Speech and Language Flashcards
Where are the primary functions for semantic processing located in the vast majority of people?
Left hemisphere
Where does the primary language pathway begin?
Wernicke’s area (posterior temporal lobe)
Where does Wernicke’s area receive information from?
Auditory and visual cortices
What does Wernicke’s area do?
Language comprehension (assigns meaning)
What connects Wernicke’s area to Broca’s area?
Arcuate fasiculus
Broca’s area location
Posterior inferior frontal lobe
Broca’s area function
Production of meaningful language.
Where does output from Broca’s area go?
To the motor cortex for initation of complex muscle movements needed for speech
Speech disorders
Inability to exchange information with others due to nervous system impairment
Aphasia
Disturbances in comprehension or formulation
Prosody
Emotional emphasis that helps convey meaning
Gershwind’s territory
Inferior parietal lobe. Involved in recognition and labeling in Wernicke’s and Broca’s area.
Is preferred handedness alway an indicator for localization of language function?
No
What determines fundamental pitch?
Size, gender, age of person.
Natural resonances
Determine vowel sounds and actions of the vocal folds and other voluntary muscle shape consonants.
Speech sounds
200 sounds
Fluent type of aphasia
Generation okay, comprehension poor. (Wernicke’s)
Non-fluent aphasia
Comprehension okay, generation poor (Broca’s)
Receptive Aphasia (dysphasia)
Deficits in auditory and written comprehension. Speech will make no sense to you, but patient will be unaware that there is a problem.
Conduction Aphasia
Arcuate fasciulus. Many pauses and gaps–> especially noticeable when you ask pateint to repeat words back. Fluent. Inability to come up with words (Gershwind’s)
Expresssive Aphasia
Inability to organize/control speech. Impaired verbal/oral expresssion. Know what they want to say, but they are unable to get the words out. Extremely frustrating for the patient.
Global aphasia
Large areas of damage (other parts of the cortex as well). Profound comprehension and expressin deficits impacting the entire language pathway.
Aprosody
Comprehension and expresssion of emotional qualities of speech issue. Right-sided equivalent of Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas
Apraxia of speech
Common in children. Know what they want to say and can generate the words, but can’t do it in a repeated manner.
Dysarthrias
Problems in the efferent output from the motor cortex
Flaccid dysarthia
LMN issue. Disruption in flow that goes to areas of respiration, phonation, articulation, prosody, or resonance.
