Language and lateralization

Question 1

Phonology

Answer 1

the study of the abstract sound patterns of a particular language, usually according to some system of rules.

Question 2

Syntax

Answer 2

rules for arranging items (sounds, words, word parts of phrases) into their possible
combinations in a language.

Question 3

Semantics

Answer 3

the analysis of the meaning of a language at the word, phrase, sentence level, or beyond.

Question 4

Lateralization

Answer 4

the two different halves of the brain often have different functions
I. e. Right temporo-parietal network for exogenous attention.

Question 5

Split brains

Answer 5

epilepsy patients, they isolated the different parts of the brain by cutting out the corpus callosum.

Question 6

Universal Grammar (UG)

Answer 6

language-specific components of the shared initial biological endowment → genetic component that allows us to produce and understand patterns in language.

Question 7

Associative (or connectionist, or usage-based theories)

Answer 7

language has a hierarchical structure and the position of the words is important for the interpretation of language → meaning depends on the syntactic structure in the brain.

Question 8

Aphasia

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Broca’s aphasia

Answer 9

language impairment characterized by difficulty with speech production but not with language comprehension.
Related to a damage in Broca’s area: region of the frontal lobe that is involved in the production of speech.

Question 10

Wernicke (or fluent) aphasia

Answer 10

language impairment characterized by fluent speech and little language comprehension.
Related to damage in Wernicke’s area: region of the temporo-parietal cortex involved in the perception and production of speech.

Question 11

Global aphasia

Answer 11

total loss of ability to understand language, speak, read, or write → the inner voice is silenced.

Question 12

Broca’s area

Answer 12

production of speech + syntactic organization

Question 13

Wernicke’s area

Answer 13

comprehension of speech + lexicon

Question 14

2 main pathways

Answer 14

• Ventral (BA 45, BA 47 and temporal cortex): supports processing of semantic information.
• Dorsal (BA 44): supports the ordering of words in hierarchically structured sentences and subserves the comprehension of complex sentences.

Question 15

Meaning

Answer 15

• Complex language processing: BA 45, BA 47, and anterior/posterior temporal cortex via ventral pathways.
• Semantics and reasoning (retrieval and manipulation of semantic information): ventral system.

Question 16

Sensitive period

Answer 16

period during development in which an organism can be permanently altered by a particular experience or treatment → it exists also for language acquisition

Question 17

Bingualism

Answer 17

separate points in the brain has been found to interfering with speech for spanish and english when stimulated.
- Late biliguals: separate representations of english and french in Broca’s area (production) while in Wernicke’s area (understanding) there is overlapping.
- Early bilinguals: overlap in Broca’s areas of both languages.

Question 18

Common descent

Answer 18

neural and genetic mechanism similar among different species.

Question 19

Convergence

Answer 19

humans make use of these mechanisms to evolved similarly to songbirds

Question 20

Specialization

Answer 20

human language syntax is a human unique mechanism

Question 21

Stereognosis

Answer 21

ability to perceive and recognize the form of an object in the absence of visual and auditory information, by using tactile information to provide cues from texture, size, spatial properties, and temperature, etc.

Question 22

Prosody

Answer 22

intonation and rhythmic stress patterns in speech

Question 23

Wada test

Answer 23

they anesthetize one half of the brain. In right-handed people, language is controlled by left side, while in left-handed people it is also on the right side.

Question 24

Prosopagnosia and the right hemisphere

Answer 24

Composite image of self and celebrity. When right size is anesthesized participants see a celebrity, and when left size is anesthetized, they see themselves. The ability to recognize faces is in the fusiform gyrus (right hemisphere)

Question 25

Function of lateralization:

Answer 25

chicks have to peck bits of food and look out for predators. Each hemisphere is better at doing one of the tasks

Question 26

Language

Answer 26

Language is not the particular form of speech of a group of people. Not necessarily speech, sign language. Not the same as communication. Language is thought independent of the way it is externalized. Most language happens in the mind

Question 27

Systems of language:

Answer 27

1) Syntactic rules and representation
2) Internal conceptual-intentional interface
3) External sensory-motor interface

Question 28

NCM lesions

Answer 28

impair tutor song recognition, so they do not show a preference for the tutor song. But they do not show a different in song production. A neural dissociation between NCM necessary for recognition but not for singing their own song.