Language and Lateralization

Question 1

What kind of other potential damage will you see if Broca’s area is damaged?

Answer 1

Because Broca’s area is right next to the primary motor cortex, a person may be unable to form words. This is called nonfluent (or Broca’s) aphasia - difficulty producing speech but comprehension is still good.

Question 2

Describe the effects of fluent aphasia (Wernicke’s aphasia)

Answer 2

Werenicke’s area is a region of the left posterior temporal cortex.

They have trouble understanding what they read or hear and have trouble repeating words or phrases. Speech appears unintelligible. It also may be accompanied by anomia, which is a difficulty in naming persons or objects.

Question 3

Describe global aphasia

Answer 3

The total loss of the ability to understand or produce language. Results from widespread left-hemisphere lesions, affecting all speech zones. The prognosis for language recovery is poor and this aphasia is often accompanied by other neurological impairments.

Question 4

Cerebral lateralization

Answer 4

The division of labor between the two cerebral hemispheres such that each hemisphere is specialized for particular types of processing

Question 5

Split-brain individuals

Answer 5

An individual whose corpus callosum has been severed, halting communication between the right and left hemispheres

Question 6

Hemispheric Information

Answer 6

Sensory info felt on one side fo the body is processed by the contralateral hemisphere
Words presented to either visual field showed language ability only in the left hemisphere
Right hemisphere is mainly for spatial processing, with limited linguistic ability

Question 7

Stimulus presented in left visual field goes to the _______ hemisphere, stimulus presented in right visual field goes to the _______ hemisphere

Answer 7

Right

Left

Question 8

Dichotic Presentation

Answer 8

The simultaneous delivery of different stimuli to both the right and the left ears at the same time

Question 9

Tachistoscope Test

Answer 9

A test in which stimuli are very briefly presented to either the left or right visual half field

Question 10

Planum Temporale

Answer 10

An auditory region of superior temporal cortex

Related to speech

Question 11

Right Ear Advantage

Answer 11

Right-handers identify verbal stimuli delivered to R ear more easily
-language strongly lateralized to left

Question 12

Music

Answer 12

Auditory areas of the right hemisphere play a major role in the perception of music

Question 13

Prosody

Answer 13

The perception of emotional aspects of language

A RIGHT hemisphere specialization

Question 14

Handedness

Answer 14

Left handedness is influenced by heredity and left handed people make up about 10% of the population
-The left hemisphere is specialized for language in most left handed people (like normal)
Right hemisphere dominance for language is rare, but when it does occur, it is likely to be a left-handed person

Question 15

Wada Test

Answer 15

A test in which a short-lasting anesthetic is delivered into one carotid artery to determine which cerebral hemisphere principally mediates language

Question 16

Right Hemisphere Spatial Functions

Answer 16

Normal people demonstrate a right hemisphere advantage for processing spatial stimuli
Lesions of areas in the RH can produce visuospatial impairments
Involved in recognizing one’s own face
Astereogenesis
Prosopagnosia

Question 17

Prosopagnosia

Answer 17

The inability to recognize faces, including one’s own

Question 18

Astereogenesis

Answer 18

The inability to recognize objects by touching or feeling them

Question 19

Fusiform Gyrus

Answer 19

A region on the inferior surface of the cortex, at the junction of the temporal and occipital lobes, that has been associated with the recognition of faces
Both hemispheres have some capacity for recognizing faces, but Fusiform Gyrus plays the biggest role

Question 20

Aphasia

Answer 20

An impairment in language understanding and/or production that is caused by a brain injury

Question 21

Paraphasia

Answer 21

A symptom of aphasia that is distinguished by the substitution of a word by a sound, an incorrect word, an unintended word, or a neologism (a meaningless word).

Question 22

Agraphia and Alexia

Answer 22

The inability to write and the inability to read, respectfully.

Question 23

Apraxia

Answer 23

An impairment in the ability to carry out complex movements, even though there is no muscle paralysis

Question 24

Connectionist Model of Aphasia (Wernicke-Geschwind Model)

Answer 24

A theory proposing that left-hemispheric language deficits result from disconnection between the brain regions in a language network, each which serves a particular linguistic function

Wernicke’s area decodes sounds and transmits information to Broca’s area via the arcuate fasciculus,

Broca’s area sends a speech plan adjacent motor cortex to produce speech.

Question 25

Conduction aphasia

Answer 25

An impairment in the ability to repeat words and sentences.

Question 26

Pathway of Speaking a Heard Word

Answer 26

Primary Auditory Cortex - Wernicke’s Areas - Arcuate Fasciculus - Broca’s Area - Motor Cortex

Question 27

Pathway of Speaking a Written Word

Answer 27

Visual Cortex - Angular Gyrus - Wernicke’s Areas - Arcuate Fasciculus - Broca’s Area - Motor Cortex

Question 28

Motor theory of language

Answer 28

The theory that speech is perceived using the same left-hemisphere mechanisms that are used to produce the complex movements that go into speech

Question 29

William’s Syndrome

Answer 29

A disorder characterized by impairments of spatial cognition and IQ but superior linguistic abilities

Question 30

Dyslexia

Answer 30

A reading disorder attributed to brain impairment

Question 31

Deep Dyslexia

Answer 31

Acquired dyslexia in which the patient reads a word as another word that is semantically related

Question 32

Surface Dyslexia

Answer 32

Acquired dyslexia in which the patient seems to attend only to the fine details of reading