week 9: language

Question 1

elements of language

Answer 1

phonemes
morphemes
semantics
syntax
grammar

Question 2

what are phonemes?

Answer 2

the smallest unit of sound that makes a difference to the meaning (c to car)

Question 3

what are morphemes?

Answer 3

the smallest unit of language that has meaning (ing,un,able)

Question 4

what is semantics?

Answer 4

meanings of words or sentences

Question 5

what is aphasia?

Answer 5

inability/impaired ability to produce or understand speech and writing

Question 6

signs of aphasia

Answer 6

paraphasia
neologism
nonfluent speech

Question 7

what is paraphasia?

Answer 7

the substitution for a word by sound, an incorrect word or an unintended word eg. dat instead of hat

Question 8

what is neologism?

Answer 8

an entirely made-up word

Question 9

what is nonfluent speech?

Answer 9

talking with considerable effort

Question 10

what other impairments do aphasia patients experience?

Answer 10

agraphia/dysgraphia

alexia/dyselxia

Question 11

what is agraphia/dysgraphia?

Answer 11

acquired or developed the inability to write/impairment of writing

Question 12

what is alexia/dyslexia?

Answer 12

acquired/developed inability to read/impairment of reading

Question 13

brain regions involved in language

Answer 13

Temporal lobe

• Broca’s area
• Wernicke’s area
• primary auditory area

primary motor cortex

Question 14

patient tan and paul broca

Answer 14

Paul Broca  
patient Leborgne (Tan)
- right hemiparesis (right side paralysed) 
- loss of speech 
- comprehension ok
- damage to Broca's area

Question 15

Karl wernickes patients

Answer 15

2 patients with deficits in comprehension and fluent, incomprehensible speech
damage was found in posterior to primary auditory cortex (wernickes area)

Question 16

explain lichtheims house

Answer 16

A represents auditory area (wernickes)
M represents motor/spoken word (Broca)
B represents concept area
red lines represent an area where something could go wrong

Question 17

How did the Wernickes-Geschwind model of language develop?

Answer 17

combined concept of Wernickes and Lichtheims findings

Question 18

how do we hear words?

Answer 18

The auditory cortex transmits information about the sounds to Wernickes area where the sounds are analysed and decoded

Question 19

How do we speak?

Answer 19

for a word to be spoken, Wernickes area must transmit this information to Brocas area where a speech plan is activated. Brocas area sends the plan to the motor cortex which controls the muscles needed to speak

Question 20

what is the arcuate fasciculus?

Answer 20

the bundle of nerve fibres formed by axons transmitting info from wernickes to brocas area

Question 21

How do we say the name of a seen object or word?

Answer 21

Visual information is transferred to the angular gyrus which arouses the auditory pattern in wernickes area. the auditory form is then transmitted via the arcuated fasciculus to brocas area. then the model for the spoken form is activated and transmitted to the motor cortex and the word is spoken

Question 22

types of aphasias

Answer 22

brocas
wernickes
conduction

Question 23

how does one get brocas aphasia?

Answer 23

damaged to the brocas area which is the posterior part of the inferior frontal convolution in the left hemisphere (left frontal lesion)

Question 24

what area is brocas area anterior to?

Answer 24

the motor cortex which controls the muscles involved in speech (tongue, jaw, throat)

Question 25

damage to the brocas area mean?

Answer 25

damage to this region destroys memory traces of the movements required to produce speech

Question 26

Broca’s aphasia symptoms

Answer 26

• slow/high effort deliberate speech
• telegraphic speech
• difficulty finding/saying correct phoneme/words
• anomia
• phonemic paraphasia
• reduced verbal fluency
• repetition
• hemiplegia (paralysis of side of body)
• insight intact

Question 27

summary of brocas aphasia symptoms

Answer 27

categorised by difficulties speaking but being consciously aware of the conversations and their challenges

Question 28

phonemic paraphasias

Answer 28

unable to find appropriate phoneme so swaps it for a similar one
eg. pill for spill

Question 29

telegraphic speech

Answer 29

simple grammatical structure
focus on nouns singularly
eg. eat dinner

Question 30

anomia

Answer 30

inability to come up with desired word

Question 31

how does one get wernickes aphasia?

Answer 31

results from damage to the vicinity of Wernicke’s area in the left superior temporal cortex posterior to the primary auditory cortex

Question 32

damage to the wernickes area mean?

Answer 32

unable to comprehend
wernickes area is involved in memory for sounds of speech and mediates the linking of the auditory representations of words with their meaning

Question 33

wernickes aphasia symptoms

Answer 33

• inability to comprehend speech
  fluent speech with no distress with the correct speed and pattern
• jargon makes their speech difficult to interpret
• semantic paraphasias
• neologism
• talks around topic
  -inability to repeat words/phrases
• no paralysis
• poor insight into language difficulties
• understands facial expressions

Question 34

semantic paraphasias

Answer 34

errors that have a semantic similarity to the desired word

eg, son for daughter

Question 35

conduction aphasia

Answer 35

• normal speech comprehension and production
• difficulties in repetition of non-meaningful words and word sequences
• cannot say words they don’t have a mental image for eg. can say fruit but cannot make up a word