Young: Speech and Language

Question 1

Specialization of one hemisphere for a particular cognitive activity

Answer 1

lateralization

Question 2

The ability to quickly and fluidly produce long sequences of phonemes

Answer 2

speech

Question 3

Assigning meaning to arbitrary phoneme sequences

Answer 3

language

Question 4

Compromise of essential language functions while leaving the sensory and motor components of verbal communication intact

Answer 4

aphasia

Question 5

With aphasia, the emphasis on loss of the ability to produce or understand (blank) as opposed to realistic representations is important. The more (blank) the representation, the less understanding in the presence of an aphasia.

Answer 5

symbolic

Question 6

All focal brain syndromes can be considered to be the result of what?

Answer 6

destruction of particular information processing center (ex: Broca’s area)

or

disconnection of inputs & outputs from such a center

Question 7

(blank) aphasia is a classic example of a disconnection syndrome

Answer 7

conductive

Question 8

3 common aphasic syndromes

Answer 8

Broca’s aphasia
Wenicke’s aphasia
Conduction aphasia

Question 9

What have been very useful in establishing the lateralization of language?

Answer 9

experimental paradigms

Question 10

Post-mortem studies of pts whose symptoms are well documented
Examination of pts w commissurectomies
Electrical stimulation of surgical pts
PET and functional MRI studies of intact pts
Reaction time studies in intact pts

Answer 10

These are all things that have been used to establish lateralization of language

Question 11

This is an analogous region of the operculum

The function is not really understood

Answer 11

planum temporale

Question 12

What makes the planum temporale interesting?

Answer 12

frequently observed asymmetrical gross development and patterns of cortical connectivity

Question 13

The right hemisphere is involved in (blank) processing and (blank) elements of language

Answer 13

language; prosodic (rhythm and pattern of sound)

Question 14

What are aprosodias?

Answer 14

defects in non-linguistic aspects of language associated w R hemisphere lesions

Question 15

The manifestations of aprosodias largely parallel the (blank)

Answer 15

aphasias

Question 16

What are the prosodic aspects of speech?

Answer 16

things that convey emotion:
volume
tone
cadence
syllabic emphasis
accompanying gestures
*use of sarcasm or irony

Question 17

Pts w R hemisphere injuries often miss the (blank) of language, while gross language production/reception may remain grossly intact.

Answer 17

subtleties

Question 18

Studies of aphasia in pts who communicate via sign language emphasize the (blank) aspect of language

Answer 18

symbolic

Question 19

L handedness is associated primarily w greater (blank) as opposed to superiority/inferiority in any given skill

Answer 19

variability

**mean in skills is the same, while standard deviation is greater in lefties

Question 20

What is one deficit characteristic of conduction aphasia?

Answer 20

deficits in repeating words

*disconnect b/w reception and production of words