Lecture 18 Flashcards
what is Aphasia
refers to a disturbance in understanding, repeating, or producing meaningful speech.
• The difficulty must not be caused by simple sensory or motor deficits or by lack of motivation.
• The deficit must be relatively isolated, such that the patient must be capable of recognizing when others are attempting to communicate. The patient must be somewhat aware of what is happening around them
Neurons in the posterior language area seem to be responsible what
word comprehension.
Neurons in the posterior language area seem to be responsible for word comprehension.
Neurons here probably activate what
the ensemble of neurons throughout sensory association cortex that store the representations (the meanings) of specific words. For example, activating the DOG neurons here would cause activity throughout sensory association cortices (vision, hearing, touch, smell, taste, and even motor commands like petting) that are associated with the word DOG.
What if there is damage to the posterior language area – the region responsible for language comprehension - that is located in the posterior part of lateral fissure, near the junction of the temporal, occipital, and parietal lobes.
Transcortical Sensory Aphasia
What is Transcortical Sensory Aphasia
Failure to comprehend the meaning of words and an inability to express thoughts with meaningful speech.
• Word perception (recognition, identification) is fine, including: – Word repetition (e.g., repeat after me…)
– Reading (e.g., read out loud…)
– Writing (e.g., write the words you hear…)
However, in all cases, you won’t actually understand the words you are saying, reading, or writing
what is Wernicke’s area
involved in analysis of speech sounds and in recognition of spoken words. Region of auditory association cortex on left temporal lobe of humans.
aka it is the dictionary of the brain… you hear something and it brings everything related so you know what it is
Being able to hear is where
primary auditory cortex
is hearing, recognizing words and comprehending them all different or the same
Being able to hear is one thing (primary auditory cortex);
– Recognizing words is another thing (Wernicke’s Area);
– Comprehending them—understanding their meaning—is yet another thing (Posterior Language Area).
what is the result of damage just to Wernicke’s area
PURE WORD DEAFNESS
what is PURE WORD DEAFNESS
Pure word deafness is a disorder of auditory word recognition, an inability to comprehend or repeat spoken words.
“I can hear you, but I don’t recognize the words you are saying. I even have trouble repeating what you say.”
It is caused by damage to Wernicke’s area or disruption of auditory input to this region
People with Pure Word Deafness can:
Hear just fine.
• Interpret non-speech sounds (doorbell, phone, barking).
• Read and write.
• Read lips.
• Speak intelligently, but they can’t recognize the words they are saying by listening to themselves. Over time their speech becomes a bit awkward, like when a deaf person speaks.
whats WERNICKE’S APHASIA
the result of damage to both Wernicke’s area and the Posterior language area, which means you have features of transcortical sensory aphasia and pure word deafness
what is the difference between TRANSCORTICAL SENSORY APHASIA VERSUS WERNICKE’S APHASIA
Patients with transcortical sensory aphasia have trouble with language comprehension, but they can repeat what other people say to them; they can recognize spoken words.
• Patients with Wernicke’s aphasia have trouble with language comprehension and are generally not capable of repeating what other people say to them.
• Both of these aphasias involve deficits in language comprehension, so the textbook says both involve damage to
the posterior language area. However, most researchers would say the posterior language area is Wernicke’s area, in which case pure word deafness and transcortical sensory aphasia reflect damage in different parts of Wernicke’s area
The defining feature of Wernicke’s aphasia (and transcortical sensory aphasia) is what
poor language comprehension
These people can have fluent speech production, but what they say is meaningless and typically filled with function words
what are function words
such as a, the, in, about (as opposed to content words that convey meaning, such as nouns, verbs, and adjectives).
Their speech seems natural and is filled with intonation and emphasis (prosody). Words seem to come easy to them, but do they make sense (Wernicke’s aphasia)
no
what is receptive aphasia
The defining feature of Wernicke’s aphasia (and transcortical sensory aphasia) is poor language comprehension. These people can have fluent speech production, but what they say is meaningless and typically filled with function words, such as a, the, in, about (as opposed to content words that convey meaning, such as nouns, verbs, and adjectives).
• Their speech seems natural and is filled with intonation and emphasis (prosody). Words seem to come easy to them, but unfortunately what they say is meaningless.
• This disorder has been characterized as a receptive aphasia, because the people have no trouble coming up with nonsense things to say; it is just that words have no meaning to them.
what is CONDUCTION APHASIA
the result of damage to the connection between Wernicke’s area and Broca’s area known as the arcuate fasciculus
characterized by inability to repeat words that are heard. The ability to comprehend speech and speak normally is fine.
It is caused by damage to and around the arcuate fasciculus, a bundle of axons that connects Wernicke’s area with Broca’s area.
Characterized by an inability to repeat the exact words you hear. Other than that, you are fine, that is you have meaningful, fluid speech and good speech comprehension.
• When asked to repeat the word ‘house’, the person may say “home”.
• When asked to repeat a nonsense word like ‘blaynge’, the person will be unable to do it. They will just say I didn’t hear you.
AKA they hear something, they have to go into their brain and see what the definition is/wha it is associated with, and then they will say the word back.. not necessarily ‘repeating’ because they cannot repeat words that are not real and the example of house/home
what are DISORDERS OF READING
PURE ALEXIA
what is PURE ALEXIA
Damagetothevisualword-formarea(VWFA) disrupts the ability to perceive written words
People with this damage (Pure Alexia o rPure Word Blindness) cannot read,, why
they cannot recognize written words. However, they can write just fine. They just can’t read what they write.
what does Reading involve
Reading involves at least two different processes: direct recognition of the word as a whole and sounding it out letter by letter
what is Whole- word reading
Reading by recognizing a word as a whole; “sight reading
what is Phonetic reading
Reading by decoding the phonetic significance of letter strings; “sound reading
Fusiform face area of right hemisphere has ability to quickly recognize unique configurations of people’s eyes, noses, lips, and other features of their faces even when differences between two people’s faces are very similar
• For example, parents and close friends of identical twins can see at a glance which twin they are looking at
• Similarly, VWFA of left hemisphere can do what
recognize word even if it closely resembles another one
such as the small difference between car and ear
define Dyslexia
means “faulty reading”
People with dyslexia have difficulty doing what
reading
what is developmental dyslexia
in which children have great difficulty learning to read and never become fluent readers, even though they are otherwise intelligent. This problem is largely genetic (and usually of the subtype of dyslexia known as phonological dyslexia).
There are also dyslexias produced from brain damage, what is the most severe form
Pure alexia (pure word blindness) is the most severe form of dyslexia
Pure alexia (pure word blindness) is the most severe form of dyslexia. It encompasses two subtypes of dyslexia:
Surface dyslexia
• Phonological dyslexia
what is Surface dyslexia:
An inability to recognize whole-words. The person can only read words phonetically.
Irregularly spelled words are difficult for these people to perceive, because sounding them out doesn’t work:
•Pair, pear, pare,…. •Sew, pint, yacht,….
what is Phonological dyslexia:
Reading disorder in which a person can read familiar
words but has difficulty reading unfamiliar words or nonwords.
• Blint, trisk, juff,….
what is direct dyslexia
an inability to understand written words while maintaining the ability to read out loud.
The most important cues to object recognition (which is the primary task of the visual system) are what
those that
remain relatively constant even when objects are viewed from different angles
The most important cues to object recognition (which is the primary task of the visual system) are those that
remain relatively constant even when objects are viewed from different angles
• Most reliable of these cues are what
ways that lines meet at vertices, forming junctions with particular shapes, such as L, T, and X
where is Broca’s area
region of inferior left frontal lobe
Damage to Broca’s area (a region of inferior left frontal lobe) does what
disrupts ability to speak
Damage to Broca’s area (a region of inferior left frontal lobe) disrupts ability to speak.
• This deficit is known as wwhat
Broca’s aphasia
what is Broca’s aphasia characterized by
characterized by slow, laborious, and nonfluent speech
people with Broca’s aphasia have what
have something to say, but have trouble saying it. They are well aware of their condition
Broca’s aphasia encompasses three semi-distinct issues:
articulation problems • agrammatism
• anomia
what is Articulation
Movement of tongue, lips, jaw, and other speech organs to make speech sounds. Articulation problems might make it hard for someone to hear the words you are saying. Or, it could cause a sequencing problem: lipstick–>likstip
what is Agrammatism
A difficulty in comprehending or using grammatical devices, such as verb endings (-ed) and word order (man bit dog).
People with agrammatism typically do not derive meaning from the sequence of words or the grammar of sentences. Thus, they almost exclusively use content words (nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc.) without any function words (the, on, about, etc.).
what is Anomia
Trouble coming up with (remembering) the precise word you want to use.
SPEECH PRODUCTION AND COMPREHENSION: BRAIN MECHANISMS what are they
Speech Production
content word
function word
what is speech production and how does it relate to broca’s aphasia
Damage to Broca’s area in the (left) inferior frontal lobe makes it difficult for patients to express themselves verbally
what is Content word and how does it relate to broca’s aphasia
Noun, verb, adjective, or adverb that conveys meaning. People with Broca’s aphasia have trouble
coming up with content words, but that is how they communicate. They rarely use function words
what is Function word
Preposition, article, or other word that conveys little meaning but is important for the grammatical structure of a sentence (a, the, in).
can People with Broca’s aphasia comprehend speech
People with Broca’s aphasia can comprehend speech much better than they can produce it, but there usually are some comprehension deficits
what is ANOMIC APHASIA
difficulty with MEMORY OF WORDS
what are some parts to ANOMIC APHASIA
Anomia
Anomic aphasia
Circumlocution
what is Anomia
Difficulty in finding (remembering) the appropriate word to describe object, action, or attribute; one of symptoms of Broca’s aphasia
what is Anomic aphasia
People with anomic aphasia have a hard time thinking of the word they want to say. They can understand what other people say just fine. And they basically talk just fine, but they often describe things in roundabout ways (circumlocution).
what is Circumlocution
Strategy by which people with anomia find alternative ways to say something when they are unable to think of most appropriate word
what are subvocal articulations
When we talk to ourselves in our head (our inner monologue), there is often subvocal articulations (very slight movements of the muscles involved in speech that do not actually cause obvious movement).
• When we talk to ourselves in our head (our inner monologue), there is often subvocal articulations (very slight movements of the muscles involved in speech that do not actually cause obvious movement).
a person is asked to look at a pair of drawings and say whether names of items show rhyme, functional imaging shows increased activation where
in region of Broca’s area because the person says the two words subvocally
Speech disorder characterized how
by frequent pauses, prolongations of sounds, or repetitions of sounds, syllables, or words that disrupt the normal flow of speech
Speech disorder characterized by frequent pauses, prolongations of sounds, or repetitions of sounds, syllables, or words that disrupt the normal flow of speech
These people do have the ability to speak without a stutter, as is typically seen when they sing, speak aloud with another person, or read in cadence with a rhythmic stimulus.
Stuttering appears to be a problem of what
selecting, initiating, and executing the motor sequences required for fluent speech.
what is stuttering the result of
to be influenced by genetic factors and affects approximately 1 percent of population; three times more prevalent in men than in women
There is some data that suggests stutterers have abnormal auditory feedback what is the proof of this
When non-stutterers use head phones that introduce a short delay, such that their own voice is heard on a 100ms delay, they start to stutter.
• When stutterers use these head phones, they stutter less
Writing depends on knowing what
the words you want to use
• proper grammatical structure
• specific motor commands that control the hand
There can be very specific deficits in motor programs caused by brain damage. For example, people can have trouble writing:
Letters but not numbers
» Lowercase but not uppercase letters » Vowels but not consonants
» Print but not cursive
» Letters in the correct order
Trouble with writing is called what
dysgraphia
what is dysgraphia
Trouble with writing
When writing a word, spelling it can be accomplished by what 2 possible ways
Phonetically sounding out the word
Visually imagining the word
what is Phonological dysgraphia
condition where people cannot spell words by sounding them out (common in Broca’s aphasia). They can only write words by imagining how they look. Thus, they have to be very familiar with how the word looks or they cannot write it. They cannot write non-words that sound fine, like blint or vak.
what is Orthographic dysgraphia
a condition where people cannot spell words by visualizing them (common in people with damage to VWFA). They can only sound words out, which means they cannot correctly spell any words that have an irregular spelling (halfàhaff; busyàbizzy).
