The anatomy of language - BL1

Question 1

Which hemisphere is dominant for most language functions? Who can be different in this?

Answer 1

left
30% of left handers are the other way round

Question 2

At which side can you present an object and it will be identified quicker?

Answer 2

the right visual field

Question 3

When do split brain patients have a problem with object naming?

Answer 3

When it is presented only in the right visual field

Question 4

How does word recognition differ based on visual field presentation? (3)

Answer 4

• left visual side is slower to react in general
• right side is more correct
• left side is impacted more by the number of letters in the word

Question 5

Where are speech and music more dominant?

Answer 5

• speech = left hemisphere
• music = right hemisphere

Question 6

In which lobe is language stuff mostly in?

Answer 6

the left temporal lobe

Question 7

Which areas do sound analysis? (2)

Answer 7

Wernickes and the auditory cortex

Question 8

How does information travel through the brain? (2)

Answer 8

• white matter tracts
• axonal connections to different parts of the brain

Question 9

Which pathways does language mainly use?

Answer 9

inferior and superior longitudinal fasciculus

Question 10

What does the arcuate do?

Answer 10

connects the top of the temporal lobe with Broca’s area in the front of the brain (closes the pathway loop)

Question 11

What is the temporal lobe involved in the processing of and which stream is it on?

Answer 11

• meaning
• ventral stream

Question 12

What is the dorsal stream involved in?

Answer 12

the production of speech

Question 13

What is the angular gyrus involved in and what is it connected to?

Answer 13

phonological information
connected to the auditory cortex

Question 14

How do both processes get involved when you process the meaning of a sound?

Answer 14

• dorsal stores the sound
• ventral processes the meaning

Question 15

Where does speech information arrive at?

Answer 15

the primary auditory cortex (both left and right)

Question 16

What does the left hemisphere do with speech sounds? (2)

Answer 16

• extracts sound identity
• involved in fine grained perceptual analysis

Question 17

What can damage to the left auditory cortex result in?

Answer 17

impairments of speech sound identification (pure word deafness)

Question 18

What are familiar words understood through and which route does this?

Answer 18

meaning activation in the ventral route

Question 19

How does information tend to travel in the ventral route?

Answer 19

auditory cortex to the temporal lobe and also into Broca’s area

Question 20

What route does sound repetition engage? Why?

Answer 20

the dorsal route
no meaning is activated, it is just a sound

Question 21

What damage could cause a patient to respond with ‘might, family, fish’ when asked to repeat back ‘night, marriage and thing’?

Answer 21

• dorsal = hear one thing and say another
• ventral = semantic error

Question 22

How much is hemispheric asymmetry decided by genetics?

Answer 22

25%

Question 23

When will babies begin to suck on a dominant thumb?

Answer 23

in utero

Question 24

What is built-in plasticity? (2)

Answer 24

• sensory input can shape development
• if you miss one of the senses then you will have a different shape/function of your brain

Question 25

How do white matter tracts change with age? (2)

Answer 25

they increase
more and wider connections are made within the brain

Question 26

Why might babies already have a more developed dorsal pathway in the left than the right?

Answer 26

we don’t know, but it is possibly a preparation for language

Question 27

What happens to grey matter over time?

Answer 27

increase to adolescence then decrease after that

Question 28

What are 2 types of individual-specific experiences that can shape brain networks?

Answer 28

• acquired skills
• sensory deprivation

Question 29

How did white matter differ between children who were in the orphanage, in foster care or in typical families (bucharest)? (2)

Answer 29

not significantly different between foster care and typical families
significantly more matter in typical families than orphanage

Question 30

How did grey matter differ between children who were in the orphanage, in foster care or in typical families (bucharest)? (2)

Answer 30

significantly more in typical families than orphanage and foster care (which were similar to each other)

Question 31

At what age does placement in foster care show modest improvements according to the Bucharest early intervention project?

Answer 31

2

Question 32

What can blind individuals use their occipital lobe for?

Answer 32

stuff like auditory information to allow for echolocation