PSYC 211 - behavioural neuroscience > lecture 18 - language > Flashcards

lecture 18 - language Flashcards

(50 cards)

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1
Q

what does this mean: verbal behaviour is lateralized in the brain

A

cognitive functions for language and speech production is concentrated in one of the two hemispheres, typically the left hemisphere

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2
Q

which hemisphere is responsible for language abilities?

A

left hemisphere

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3
Q

the left hemisphere is language dominant in what percentage of people?

A

90% (94% of right-handed people, 70% of left-handed people)

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4
Q

what is prosody?

A

refers to the rhythm, stress, and intonation in speech (variations in pitch, loudness, duration, meaning, emotion, context behinds words)

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5
Q

in most people, in which hemisphere is prosody a function?

A

the right hemisphere

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6
Q

what are examples of prosody?

A
  • emphasizing (saying louder) certain words to clarity what they mean
  • changing pitch of words to indicate phrasing and distinguish between statements and questions
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7
Q

when people damage their left hemisphere, can they still have prosody?

A

yes (prosody is a right hemisphere function)

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8
Q

which hemisphere is voice recognition in?

A

right hemisphere

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9
Q

what is phonagnosia?

A

deficit in recognizing voices (associated with damage to auditory association cortex in cerebral hemisphere)

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10
Q

when people damage their left hemisphere and have deficits in language comprehension, can they still recognize voices?

A

yes

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11
Q

which hemisphere is strongly activated when we process unfamiliar metaphors?

A

the right hemisphere (needed for understanding metaphorical language, even though left is language)

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12
Q

what is aphasia?

A

a disturbance in understanding, repeating, or producing meaningful speech

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13
Q

to be diagnosed with aphasia, deficit must be somewhat isolated. what must the individual still be able to do?

A
  • must be able to recognize when others are trying to communicate with them
  • must be aware of their surroundings, with what is generally going on
  • deficit cannot be caused by inability to hear, see, or move their mouth, or lack of motivation
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14
Q

what causes aphasia?

A

damage to the middle cerebral artery

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15
Q

what types of aphasia arise from damage to sensory association cortex and cause deficits in language comprehension?

A
  • Wernicke’s aphasia
  • receptive aphasia
  • fluent aphasia
  • posterior aphasia
  • sensory aphasia
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16
Q

what types of aphasia arise from damage to the frontal lobe causing deficits in speaking and writing?

A
  • Broca’s aphasia
  • expressive aphasia
  • non-fluent aphasia
  • anterior aphasia
  • motor aphasia
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17
Q

where is Broca’s area?

A

the left inferior frontal lobe

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18
Q

what is Broca’s aphasia? what area of brain damage is it associated to?

A

difficulty expressing themselves verbally (slow, laborious nonfluent speech)
- damage to left inferior frontal lobe

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19
Q

what is the main difficulty for people with Broca’s aphasia?

A

turning thoughts into grammatically structured sentences (thinking of words and sequencing together)

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20
Q

what is agrammatism? feature of what condition?

A

difficulty comprehending and using grammatical devices, such as verb endings (-ed) and word order
- feature of Broca’s aphasia

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21
Q

what is the posterior language area critical for?

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A

language comprehension (where concept of a dog connects to the word dog)
- spoken, heard, or read

22
Q

what is the VWFA?

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A

region in left hemisphere responsible for written word perception

23
Q

where is the posterior language area located?

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A

at the junction of the temporal, occipital, and parietal lobes

24
Q

what is transcortical sensory aphasia? what is it caused by?

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A

use of language sounds normal but doesn’t make sense, don’t understand meaning of words (can read words aloud but don’t understand it)
- damage to the posterior language area

25
if only the posterior language area is damaged, there may be normal word perception and talking abilities, but...?
there will be limited comprehension of what is heard or said
26
where is Wernicke's area? what is it responsible for?
part of auditory association cortex in left temporal lobe (where sounds are recognized as words)
27
if primary auditory cortex is intact but Wernicke's area is damaged, what happens?
person can hear, but can't recognize sounds as words (just noise)
28
what Wernicke's aphasia?
when parts of Wernicke's area and posterior language area are damaged (most common type of receptive aphasia) - difficulty recognizing sounds as words
29
difference between Wernicke's aphasia and transcortical sensory aphasia?
(both are poor language comprehension) - people with Wernicke's aphasia cannot repeat spoken words but people with transcortical sensory can
30
what is Pure Word Deafness? caused by what?
inability to comprehend or repeat spoken words (damage to Wernicke's area but not posterior language area)
31
what is conduction aphasia?
nearly normal language comprehension and speaking abilities but inability to repeat someone's exact words (repeat house as home, can't repeat nonsense words)
32
what is conduction aphasia caused by?
damage to the fibre paths that interconnect Wernicke's area and Broca's area (arcuate fasciculus)
33
what is the arcuate fasciculus? how does it help transcortical sensory aphasia patients?
direct connection between Wernicke's area and Broca's area (enables patients with transcortical sensory aphasia to repeat words they cannot understand)
34
what is anomia/anomic aphasia?
inability to recall words, names, or numbers (all other language abilities are intact)
35
people with anomic aphasia can understand words and speak but struggle with what?
struggle to think of word they say so they describe things in roundabout ways
36
what is circumlocution ?
describe things in roundabout ways due to inability to think of word to say (using many words instead of few) - often used when you learn a foreign language
37
what is a common symptom of all aphasias (especially Broca's aphasia)?
anomia
38
what is anomia caused by?
damage to nearly any part of the cerebral cortex
39
when visually identifying objects, what do we focus on?
spots where lines form corners and junctions, such as L, T, and X
40
where is the VWFA (visual word form area)?
visual association cortex
41
what is phonetic/sound reading?
we learn to recognize individual letters
42
what is sight reading?
learning to recognize whole words
43
what is surface dyslexia? caused by what?
inability to recognize whole words, but can read phonetically (sound out words but can't understand the word) - damage to visual association cortex (VWFA, ventral stream)
44
what is phonological dyslexia?
inability to sound out words phonetically while retaining whole-word recognition
45
what do people with phonological dyslexia struggle with?
no trouble reading familiar words, but trouble with unfamiliar words and non-words (blint, trisk, and juff)
46
what is development dyslexia?
difficulty connecting sounds to symbols (largely hereditary) - some people never become fluent readers
47
what is pure alexia or pure word blindness? what causes it?
visual agnosia that makes it impossible to read - damage to VWFA (can't perceive written words and letters)
48
does pure alexia/pure word blindness disrupt a person's ability to write from memory?
no, but they cannot read what they write
49
what does the fusiform gyrus in the left hemisphere contain? responsible for?
contains visual word form area (VWFA) - perceive written words/letters
50
what is the fusiform gyrus in the right hemisphere responsible for?
critical for recognizing faces
PSYC 211 - behavioural neuroscience
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