Neuroanatomy of Language

Question 1

Broca’s area is associated with what area of the brain?
What Broadman’s area ?
And what is it’s primary function?

Answer 1

left inferior frontal gyrus
BA 44, 45, 47
Function: Language Output

Question 2

Wernicke’s area is associated with what area of the brain?
What Broadman’s area?
What is the primary function?

Answer 2

left posterior temporal cortex
BA 22
Function: Language Comprehension

Question 3

In the classic aphasia syndromes, describe Broca’s aphasia?

Answer 3

Disturbance of spoken output 
non-fluent effortful, agrammatic speech 
unable to repeat words 
written language affected 
involving the inferior frontal gyrus but extending beyond this

Question 4

In the classic aphasia syndromes, describe Wernicke’s aphasia?

Answer 4

disturbance of language input
fluent but disorganisaed speech
paraphasias (phonological and semantic)
unable to repeat

Question 5

in the classic aphasia syndromes , describe global aphasia?

Answer 5

Severe form of aphasia affecting both expressive and receptive language. Usually associated with large lesions

Question 6

What is Conduction aphasia?

Answer 6

specific inability to repeat words

Question 7

What is transcortical motor aphasia?

Answer 7

Broca’s with repetition

Question 8

What is transcortical sensory aphasia?

Answer 8

Wernicke’s with repetition

Question 9

What contribution did Dejerine make to neuroanatomy of language?

Answer 9

he identified the angular gyrus as important for reading

Question 10

What contribution did Geschwind make to the neuroanatomy of language?

Answer 10

he identified the important of white matter connections between language regions

Question 11

Which side of the brain is language dominant in the majority of people?

Answer 11

The left hemi

Question 12

How could you test for language dominance?

Answer 12

Using the WADA test - i.e. by injecting sodium amytal into one carotid artery. This anaesthetises one cerebral hemi. By asking specific questions about recognition and remembrance of an object in comparison to naming you can uncover which is the dominant hemisphere

Question 13

What methods are used to examine the neuroanatomy of language from the 20th century onward?

Answer 13

Cortical Stimulation

fMRI

Question 14

how does cortical stimulation work?

Answer 14

By either recording electrodes or by stimulating specific electrodes to see what happens. Usually done during surgery (and specifically epilepsy surgery)

Question 15

What are the main benefits of fMRI for the neuroanatomy of language?

Answer 15

It doesn’t rely on lesions

it gives much more detail

Question 16

How does fMRI work?

Answer 16

By looking at blood flow into specific regions of cortex

Question 17

What did fMRI tell us about language comprehension?

Answer 17

That the left was involved in phonological and linguistic information (i.e. meaning)
and the right was involved in intonation, pitch etc.
Overall at speech in complex and requires both hemispheres of the brain to fully interpret

Question 18

What parts of the brain are activated in phonological processing?

Answer 18

Responding to speech sounds = anterior and posterior superior temporal cortex
Articulatory coding = premotor cortex and posterior IFG
Attention = supramarginal gyrus

Question 19

What parts of the brain are involved in speech comprehension?

Answer 19

Semantic processing = anterior superior temporal sulcus, bilateral temporal poles, middle temporal gyrus within/adjacent to Wernicke’s area, and the angular gyrus
No syntactic centre
Semantic features = ventral IFG

Question 20

What areas of the brain are involved in word retrieval?

Answer 20

left prefrontal, posterior temporal and inferior temporal regions

Question 21

What areas of the brain are involved in speech production?

Answer 21

propositional speech = prefrontal cortex and IFG
articulation = premotor and primary motor cortex
semantics = temporal pole and posterior temporal/inferior parietal regions
repetition = posterior superior temporal cortex that is part of the dorsal auditory pathway

Question 22

What areas of the brain are involved in reading?

Answer 22

occipital and posterior temporal cortex

early processing is bilateral, visual word recognition is left-lateralised

Question 23

What area of the brain is involved in writing?

Answer 23

Exner’s area (middle frontal gyrus/premotor cortex)

Question 24

What is alexia and how is it caused?

Answer 24

disturbance of visual word form recognition with normal comprehension and intact auditory input
Caused by damage to left primary visual cortex AND splenuim (part of the corpus callusum)

Question 25

What is hemianopic alexia

Answer 25

slow letter by letter reading caused by disturbance of planning eye-movements

Question 26

What gene may be involved in language?

Answer 26

FOXP2 gene on chromosome 7