Language & Brain
English 0302 朱鹏飞
Psycholinguistics and
Neurolinguistics
? Psycholinguistics,study of
language acquisition,storage,
comprehension,and production
? Neurolinguistics,study of the
neural and electrochemical bases
of language development and use
Brain Architecture
? Right and left hemispheres
? Hemispheres are connected by the
corpus callosum
? Brain is covered by a membrane
called the cortex
? Bumps on the brain are called gyri,
depressions are fissures
Cortex Areas
? Auditory cortex,receives and identifies
auditory signals; Converts them into forms
understandable by other areas of the brain
? Visual cortex,receives and interprets
visual stimuli; Storage site for pictoral
images
? Motor cortex,sends signals to muscles to
make them move
Language Centers of the
Brain
? Broca?s area
? Located at the base of the motor
cortex
? Responsible for organising
articulatory patterns of language
? Directs the motor cortex when talk is
required
? Controls use of inflectional and
function morphemes
Language Centers of the
Brain
? Wernicke?s area:
? Located near the back of the auditory
cortex
? Responsible for the comprehension of
words
? Selects words when producing language
Language Centers of the Bra
in
? Arcuate Fasciculus
? Nerve fibers connecting Broca?s and
Wernicke?s areas
? Allow the two areas to share
information
? Required for accessing of the ?mental
lexicon?
Language Centers of the
Brain
? Angular Gyrus
? Located between Wernicke?s area and
the visual cortex
? Converts visual stimuli into auditory
stimuli and vice versa
? Allows matching of spoken and written
forms to the objects they describe
? Crucial for reading and writing
Language Disorders
Aphasia:
“… An inability to perceive,
process,or produce language
because of physical damage to
the brain.”
Language Disorders
? Broca’s aphasia
? Individuals suffer from an inability
to plan the motor sequences for spoken
or signed language
? Comprehension is not affected; This is
an expressive disorder
? Speech is halting,patients have a
hard time forming words
? Sentences may lack inflection and/or
function morphemes (e.G,To,the,etc.)
Language Disorders
? Wernicke?s aphasia
? Individuals suffer from the inability
to understand the speech of others
? This is a receptive disorder
? Patients may produce semantically
incoherent speech,e.G,Use of
circumlocutions
? Syntactic word order may be altered
Language Disorders
? Conduction aphasia
? Results from damage to the arcuate
fasciculus
? Individuals may sound like sufferers of
Wernicke?s aphasia (fluent but meaningless
speech)
? Sufferers will be able to understand speech,
but not to repeat it
? Results from the inability to transmit
information from Broca?s to Wernicke?s areas
and vice versa
Language Disorders
? Alexia:
? Caused by damage to the angular gyrus
? The inability to read and comprehend written
words
? Caused by the inability of the angular gyrus
to match the visual word to the phonetic
form in Wernicke?s area
? Agraphia:
? The inability to write words
? Caused by the inability of the angular gyrus
to relate the phonetic form of a word to the
written form
(Not related to dyslexia,which is caused by a structural portion difference of
the temporal lobe,and which may be overcome with proper training)
Thank you for Listening
English 0302 朱鹏飞
Psycholinguistics and
Neurolinguistics
? Psycholinguistics,study of
language acquisition,storage,
comprehension,and production
? Neurolinguistics,study of the
neural and electrochemical bases
of language development and use
Brain Architecture
? Right and left hemispheres
? Hemispheres are connected by the
corpus callosum
? Brain is covered by a membrane
called the cortex
? Bumps on the brain are called gyri,
depressions are fissures
Cortex Areas
? Auditory cortex,receives and identifies
auditory signals; Converts them into forms
understandable by other areas of the brain
? Visual cortex,receives and interprets
visual stimuli; Storage site for pictoral
images
? Motor cortex,sends signals to muscles to
make them move
Language Centers of the
Brain
? Broca?s area
? Located at the base of the motor
cortex
? Responsible for organising
articulatory patterns of language
? Directs the motor cortex when talk is
required
? Controls use of inflectional and
function morphemes
Language Centers of the
Brain
? Wernicke?s area:
? Located near the back of the auditory
cortex
? Responsible for the comprehension of
words
? Selects words when producing language
Language Centers of the Bra
in
? Arcuate Fasciculus
? Nerve fibers connecting Broca?s and
Wernicke?s areas
? Allow the two areas to share
information
? Required for accessing of the ?mental
lexicon?
Language Centers of the
Brain
? Angular Gyrus
? Located between Wernicke?s area and
the visual cortex
? Converts visual stimuli into auditory
stimuli and vice versa
? Allows matching of spoken and written
forms to the objects they describe
? Crucial for reading and writing
Language Disorders
Aphasia:
“… An inability to perceive,
process,or produce language
because of physical damage to
the brain.”
Language Disorders
? Broca’s aphasia
? Individuals suffer from an inability
to plan the motor sequences for spoken
or signed language
? Comprehension is not affected; This is
an expressive disorder
? Speech is halting,patients have a
hard time forming words
? Sentences may lack inflection and/or
function morphemes (e.G,To,the,etc.)
Language Disorders
? Wernicke?s aphasia
? Individuals suffer from the inability
to understand the speech of others
? This is a receptive disorder
? Patients may produce semantically
incoherent speech,e.G,Use of
circumlocutions
? Syntactic word order may be altered
Language Disorders
? Conduction aphasia
? Results from damage to the arcuate
fasciculus
? Individuals may sound like sufferers of
Wernicke?s aphasia (fluent but meaningless
speech)
? Sufferers will be able to understand speech,
but not to repeat it
? Results from the inability to transmit
information from Broca?s to Wernicke?s areas
and vice versa
Language Disorders
? Alexia:
? Caused by damage to the angular gyrus
? The inability to read and comprehend written
words
? Caused by the inability of the angular gyrus
to match the visual word to the phonetic
form in Wernicke?s area
? Agraphia:
? The inability to write words
? Caused by the inability of the angular gyrus
to relate the phonetic form of a word to the
written form
(Not related to dyslexia,which is caused by a structural portion difference of
the temporal lobe,and which may be overcome with proper training)
Thank you for Listening
