamental language sounds that form a word

Question 3

morphemes

Answer 3

smallest meaningful units of words

for example: anti, or pro

Question 4

lexicon

Answer 4

collection of all words in a given language

Question 5

syntax

Answer 5

• rules of grammar

Question 6

semantics

Answer 6

• meaning of words and sentences that correspond to all lexical items

Question 7

prosody

Answer 7

“tone of voice”

-rhythm/tone in voice

Question 8

discourse

Answer 8

-stringing sentences together to form meaningful narrative

Question 9

Broca

Answer 9

• had a stroke patient who was unable to say anything but tan
• after tan’s death, looked at brain and found relatively focal damage in PFC –> Broca’s area
• area important to SPEECH PRODUCTION
• people with damage here have difficulty producing language, but can comprehend

Question 10

Wernicke

Answer 10

• damage here = word salad
• create long sentences, but incomprehensible
• damage = people can’t comprehend
• reading impairments
• don’t receive auditory feedback

Question 11

anatomical areas associated with language

Answer 11

• broca’s area, wernicke’s area, auditory cortex, and connection between them (arcuate fasciculus)

Question 12

role of premotor cortex in language

Answer 12

matching noun to target word

Question 13

where are nouns stored

Answer 13

the words are stored in the same visual area is stored for that object (ventral stream)

Question 14

Wilder Penfield

Answer 14

• identified and mapped neocortical language zones during surgery
• tried to find focus of epilepsy
• ran electrode along cortex and stimulated it
• stimulation of Lhem, espeically frontal = slurring speech, arrest of speech, distortion, naming difficulties

Question 15

TMS

Answer 15

transcranial magnetic stimulation

• modern way to stimulate neurons without invasive

Question 16

Wernicke-Geschwind Model

Answer 16

• info comes in through auditory cortex, is processed in Wernicke’s, then travels through arcuate into Broca’s where info for speech production is sent to motor cortex
• to read, visual areas send info to angular gyrus and Wernicke’s or Broca’s area

Question 17

shortcomings of Wernicke-Geschwind model

Answer 17

• doesn’t take into account other brain regions involved
• overly simplistic: “regions”
• relied on diffuse loss of function studies

Question 18

Subdivision of Broca’s area

Answer 18

Broca’s area isn’t really an area, comprised of many subregions

• has a dorsal/ventral organization
• dorsal is posterior, ventral is anterior
• ventral/anterior more involved in semantics
• dorsal/posterior involved in production of speech
• dorsal/ventral organization also true for Wernicke’s

Question 19

Dual language pathway theory

Answer 19

• bidirectional- language moving in multiple directions
• area 6 (motor cortex) and area 47 (semantics) are targets of info
• fundamental organizing feature is dorsal vs ventral (not just for Broca and Wernicke’s areas)

Dorsal: Bottom-up (taking things from basic parts and putting them together)

• short term memory
• phonetics

Ventral: Top-down, long term memory, semantics, separating homonyms

Question 20

damage to dorsal vs ventral pathways

Answer 20

dorsal: basic problems with production. semantics intact
ventral: interferes with meaning of language = lack of comprehension

Question 21

fluent aphasia

Answer 21

person is able to talk but has language impairments “word salad”

• impairments in input/reception of language
• aka Wernicke’s aphasia, or Sensory aphasia
• cannot write because cannot discern phonemic characteristics

Types: Conduction (name objects, can’t repeat words) and Anomic/Amnesic (can comprehend speech, produce meaningful speech, can repeat speech. difficulty naming objects)

Question 22

non fluent aphasia

Answer 22

person cannot speak, has great difficulty speaking
- aka Broca’s aphasia, or expressive aphasia

• can understand speech

Global aphasias (labored speech, poor comprehension)

Question 23

alexia

Answer 23

problems reading

Question 24

agraphia

Answer 24

problems writing

Question 25

transcortical aphasia

Answer 25

aka isolation syndrome

• can repeat words
• cannot speak spontaneously
• often poor comprehension
• fluent and non-fluent?

Question 26

why is studying language complex

Answer 26

1. most of brain takes part in language
2. most patients who add info to studies of language have had strokes
3. following stroke, symptoms are generally severe but improve considerably
4. aphasia syndromes are described as nonfluent (broca) or fluent (wernicke) have many varied symptoms

Question 27

symptoms of nonfluent aphasia

Answer 27

1. apraxia of speech (disorder affecting individual’s ability to translate conscious speech plans into motor plans)- results from damage to insula (fissure that separates frontal and parietal lobe)
2. deficits in sentence comprehension (damage to superior temporal gyrus)
3. repetition of speech (damage to arcuate fasciculus)
4. working memory and articulation impairment (damage to brocas)

Question 28

symptoms of fluent aphasia

Answer 28

1. lack of speech comprehension and other core difficulties with language (damage to medial temporal lobe, temporal cortex )
   - usually damage in Wernicke’s area, ventral pathways

Question 29

aphasia and recovery

Answer 29

each case is unique

- recovery varies, therapies may help

Question 30

right-hemisphere contributions to language

Answer 30

• good auditory comprehension of language
• if left is removed early, right hemisphere can acquire language
• if left removed in adults, severe deficits in speech but still good auditory comprehension