Chapter 13: Neurolinguistics Flashcards Preview

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Flashcards in Chapter 13: Neurolinguistics Deck (73)
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1
Q

Neurolinguistics

A

The study of how language is represented in the brain

2
Q

The brain is composed of how many nerve cells?

A

10 billion

3
Q

Each neuron can be directly linked with up to ___ others

A

10,000

4
Q

Which brain structures are shared by almost all animals?

A

The lower brain structures that are closer to the spinal cord

5
Q

The cortex

A

The outermost layer of the human brain

Absent in some reptiles

6
Q

The cortex is ____ on itself to increase ____

A

Folded; surface area

7
Q

Sulcus

A

The inward part of a cortical fold

8
Q

Gyrus

A

The outward part of a cortical fold

9
Q

Fissures

A

Deep sulci

10
Q

Longitudinal Fissures

A

Separate the cerebral hemispheres

11
Q

Corpus Callosum

A

Bundle of nerve fibres cerebral hemispheres

12
Q

T/F

Left and right cerebral hemispheres are anatomically and functionally separate

A

True

13
Q

Cerebral hemispheres control which functions of the body?

A

Contralateral functions

= those on the opposite side

14
Q

The Left hemisphere controls

A

Analytical abilities

E.g. arithmetic

15
Q

The Right hemisphere controles

A

Holistic tasks

E.g. recognition of faces

16
Q

Who is left-lateralized for language?

A

Most right-handed people

17
Q

Removal of a right-handed person’s left hemisphere causes

A

An inability to process complex syntactic pattern, although they retain some comprehension ability

18
Q

Removal of a right-handed person’s right hemisphere causes

A

Difficulty understanding jokes and metaphors

19
Q

Left-handed people tend to be less ____ for language

A

Lateralized

20
Q

The hemispheres are divided into ____

A

Lobes

21
Q

Where is the central sulcus?

A

Behind the frontal lobe and in front of the parietal lobe

22
Q

Where is the Sylvian fissure?

A

Above the temporal lobe, separates it from the frontal/parietal lobes

23
Q

Where is the occipital lobe?

A

Behind the parietal lobe

Is not separated by a fissure

24
Q

What poses a special challenge for the neuroscience of language?

A

The absence of straightforward animal models

25
Q

Autopsy Study

A
  • A living patient is studied, and after death the brain damage is recorded
26
Q

Computerized Axial Tomography (CT scan)

A

Uses X-rays to provide a 3D static image of the brain to identify lesions and tumours

27
Q

Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

A

Uses a radioactive traced to track glucose absorption in the brain, which is higher in areas of activity

28
Q

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

A

Uses a powerful magnet to measure blood deoxygenation, with no radioactive tracer

29
Q

Magnetoencephlography (MEG)

A

Uses sensors to measure tiny magnetic fields on the surface of the scalp
Non-invasive
Good spatial and temporal resolution

30
Q

Which hemisphere is primarily responsible for language?

A

The left hemisphere

31
Q

When is Broca’s area activated?

A

During speech

32
Q

When are the occipital lobe and angular gyrus active?

A

During reading

33
Q

How does processing an L2 affect the brain?

A

It activates a wider variety of cortical areas than an L1

= L2 processing involves diverse mental processes

34
Q

Dichotic Listening

A

Presents different auditory stimuli to each ear

35
Q

Finding from dichotic listening

A

A right ear advantage arises for words, numbers, morse code

A left ear advantage arises for melodies and environmental sounds

36
Q

Split-brain experiments

A

Severing the corpus callosum (separating the hemispheres)
Demonstrate that the right hemisphere is mute
Eg. a blindfolded patient can name an object in their right hand, but not their left

37
Q

Aphasia

A

The loss of language ability resulting from brain damage

Usually caused by a stroke

38
Q

What is the prevalence of aphasia?

A

More than 1 million people in North America
Equally common in men and women
More likely to occur after 50

39
Q

Non-fluent (motor) Aphasia

A

Caused by damage to the frontal lobe

- Global and Broca’s aphasia

40
Q

Global Aphasia

A

Most severe form of non-fluent aphasia
Damage to the frontal lobe
Results in muteness

41
Q

Broca’s Aphasia

A

Type of non-fluent aphasia
Damage to the lower posterior portion of the left frontal lobe (Broca’s area)
Results in dysprosody (abnormal intonation) and phonemic paraphasias (producing segments rather than full words)

42
Q

Dysprosody

A

The absence of normal sentence intonation

43
Q

Phonemic Paraphasias

A

The substitution of a word with a nonword that preserves part of its segments

44
Q

Broca’s Aphasics tend to omit

A

Function words and inflectional affixes

= deep deficit, not just articulatory

45
Q

Telegraphic speech

A

Speech reduced to nouns and verbs

46
Q

Broca’s Aphasics tend to have difficulty

A
  1. Judging grammaticality

2. Interpreting passives

47
Q

Broca’s Aphasics still have control over

A

Muscles used in speech production

48
Q

Broca’s area does not seem to be involved in ____ relationships in language

A

Semantic

49
Q

Broca’s aphasics are ___ aware of their language defecit

A

Typically

50
Q

Fluent (sensory) Aphasia

A

There is no difficulty in producing language, but the content that is produced is disordered
- Wernicke’s Aphasia

51
Q

Wernicke’s Aphasia

A

Damage to the upper posterior portion of the left temporal lobe (Wernicke’s area)

52
Q

Jargon Aphasia

A

Severe form of Wernicke’s aphasia
Phonemes are randomly selected
Speech has correct intonation, but few recognizable words

53
Q

Wernicke’s aphasics lack

A

Coherent trains of thought

54
Q

Wernicke’s aphasics have difficulty

A

Doing sequenced tasks

Eg. buying groceries or doing laundry

55
Q

Wernicke’s aphsics are ___ aware of their disorder

A

Not

56
Q

Acquired Dyslexia

A

Impairment of reading ability following brain damage

57
Q

Acquired Dysgraphia

A

Impairment of writing ability following brain damage

58
Q

Paragraphia

A

When writing, Broca’s aphasics often omit the letters corresponding to sounds they would omit in speech

59
Q

Broca’s aphasics are ___ at silent reading and ___ when reading aloud

A

Good; telegraphic

60
Q

Wernicke’s aphasics have ___ spelling & handwriting and their writing is ____

A

Unclear and makes little sense

61
Q

The reading comprehansion of Wernicke’s aphasics is

A

Severely impaired

62
Q

When acquired reading and writing deficits occur on their own, they usually follow damage to

A

The angular gyrus

63
Q

English orthography requires what 2 kinds of knowledge?

A
  1. Spelling-to-sound rules

2. Recognition of whole words

64
Q

Phonological Dyslexia

A

Loss of ability to use spelling-to-sound rules

Can only read familiar words

65
Q

Reading the words ‘ble’ and ‘bug’ rather than ‘blug’ is a symptom of

A

Phonological dyslexia

66
Q

Surface dyslexia

A

Loss of ability to recognize whole words
Overregularize the pronunciation of irregular words
Comprehend words by pronunciation rather than spelling

67
Q

Broca’s aphasics will produce the ___ form of a morpheme rather than the ___

A

Unrestricted; allomorph

e.g. illegal > inlegal

68
Q

Deep Dyslexia

A

Produce words that are semantically related to a word they are asked to read
Eg. mother > father
= evidence for semantic organization of the lexicon

69
Q

Aggrammatism

A

The absence of certain grammatical abilities

Occurs in Broca’s aphasics

70
Q

What words are typically omitted by Broca’s aphasics

A

it, is, to, a

functional words

71
Q

Lexical categories

A

Categories of content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives)

72
Q

Default Strategy

A

Used by Broca’s aphasics to help process passives

Treating first NP as an agent

73
Q

What strategy do Broca’s Aphasics use to find the meanings of reversible passives

A

Guessing

Eg. The cat was chased by the dog