week 10 - language - Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia

Question 1

broca’s area

Answer 1

anatomical definitions not completely consistent

is generally considered to make up some part of a region called “inferior frontal gyrus” (frontal lobe)

in the vast majority of individuals Broca’s area resides in the left cerebral hemisphere

font bottom

Question 2

broca’s area
role

Answer 2

first idenitifed as playingn a potentially important role in speech production
based on case studies of patients who had damage to the area and displayed deficit in speech

Question 3

broca’s area
broca’s aphasia

Answer 3

deficit in ability to produce language

reading and writing are also often impaired

language comprehension generally perserved

Question 4

broca’s area
precise function in language production

Answer 4

still unclear
- not sure what language-related function is lost is cause this disruption

Question 5

broca’s area
may be involved in:

Answer 5

muscle movements for speech
syntax
grammar
verbal working memory
(all of the above)

Question 6

broca’s area
damage results in:

Answer 6

understanding good but finding words difficult

intelligence remains intact

Question 7

wernicke’s area

Answer 7

some debate over location

typically considered to reside in the cortex of the left cerebral hempisphere near the junction between the temporal and parietal lobes

(bottom back)

Question 8

wernicke’s area
damage results in:

Answer 8

first thought that damage to this region results in a deficit where patients are able to produce speech that resembles fluent language but is actually meaningless

Question 9

wernicke’s aphasia

Answer 9

patients who suffer do things like:

use made up words
use similar sounding words
(to substitute for another)

to produce speech that makes little sense

comprehension (understanding) is also impaired

Question 10

wernicke’s area
what did Wernicke propose

Answer 10

proposed a model for language that involved both the region he discovered and broca’s area

Question 11

Wenicke-Geschwind model
suggests?

Answer 11

suggested that Wenicke’s area created plans for meaningful speech while Broca’s area is responsible for taking those plans and determining the movements (tongue+mouth) required to turn those plans into vocalisations

Question 12

Wenicke-Geschwind model
too simplistic?

Answer 12

now thought to be too simplistic
language suggests that Wernicke’s area may be involved in speech production rather than just comprehension
it may not be as critical to language comprehension as once thought
—> exact role is still unclear

Question 13

neuroanatomy of language
based on?

Answer 13

aphasia patients

Question 14

neuroanatomy of language
broca’s aphasia

Answer 14

comprehension is relatively preserved

deficits in producing language

Question 15

neuroanatomy of language
wenicke’s area

Answer 15

comprehension is generally impaired

produce fluent but meaningless speech

Question 16

the challenge of processing language

Answer 16

meaning integration

syntactic (grammatical) integration

language is challenging and complex

Question 17

the challenge of processing language
meaning integration

Answer 17

we don’t speak in single words
the real challenge and the real uniqueness of language is that you understand and produce multiple words
so have to integrate meaning across multiple words
eg. flat
flat beer, flat note, flat tire

Question 18

the challenge of processing language
syntactic integration

Answer 18

can make sentences with “dog” “chase” “cat”
- cat chases dog
- dog chases cat

have the exact same words but the meaning changes because of the syntactic roles that the words get in the sentence

Question 19

the challenge of processing language
language is challenging and complex

Answer 19

dont just retrieve info also have to integrate info

Question 20

which brain regions underlie syntactic comprehension

Answer 20

see notes for diagram

left side
left anterior fronal gyrus (broca’s area)
- also much bigger part of FC (all the way to pre-motor cortex)

Parietal lobe (above wernickes area)

posterior syria temporal lobe
- the middle temporal gyrus
- superior temporal gyrus
at the back of temporal lobe (wenickes area)

not just left side though!

Question 21

syntactic comprehension
typically studied?

Answer 21

with a priming paradigm
- 1st time you listen to a sentence big BOLD % change
- 2nd time less of a change

this is the repetition suppression effect that you see when you repeat syntactic structures
use this to see brain areas that support comprehension

Question 22

syntactic comprehension
typically studied?
what do you see

Answer 22

a much more wide spread network

(not just broca’s and wernicke’s area)

Question 23

shared syntax in language production and language comprehension

Answer 23

similar network
not just syntax - meaning as well
language related regions

whole temporal lobe plays a role
connections between these areas (white matter)
need the whole network

front
pars opercularis
pars triangularis
frontal operculum

back bottom
superior temporal gyrus
middle temporal gyrus

Question 24

so what are broca and wernick doing?

Answer 24

memory

integration

Question 25

so what are broca and wernick doing?
memory

Answer 25

storing linguistic information about single words

Question 26

so what are broca and wernick doing?
integration

Answer 26

integrating or binding pieces of information into unfolding representation of preceding context