Lecture 9 - language comprehension Flashcards
What is a lemma?
the semantics, grammatical class, # of syllables, gender, and nuances of a word; it does not include phonology
What is a lexeme?
basic lexical unit of language; the phonology, grammatical class, # of syllables, gender, and nuances of a word
What is the sequence for the brain parts that are involved in repeating a word according to the Wernicke-Geschwind model?
auditory cortex –> Wernicke’s area –> arcuate fasciculus —> Broca’s area –> Motor cortex
What is the sequence of brain parts that are involved in saying a written word according to the Wernicke-Geschweld model?
auditory cortex and primary visual cortex (via angular gyrus) —-> Wernicke’s Area –> Broca’s area —> Motor cortex
Damage to the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus leads to ___
visual hallucinations; visual agnosia; pure alexia; prosopagnosia
Damage to the inferior longitudinal fasciculus leads to ____
issues with semantics and visual processing
Damage to the uncinate fasciculus leads to ____
late myelination; limbic system issues; psychiatric disorders
In the dual route model of language, the dorsal route is responsible for
phonological processing and motor control
In the dual route model of language, the ventral route is responsible for _____.
semantics and language comprehension
Which route in the dual route model of language is left hemisphere dominant?
dorsal route
Which route in the dual route model of language is bilateral?
ventral route
What parts of the left hemisphere are important for comprehension?
posterior, ventral, and temporal lobe parts
What parts of the left hemisphere are important for production?
anterior, dorsal, and motor portions
What is the right hemisphere dominant for?
visual-spatial skills; pragmatics; attention; semantics
What is the left hemisphere dominant for?
phonology, morphology, and syntax
What are the 3 models of word recognition?
motor theory, cohort model, and TRACE model
Which of the 3 models of word recognition is mainly bottom up?
motor theory and Cohort model
Which of the 3 models of word recognition is mainly top down
TRACE model
Which of the 3 models of word recognition are a combination of top-down and bottom-up?
TRACE model and Cohort model
The lexeme carries _____, which the lemma does not carry.
phonology
According to the model of the phonological input lexicon, humans order words by these two properties
neighborhood density and phonotactic probability
What is neighborhood density?
a way humans order words; it is the number of ways one can change a word just by changing one of its phonemes.
The greater the neighborhood density, the ________
harder to find a word
The smaller the neighborhood density, the ____-
easier it is to find a word
What are problems with the Wernicke-Lichtheim-Geschwind model?
It does not account for the right hemisphere; it does not show that interaction between different parts of the brain is bidirectional; it does not show other tracts that connect the temporal, parietal, and frontal lobes.
What are content words?
nouns, verbs, and adjectives
What are little or function words?
adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions
What part of the brain converts sounds to phonemes?
superior temporal gyrus
The dorsal route consists of the ____
arcuate fasciculus/superior longitudinal fasciculus
The ventral route consists of the _____
inferior frontal occipital fasciculus and intratemporal networks
The _____ assigns meaning to words and lexical access
middle temporal gyrus
What is the motor theory?
one theory of spoken word recognition in which individuals look at the movement of the speaker’s articulators to recognize words; it is a top down process.
What is the cohort model?
another theory of spoken word recognition in which humans recognize phonemes one at a time and narrow down the possible word candidates by looking into smaller cohorts or groups. It is both top down and bottom up, but mainly bottom up. Thus, the longer a word is, the longer it may take to identify it.
A botton up approach focuses on ____
features then phonemes, and then words
A top down approach focuses on _____
words then phonemes and then features
The lemma contains informatino about ____ and _____
semantics and syntax
What is lexicalization?
the production of a word by turning thoughts into sounds
What is the TRACE model?
a theory of spoken word recognition in which humans process sounds at three levels: features, phonemes, and words. These levels are all connected to each other and operate in both directions. Words are recognized based on the number of nodes created during the connection between the three levels. It is both top down and bottom up.
In lexicalization, the ____ comes before the ______
lemma; lexeme
To comprehend language, we rely on ____ first followed by ____
semantics; syntax
What is parsing?
determining the word order of a sentence in order to comprehend it.
What model of syntactic language comprehension focuses only on syntax and is bottom-up?
Garden-Path model
Which models of syntactic language comprehension focus on syntax and semantics and thus are both botton-up and top-down approaches?
constraint-based model and unrestrained race model
In the Garden Path model, these two principles apply:
Minimal attachment (1st strategy) and late closure
What is minimal attachment?
the 1st strategy used in the Garden path model to comprehend language; humans prefer the simplest structure to comprehend the meaning of a sentence
What is late closure?
the 2nd strategy used in the Garden Path model to comprehend language; words are attached to the end of a phrase/structure rather than the beginning
Which syntactic comprehension model includes the idea of verb bias?
Constraint-based model
What is the constraint-based model?
model humans use to copmrehend language; humans parse words and use all sources of information (e.g., world knowledge, grammatical knowledge, and semantics), to constrain meaning
What is verb bias?
An idea that states if the verb in the sentence needs a direct object or not and if it is does, then is the direct object plausible?
Whas is the unrestrained race model?
a model humans use to comprehend language; the first choice for language comprehension is analyzed using all sources of information and a new choice is made if the first choice is implausible
Where in the brain is semantics located?
Sylvian Parietal Temporal lobe of Wernicke’s area
What is the sequence of language comprehension?
phonemes –> word recognition —> semantics —> repeat words —- > syntax
Evidence from ERP (Evoked response potentials) indicate that a large N400 indicates a
mismatch between the meaning of the word and its context
There are ____ dorsal streams in each hemisphere.
2
How many ventral streams are there and where is it located?
1; in the left hemisphere
What is typicality?
words that are commonly used, such as Dolch sight words
What is complexity?
words that are not commonly used; such as Tier 3 vocabulary words
Humans organize their lexicon how?
the frequency of the words occuring
What are two ways that humans organize lexicon
neighborhood density and phonotactic probability
In production, does lemma or lexeme come first?
lemma
In comprehension, does lemma or lexeme come first?
lexeme
