Summary of Brain and language



Summary of Brain and language

Aphasia. Language deficits as a result of brain damage (not speech deficits).

• Broca’s aphasia: Non-fluent, effortful speech. Severe problems in production but also some in comprehension (particular grammatical structures). Lesion often in left frontal lobe.

• Wernicke’s aphasia: Fluent but meaningless speech. Serious problems in comprehension and repetition. Production full of paraphasias (jargon). Lesion often in superior temporal gyurs.

• Conduction aphasia: Main problems in repetition. Lesion in arcuate fasciculus (connecting Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas).

• Mixed transcortical aphasia: Spared ability to repeat in spite of severe aphasia. Lesion surrounding an intact perisylvian area.

• Support for localizationism BUT…be aware of cross-linguistic studies and large variability across patients.

Hemispheric asymmetry

1. Aphasia in Sign language: Left hemisphere damage (as in hearing people).

2. Right hemisphere damage in signers affects visuo-spatial abilities that are independent from those supporting language.

3. Split-brain patients: Left hemisphere dominance for language.

4. Hemispheric asymmetries in intact individuals: Reaction time measures. Dichotic listening.

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