LANGUAGE - MODULE Flashcards
Where is Broca Area located
In frontal lobe, anterior to the premotor association area, in the inferior frontal gyrus
What is the function of Broca area
The production of all forms of language
Where is Wernicke area located
Spans the parietal and temporal lobes around the lateral fissure and primary auditory area
What is the function of Wernicke area
Allows for comprehension of language
how are broca and wernicke areas connected
via the arcuate fasciculus (a subcortical bundle of white matter)
Reciprocal connections between the frontal lobe and broca and wernickes areas allow for
- higher order motor aspects of speech
- Syntax
- Grammar
What do the reciprocal connections between Broca and Wernicke areas and the parietal and temporal lobes allow for
- Lexicon (vocab)
- map sounds to their meaning
In what hemisphere is language primarily processed
dominant
The left hemisphere is dominant in language production in ___% of right handed people and ___% of left handed people
95%
60-70%
Lesions in which hemisphere are more likely to cause language dysfunction
left
What does the non-dominant hemisphere contribute to language
contributes to the non-verbal flavour of language
Ex:
- Tone of voice
- Prosody
- Music perception
- imparting emotional significance to language
What connects language ares in the right and left hemispheres
the corpus callosum
What is aphasia
language impairment produced by brain dysfunction. Results in impaired communication
What is the result of damage to the Broca area
- Expressive or motor aphasia - deficits in the production of language
What are symptoms of Brocas aphasia
- Impaired fluency of spontaneous speech, halting language
- Phrase length generally < 5words
- Agrammatic speech - number of content words > function words
- Speech lacks prosody
- Reading aloud and writing is effortful and slow
What skills remain intact with brocas aphasia
comprehension
What is the result of damage to Wernickes area of the brain
- Receptive or sensory aphasia - deficits in the comprehension of language
What are some symptoms of wernicke aphasia
- Spontaneous speech with normal fluency and prosody but speech is empty and meaningless with many paraphasic errors
- Impaired naming and repetition
- Word salad
Patient often seem unaware of the deficit, behaving as if they are carrying out a normal conversation
What are paraphasic errors
Inappropriate word substitution
Words of similar meaning or similar sound
What is the result of damage to the arcuate fasciculus
Conduction aphasia
Results in receptive or sensory aphasia
What are common symptoms of conduction aphasia
- Hallmark feature = inability to repeat words
- paraphasic errors are common
- impaired naming
- Intact comprehension and expression of language
