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Physiology 2 > Neuro: Language > Flashcards

Neuro: Language Flashcards

1
Q

What is language?

A

It is a system for representing and communicating information about the world using symbols and rules.

There are natural languages and ‘formal’ languages. Formal languages (such as computer languages) are finite systems and have rules for combination.

There are also human languages and animal languages. They are either closed/finite or generative, and they are capable of representing abstract concepts.

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2
Q

How have language groups evolved?

A

Language groups are a group of languages that have evolved from a common ancestral language, and as a result, have a common root word so that their vocabulary is relatively similar.

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3
Q

What are the five functional components of language?

A
  1. Articulation
  2. Phonology
  3. Meaning (semantics)
  4. Syntax
  5. Comprehension
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4
Q

Expand on articulation as a functional component of language.

A
  • It is the movement of the tongue, lips and jaw to modify a sound wave.
  • It is classified by the place of articulation, such as ‘labial’, ‘alveolar’ and ‘palatal’
  • It is also classified by the manner of articulation. This could be voice or unvoiced, or fricative or plosive, etc.
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5
Q

Expand on phonology as a component of language.

A

It is the sound combination from which the syllables and words of a language are built up.

The ‘legal’ phonological structure varies across languages. The international phonetic alphabet (IPA) is used as a common notation.

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6
Q

Expand on meaning (semantics) as a functional component of language.

A
  • This is the representation in long-term memory of concepts and the relations between them.
  • It’s when actions, objects and properties get converted into verbs, nouns and adjectives (etc.).
  • It is largely independent of grammar.
  • The mapping between the concepts and symbols is generally arbitrary (though nb onomatopoeia - e.g. hiss).
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7
Q

Expand on syntax as a functional component of language.

A

This is the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language. It relies on grammatical markers and word order.

In English, the word order SVO (subject, verb, object) is paramount to assigning roles. Other languages rely on ‘markers’ of word role.

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8
Q

Expand on comprehension as a functional component of language.

A

It is the ability to represent the meaning of words or sentences spoken or written by another person. It entails the knowledge of the first 4 functional components, in addition to:
- context

  • pitch
  • stress
  • prosody
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9
Q

What are some different parts of the brain involved in the cerebral comprehension of language?

A
  • Broca’s Area
  • Fasciculus Arcuatus
  • Auditory Cortex
  • Wernicke’s Area
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10
Q

Describe articulation and phonology in regard to the brain area involved.

A
  • It is dependant on the inferior and opercular parts of the homonculus (i.e. the tongue, mouth, larynx, etc.).
  • It’s also dependant on the more anterior portion of Broca’s area.
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11
Q

Describe meaning (semantics) in regard to the brain area involved.

A
  • Dependant on the left and right temporal poles.
  • These are densely interconnected with widespread regions of association cortex. Where individual features of the world as we experience it are first registered and processed. Has connections with lots of taste areas, sound features etc. ‘Modality-independent’ representations.
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12
Q

Describe syntax in regard to the brain area involved.

A

It is dependant on the left inferior frontal gyrus.

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13
Q

Describe comprehension in regard to the brain area involved.

A

It is dependant on:

  • primary auditory cortex
  • temporal poles
  • left inferior frontal gyrus
  • arcuate fasciculus
  • left posterior superior
  • temporal gyrus
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14
Q

We can see changes in people’s language after their brains are damaged.

What are some examples of brain damage (language-related) that a stroke can lead to?

A
  • Broca’s aphasia
  • Wernicke’s aphasia
  • Conduction aphasia
  • Adynamic aphasia
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15
Q

Describe Broca’s aphasia.

A

It follows damage to Broca’s area, and results in a difficulty with articulation and phonology.

SPEECH: halting, fragmented, distorted, agrammatic

COMPREHENSION: preserved for words, reduced for sentences

TYPICAL PATHOLOGIES: middle cerebral artery (MCA) infarction, haemorrhagic stroke

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16
Q

Describe Wernicke’s aphasia.

A

It is also knows as ‘receptive aphasia’ or ‘sensory aphasia’. It follows damage to the posterior regions of the language network.

SPEECH: fluent, often with meaningless phonological strings

TYPICAL PATHOLOGIES: penetrating brain injury, cerebral haemorrhage

17
Q

Describe conduction aphasia.

A

It follows damage to the posterior perisylvian regions and the underlying white matter, and results in difficulty with repetition.

SPEECH CHARACTERISTICS: mild fluency and comprehension difficulties

TEST: single word and sentence repetition

TYPICAL PATHOLOGIES: lacunar stroke

18
Q

Describe dynamic aphasia.

A

This is the rarest aphasia. It follows damage to the anterior left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 45), and results in difficulty planning, initiating or maintaining speech.

SPEECH CHARACTERISTICS: reduced, fragmentary, echoic, perseverative speech

TEST: high vs. low constraint sentence completion

TYPICAL PATHOLOGIES: left anterior cerebral artery (MCA) infarction

19
Q

We can see changes in people’s language after their brains are damaged.

What are some examples of brain damage (language-related) that neurodegeneration e.g. Alzheimer’s can lead to?

A
  • Non-fluent progressive aphasia
  • Fluent progressive aphasia
  • Logopenic progressive aphasia
20
Q

Describe non-fluent progressive aphasia.

A

It results in slow, distorted, agrammatic speech production. It begins with subtle changes - it follows a progressive course.

The patient will experience phonological and grammatical errors in spontaneous speech. However, single word comprehension is well preserved.

TYPICAL PATHOLOGIES: primary tauopathy [FTD-Tau] deposition

21
Q

Describe fluent progressive aphasia.

A

It results in normal sounding speech rate, but the production of empty content. It begins with subtle word-finding changes.

The ability to use generic words and pronouns in spontaneous speech is retained, but there are profound single word comprehension difficulties.

LOCATION OF PATHOLOGY: anterior temporal regions

TYPICAL PATHOLOGIES: TDP-43 proteinopathy [FTG-TDP] deposition

22
Q

Describe logopenic progressive aphasia.

A
  • It begins with subtle word-finding changes, and progresses to the poverty of speech output.
  • You get occasional errors in syntax and phonology, and you also get poor sentence repetition.
  • The pathology involves the posterior perisylvian region.
  • TYPICAL PATHOLOGY: Alzheimer’s disease

Physiology 2 (35 decks)

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