Language and Cognition

Question 1

Identify a condition which may result in language impairment.

Answer 1

• Stroke
• Some sorts of dementia (present as language disorder rather than memory impairment)
• Neuro-developmental conditions (e.g. Autism) feature delays in development of language
• Some movement disorders (e.g. PD) change speech pattern

Question 2

Identify the main components of language.

Answer 2

Involves reading, writing, speaking (expressive language function) and understanding (receptive language function).

Question 3

Define neurolinguistics.

Answer 3

How language is represented in the brain.

Question 4

Describe the functions of the brain hemispheres in terms of higher cognitive function.

Answer 4

In terms of higher cognitive functions, the hemispheres
are lateralized –

– Left hemisphere -> analytic tasks
• Math, Language

– Right hemisphere -> recognition of complex patterns
• Faces, Melodies (ALSO supported role in enabling socially appropriate communication/language)
• For those strongly lateralised, the right hemisphere involved in emotional aspects – analyses the prosaic and ‘musical’ aspects of speech.

Question 5

Define aphasia, and its main types.

Answer 5

A language deficit caused by damage to the brain, often a stroke or an accident.

• Nonfluent (motor) aphasia – front of left cortex:
– results in either slow effortful speech or complete
speechlessness
– E.G. Broca’s (expressive) aphasia –

• Wernicke’s (fluent, receptive) aphasia –

Question 6

Describe Broca’s aphasia.

Answer 6

• E.G. Broca’s (expressive) aphasia –

• Speech is very halting
• Function words are omitted (it, is, to, a, etc.)
• Pronunciation is simplified (spoon>poon, etc.)
• Inflectional endings are omitted (running>run, etc.)
• Aware of their language deficit

Question 7

Describe Wernicke’s aphasia.

Answer 7

• Wernicke’s (fluent, receptive) aphasia – lateral temporal cortex

• Someone will speak in phrases, apparently sounding normal/fluent.
• Grammar, tone can be normal but words lack meaning

Question 8

Describe the concept of lateralisation and multilingualism.

Answer 8

• More right hemisphere language dominance than in monolinguals
• If right hemisphere damage, multilingual individuals 5x more likely to develop aphasia

Question 9

What proportion of multilingual aphasics recover both languages to the same extent ? What proportion of them do not regain 1 or more language ?

Answer 9

• Recovery from aphasia
– 50% recover both languages to same extent
– 25% do not regain 1 or more languages

Question 10

Describe the Roger Sperry experiments.

Answer 10

Roger Sperry experiments confirming lateralization of language

• Patients who had their anterior commissure and corpus collosum’s ‘cut’ as a treatment for epilepsy.
• These ‘split brain patients’ were asked to describe the object (not seen) in their hand.
• Objects in right hand (L hemi) described well, not so for those in the left hand (R hemi).

Question 11

Which hemisphere is responsible for language processing ? Identify evidence for this.

Answer 11

Language processing as a left hemisphere task
• Evidence from dichotic listening experiments – stimulus presented to different ears
– linguistic sounds: right ear (left brain) advantage
– environmental sounds: left ear (right brain) advantage

Question 12

How does brain process language ?

Answer 12

• Like most other cognitive functions, the brain identifies key sensory and auditory aspects of language, then CONSTRUCTS form and meaning from existing knowledge.
• The brain constantly ‘fills in missing bits’, leading to all manner of error.

E.G.
There is an area of the brain involved in recognizing words, the visual word form area (VWFA), found on the surface of the brain, behind the left ear. The VWFA’s right hemisphere analogue is the fusiform face area, which allows us to recognize faces

Question 13

True or False: We do not read each letter, but recognise the word as a whole.

Answer 13

True: it deosn’t matter in waht ordre the leettrs in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt thing is taht the frist and lsat ltteers are in the rhgit place

Question 14

Where in the brain is the meaning of words processed ?

Answer 14

All over the cortex

Every meaning appears in multiple locations, and every location contains a cluster of related meanings. Some areas selectively respond to words related to people, for instance, whereas others responded to places or numbers

Question 15

Describe the normal process of lexical retrieval.

Answer 15

• An object triggers a concept (non verbal)
• This triggers a semantic lexicon which has a number of related words/info meaningfully relating to the concept.
• This triggers a phonological output lexicon including relevant metric, physical aspects; sounds, consonants, vowels. The frequently used words/outputs are primed for use when the meaning requires it.
• Phonological output buffers then monitors and orders output of the sounds and words to be used.

Question 16

Why might cultural differences be important in history taking with a patient who may have a language impairment ?

Answer 16

Remember cultural and other differences, don’t mistake someone with telegraphic language as impaired until your clinical history informs the ‘normal’ style for that person.