Neuroscience of Language
- Can Kam
- May 16, 2021
- 3 min read
Introduction to Language
One of the most important functions of the human brain: the ability to communicate.
The ability to communicate, understand the language, and produce the language, is happening thanks to our neocortex, and this is an important topic in cognition.
Important Concepts
The left hemisphere, in most people, is the dominant hemisphere and this hemisphere is responsible for language acquisition and production.
Left hemisphere’s important areas for language acquisition and production:
Primary auditory cortex: to hear the spoken.
Visual cortex: to see the person, body language.
Motor cortex: to be able to talk; laryngeal muscles.
Wernicke’s area: to understand, comprehend language.
Broca’s area: to produce, impair, talk language.
Posterior speech area: associates words with meanings.
Left Hemisphere’s Image and Voice’s Way in Talking
Impairment in Language Abilities: Wernicke’s Aphasia
Comprehensive/Receptive Aphasia: Wernicke’s aphasia, the damage in Wernicke's area,
The person will be able to talk fluently because the person’s motor pathways are intact.
The person would have problems in taking sensory information and understanding the semantic language component of that information. The sensory information’s way of being taken in is not important – any of the sensory information wouldn’t be understood.
In reality, a person with Wernicke’s aphasia would have a little bit of problem in his/her Broca’s area, too, because these two places are integrated a lot.
Impairment in Language Abilities: Broca’s Aphasia
Expressive Aphasia: Broca’s aphasia, the damage in Broca’s area,
The person will be able to know what to say and understand what is said because the person’s Wernicke’s area is intact.
The person would have problems talking. Language is impaired. This impairment is not only linked to motor functions for talking, but also to every possible part of the human body that can express communication. For instance, a person communicating with sign language won’t be able to communicate, too.
In reality, a person with Broca’s aphasia would have a little bit of problem in his/her Wernicke’s area, too, because these two places are integrated a lot.
A Poem From Someone With Broca’s Aphasia
What is tried to be said: don't feel sorry for me. I'm happy to be alive. I thought I was going to die. And it's night time and don't ask me questions, don't try to make me answer questions.
Posterior Speech Area Problems
In case of an injury to this area (located around the Wernicke’s):
Long pauses during a conversation
Repetitions
Escape catchwords
Abruptly stopping sentences followed by unrelated content
Using pantomimic acts and gestures instead of speech
Paraphasias
Semantic: Replacing a word with a different one with a similar meaning; ex: luggage instead of plastic bag.
Phonematic: Replacing a word with another word or non-word that has similar sound structures; ex: Kyiv instead of kiwi.
Prosody
A great deal of what we understand from each other depends on properties beyond the actual words that we use, and these properties are body language, facial expressions, context, speech’s loudness, speech’s timing, and speech’s pitch.
What is prosody: Everything that makes it something different from a machine reading a piece of text.
How Prosody Works
The right hemisphere has a system that mirrors the system for semantic content in the left hemisphere.
Where Wernicke’s area would be in the left hemisphere, there is an area that is critical to the comprehension of prosody.
Where Broca’s area would be in the left hemisphere, there is an areawhich is critical to the creation of prosody in talking.
In case of any injuries in these places at the right hemisphere, there would be either a decline in comprehension or creation in prosody, so in communication ability.
Prosody-Social Life and A Poem Written Without Prosody
The withdrawal of people out from social life, specifically elderly people, can be due to the reduced abilities in the right hemisphere's prosody ability. Thus, it can be understood that prosody is as much as important as understanding and creating communication because, without it, everything would be emotionless, like a robot.
References:
Coursera, The Everyday Of Neurobiology Course, Chicago University
BrainFacts.org
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