Brain and Language

I 111~,~ I-~ '\ •,,;,~,~\\ ,, \\ : ' I •\ \'\11 ( 11 \\1' •1~:1 '\ I 1' \ ~ It~-.\~ \\1 ~ I

,, T,am',br,at~\~~<~~~ ,~,mmetr-M11
~~a:~( ·~n4 s , :'.tts-:.1~ .
,Vf ,~n1 t he left ' ~nd , the right he_misphef'es are vlsil:,l , , ~nly under t he
!<Veye. The most strikjng as~mmetries occur in languagJ\'i~laited cortices.'
:x~t\,, ~natomical differences are in' ;·n df x ·of th~ neurob'id(g't~'.at Onderpinnin.gs
\• \I 1
I ' \ '\
' ~ \ \ • 1 \ I
I'',,,
' :
' ' ANTONIO AND HANNA DAMASIO, University of Southern- California, Brain and I

Cre,ativity Institute and Department of Neuroscience

Attempts to understand the complexities of human cognitive abilities and especially the acqui-
sition and use of language are as old and as continuous as history itself. What is the nature
of the brain? What is the nature of human language? And what is the relationship between
the two? Philosophers and scientists have grappled with these questions and others over the
centuries. The idea that the brain is the source of human language and cognition goes back
more than two thousand years. The philosophers of ancient Greece speculated about the brain/
mind relationship, but neither Plato nor Aristotle recognized the brain's crucial function in
cognition or language. However, others of the same period showed great insight, as illustrated
in the following quote from the Hippocratic Treatises on the Sacred Disease, written c. 377
B.C . E.:

[The brain is] the messenger of the understanding [and the organ whereby] in an especial
manner we acquire wisdom and knowledge.

The study of language has been crucial to understanding the brain/mind relationship .
Conversely, research on the brain in humans and other primates is helping to an swer questio ns
concerning the neurological basis for language. The study of the biological and neural found a -
tions of language is called neurolinguistics . Neurolinguistic research is often based o n data
from at ypica l or impaired language a nd uses such data to understand properties of hum an
la nguage in general.
 46

THE HUMAN BRAIN

"Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully.

"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit's clever."
"And he has Brain."
"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has Brain."
There was a long silence.
. ,,
"I suppo se," said Pooh, "that that '\hy he never under
stand s anyth in.g.
A. A. MI LNE, The House at Pooh Corner, 1928
. .
The bram 1s the most complex orga n of the bo d y. It hes. d h kull a·nd cons ists of approxi-
mately 100 billion nerve cells (neurons) and billions un er t es h Th
of fibers tha~ }nte rc~~-n ect \ em. e
surface of the brain is the corte x, often called "gra y matt
er," cons istm g of bi 7ns O ~eu~ons.
The corte x is the decision-m akin g orga n of the body
.' It receives ~ess ages ram a O the
sens ory orga ns, initia tes aH volu ntary and invo lunta
ry actio ns, and 1s the storeh ouse of our
memories. Som ewhe re in this gray matt er resides the
gram mar that repr esen ts our knowledge
of langu age.
The brain is com pose d of cerebral hemispher~s, one on ·
the right and one on the left, joined
by the corp us callo sum, a netw ork of more than 200 milli
on fibers (see Figu re 2.1). The corpus
callo sum allow s the two hemispheres of the brain to com
mun icate with each othe r. With out this
system of conn ectio ns, the two hemispheres wou ld oper
ate inde pend ently . In gene ral, the left
hemi sphe re conti:ols the right side of the body, and the
right hem isph ere cont rols the left side.

Front

Left
Right
Hemi spher e
. Hemi spher e .

Corte x
White
Matt er

Back

P~i~I\~:,2~1,:_.
Three -dime nsion al recon struc tion of the norm al
1· .
obtai ned from mag t·
!~o~ tohp. dRil~ht panel= view from the front follow ing
e as e me.
Courtesy of Hanna Damasio.
.
;~:::t
ne 1c reson ance data using the ivmg
B · huma n br am
techn
coron al
·
ique
. The imag
.
secti
Left
on at
.
panel
t h
es were

l
• view
1 01
e ev e
 47
If you point with_your right ha_nd, t~1e left hemi sphere is responsible for your action. Similarly,
sensory informatton from the nght side of the body (e.g. , right ear, right hand , right visual field)
is received by the left hemisphere of the brain , and sensory input to the left side of the body is
received by the right hemisphere. This is referred to as contralateral brain function.

The Localization of Language in the Brain

An issue of central concern has been to determine which parts of the brain are responsible
for human linguistic abilities. In the early nineteenth century, Franz Joseph Gall proposed the
theory of localization, which is the idea that different human cognitive abilities and behaviors
are localized in specific parts of the brain. In light of our current knowledge about the brain,
some of Gall's particular views are amusing. For example, he proposed that language is located
in the frontal lobes of the brain because as a young man he had noticed that the most articulate
and intelligent of his fellow students had protruding eyes, which he believed reflected overde-
veloped brain material. He .also put forth a pseudoscientific theory called "organology" that
later came to be known as phrenology, which is the practice of determining personality traits,
intellectual' capaciti~s, and other matters by examining the "bumps" on the skull. A disciple of
Gall's, Johann Spurzheim, introduced phrenology to America, constructing elaborate maps and
skull models such as the one shown in Figure 2.2, in which language is located directly under
the eye.

F1Guaa 2.2 Phrenology skull model.

 I

48
. he prev ailin g view that the
Gall was a pioneer and a courageous scien. . . . ga1nst t d d s . ·f·
tist m argu ing a been disca r e as a c1ent1 le
brain was an unstr uctur ed organ . Although phren ology
has long 1·10 guist ic and othe r cognitive
t h eory, Gall's view that the brain is not a unt·form mass d that ·£· · t· ·
, an ld by scien tt 1c mveS tgat1on
capacities are functions of localized brain areas , has
. . been uphe tudie s using soph istica ted
o f b ram disor ders, and, over the past two d eca d es, b 11 urner ous s
Y
technologies.

Aphasia
· · ders tand ing the r~at1 -1 ·
The study of aphasia has been an impo rtant area of resea 10
onsh ip·
· · · h 1 · 1rch un l e diso rder th
betwe en bram and language · Aphasia 1s t e neur o ogica termh for anyd angu ag
h a If o f t h e nme
at
· t eenth
results from brain dama ge caused by disease or traum
· 'f' a. In t e seco n . h b . b d
centu ry, s1gm 1cant scientific advances were ma d e m · 1 1· · lang uage m t e ram ase on
the study of peop le with aphasia. In the 1860s the Fren oca 1zmg d h
ch surg eon ~~ul Broc a prop ose t at
langu age is lof=alized to the left hemisphere of the brain
, and more spec1ftca~ly to th e. fron t part of
the left hemi sphe re (now called Broca's area) .. At a scien
tific meet ing in Pans , he claim ed th at we
spea k with the left hemisphere. ,Broca's finding was base
d on a study of his patie nts who s~ffered
langu age deficits after brain injury to the left front al
lobe. A deca de later Carl Wer mck e, a
~ern ;ian neuro logis t, descr ibed anoth er variety of apha
sia that occu rred in patie nts with lesions
m areas of the left hemisphere temp oral lobe, now know
n as Wernicke's area . Lang uage , then , is
later alize d to the left hemisphere, and the left hemi sphe
re appe ars to be the lang uage hemi sphe re
froni infan cy on. Lateralization is the term used to refer
to the loca lizat ion of func tion to one
hemi sphe re of the brain . Figure 2.3 is a view of the left
side of the brain that show s Broc a's and
Wern icke' s areas .

.• ...
~

..,•
~
...
"·

---- 'o•1,

'
."...
... ~t,,
0 . -~
II, ·; _ . _ _.':J:·,·
,,_.•; _.,(" ~ .
{·.,,.- . ': ." '•, .

0 .
,,tt-'
,
,u•' ,,o•
,,.._ ~
... \

_____.......__'
MIOO L\
1
------=
,,.. 0

. J ... \
BROCA'S At• ' 0 I,
AREA ..... 110• , ~a
M A Ir- WERNICKE'S
flGU U 2.3 Lateral (external) view of the left AREA
Broca's and Wernicke's .
hemisphere of the human hr .
areas -two key areas of the cortex rel ta1dn, showing the
positi on Cl '.
, a e to la
nguage processi ng.
 49

The Linguistic Charact erization of Aphasic Syndromes

Mosr aphasics do nor show rota l languag e loss . Rather, different aspects of language are selec-
ri vel y impaired , and the kind of impairm ent is generally related to the location of
the brain
damage . Because of this damage -deficit correlati on, research on patients with aphasia has
provided a great deal of informa tion about how language is organize d in the brain. .
Patients with injuries to Broca's area may have Broca's aphasia, as it is often called today.
Broca's aphasia is characte rized by labored speech and certain kinds of word-find ing difficulties,
but it is primaril y a disorder that affects a person's ability to form sentences with the rules of
syntax. One of the most notable characte ristics of Broca's aphasia is that the language produce d
is often agrammatic, meaning that it frequent ly lacks articles, preposit ions, pronoun s, auxiliar
y
verbs, and other gramma tical elements that we will call "functio n words" for now. Broca's
aphasics also typically omit inflectio ns such as the past tense suffix -ed or the third person
singular verb ending -s. Here is an excerpt of a convers ation between a patient with Broca's
aphasia and a doctor:
DOCTOR : Could you tell me what you have been doing in the hospital ?
PATIENT : Yes, sure. Me go, er, uh, P.T. [physic~} therapy] none o'cot, speech ... two times
... read ... r ... ripe ... rike ... uh write ... practice ... get ... ting ... better.
DOCTOR : And have you been going home on weekends?
PATIENT : Why, yes ... Thur~da y uh .. ; uh ... uh ... no ... Friday ... Bar ... ba ... ra ... wife ...
. and oh car ... drive ... purpike ... you know ... rest ... and TV.
Broca's apha~ics (also often called agrammatic aphasics) ·may also have difficult y under- -
standing complex sentence s in which compreh ension depends exclusively on syntacti c structur e
and where they cannot rely on their real,.world knowledge. For example , an agramm atic aphasic
may have difficul ty knowin g who kissed who~ in question s like:
Which girl did the boy kiss?

where it is equally plausibl e for the boy or the girl to have done the kissing; or might be confuse d
as to who is chasing whom in passive sentence s such as:
The cat was chased by the dog.

where it is plausibl e for either animal to chase the other. But they have less difficult y with:
Which book did the boy read?

or
The car was chased by the dog.

where the meaning can be determi ned by nonlingµ istic knowled ge. It is implaus ible for books
to read boys or for cars to chase dogs, and aphasic people can use that knowled ge to interpre t
the sentence .
Unlike Broca's patients , people with Wernicke's aphasia produce fluent speech with good
intonati on, and they may largely adhere to the rules of syntax. Howeve r, their languag e is often
semanti cally incoher ent. For example , one patient replied to a question about his health with:
 -
50
. nds to kee p me
. d of the rn1
I felt worse because I can no longer k in min d from the min
- . eep f' d
from mmd and up to the ear wh1c can be to m am on g ourselves.
. h
- h r wh en asked about
. . k
An oth er patient des cnb ed a for as a need for a schedu e
" l " and ano t e '
. · ·
h 1s poo r v1s1on, rep 1. d M . . h ,,
People wit h damage to We
1e , " y wir · d n't htre ng t.
es o - d . ff. l min g o 6 . t 5 presente d to them a nd
rnicke's area have 1 icu ty na ke num Jec . l rors ( d
a Iso m . cho . . ero us lex ica er l wor
osm g words m spontaneous speech. The y ma y ma ll · ng exa
- • ) d . in the fa mp e:
su b st1tut1ons , o f ten pro d ucm •g·
Jargon and nonsense wo r s,. as.
oW 1

The only thin g tha t I can say aga m . • dd

dd fish ing sew e d mto •
t he
1s ma er or mo dde r fish su en
- _
accident to miss in the purdles.
. · · h k d ·f h
An oth er example is from a patient wh h . . bef ore his ap h as1· a. W en as e 1 e
o was a P ys1cian
was a doc tor, he replied:
h f I ha
my ow n. I st1·11 k now my., tub abo ys w at or
Me? Yes sir. I'm a male demaploze on
ve
tha t's gone hell and some of them go.
· ·
Severe Wernicke's aph asia is often refe .-
rred to as Jar gon ap h asia . Th e ling uis tic def icit s exh ibit ed
.
by people wit h Broca's and Wernicke's .
ap has1a pom . dul ar org ani.zat ion . f l
in the bra in. We find tha t damage to t to a mo . d. ff o ang uag
k · d ef
different par ts of the bra in res ults in 1
linguistic imp airm ent (e.g., syntactic e~e ~t ~n s ~
versus semantic). Thi s sup por ts the
me nta l gra mm ar, like the bra in itself, hyp ot .esi s t ~t t e
is not an und iffe ren tiat ed sys tem , but
dis tinc t com pon ent s or modules wit h rat her conSlS t s of
different fun ctio ns.
The kin d of wo rd sub stit utio ns tha t aph .
asic pat ien ts pro duc e als o tell us abo
org ani zed in the _me nta l lexicon. Som ut how wo rds are
etimes the sub stit ute d wo rds are sim
wo rds in the ir sou nds . For example, poo ilar to the inte nde d
l might be sub stit ute d for too l, sab le for
for crucible. Sometimes they are similar tab le, or crucial
in me ani ng (e.g., tab le for cha ir or bo
erro rs resemble the speech erro rs tha y for gir l). These
t anyone mig ht ma ke, but the y occ ur
in peo ple wit h aph asia . The sub stit utio far mo re freq uen tly
n of sem ant ica lly or pho net ica lly- rela
tha t neu ral con nec tion s exi st am ong ted wo rds tells us
sem an_tically rela ted wo rds and am ong
alike. ~o rds are not me nta lly represe wo rds tha t sou nd
nted in a simple list but rath er in an
con nec tion s. org ani zed net wo rk of
Sim ilar obs erv atio ns per tain to readin
. . g. The term -dy slex ia refers to rea d·
wo rd subst1tut1ons are. ma de by peo 1ng d.1sord ers . M any
· d I ple wh o bec om e dys lex ic aft er b
ca ll e d acq mre d ·
ys exi ts because be fore their bra in lesi · d Th
ons the y we ram am age ey are
d eve lopm ent a I d ys lex1·cs, h h d1·ff ' I d.
h w o ave 1culty lea rni ng to read) O re nor ma rea ers (un l'k
d .
w en rea mg wo r s prm te on car dsd · d
· ne gro up o
f . 1 e
following examples. alo ud, pro duc ed the kin ds of sub sti the se pat ien ts
• . '
tut ion s sho wn m the
Stimulus Response 1 Response 2
act play pla y
app lau d laugh cheers
exa mp le ans wer sum
heal pai n med icin e
sou th wes t eas t
 51
T hr 1. >11 _1iss iPll ' ll """·' 1!0 11 word s 111 1he speech l> f :, gra mn rn ti c ;tph as ics shows that this class
1.'I w1.lrds _,s 11 w 1n_. , 11~· d 1s t 111 l.:t t~·,_,m l.· rn~rc nt Words Ii ke n o un s. t\ si mi la r phenome non has been
1.ll,scr n-d 111 .Kquu'ed dy slc_ , i .t. l lw pnttt·i1t w ho pro du ced th e sc m a nti c sub stituti o ns c ited previ-
ous I~ w:ts .,l ~t' a~r:~mm a t K irnd v.i a~ not nhlc to read functi on wo rd s at all. When presented
wi th wm·,ts ltkt· " 'Inch or w ould, he Just sniJ, " No" or " I hate those little word s." However, he
,·'-ndd n•,hJ ho mo pho noll s 1wuns :tnd ve rbs. th ough wi t h ma ny se ma nti c mi stakes as shown in
rht· fo ll o win~: '

Stimulus Response Stimulus Response

witd1 u ·itch which no!
holl r tim e o ur no!
('VC e·ves l no!
hymn bib/<' him no!
wood u ood
1
would no!

All these errors provide evidence that the mental dictionary has content words and function
words in different co mpa rtments, a nd that these two classes of words are processed in different
brain arens o r by different neural mechanisms, further supporting the view that both the brain
3nd langu:tge are structured in a complex, modular fashion.
Additio nal ev idence regarding hemispheric specialization .is drawn from Japanese readers.
The Japa nese la nguage has two main writing systems. One system, kana, is based on the sound
system of the language; each symbol corresponds to a syllable. The other s.ystem, kanji, is
ideographic; each symbol corresponds to a word. (More about this in chapter 12 on writing
systems.) Ka nji is not based on the sounds of the language. Japanese people with left-hemisphere
damage are impaired in their ability to read kana, whereas people with right-hemisphere damage
are impaired in their ability to read kanji. Also, experiments with unimpaired Japanese readers
show that the right ~emisphere is better and faster than the left hemisphere at reading kanji,
and vice versa. '
Most of us have experienced word-finding difficulties in speaking if not in reading, as Alice
did in "Wonderland" when she said:

''And now, who am I? I will remember, if I can. I'm determined to do it!" But being
determined didn't help her much, and all she could say, after a great deal of puzzling, was
"L , I know it begins with L."

This tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon (often referred to as TOT) is not uncommon. But if you
could rarely find the word you wanted, imagine how frustrated you would be. This is the fate
of many aphasics whose impairment involves severe anomia-the inability to find the word you
wish to speak. ·
It is important to note that the language difficulties suffered by aphasics are not caused by
any general cognitive or intellectual impairment or loss of motor or sensory controls of the
nerves and muscles of the speech organs or hearing apparatus. Aphasics can produce and hear
sounds. Whatever loss they suffer has to do only with the language faculty (or specific parts o f
it).
Dea f signers with damage to the left hemisphere show aphasia for sign language simila r to the
la ng uage br~akdown in hearing aphasics , even though sign language is a visu a l-spati a l la nguage.
 52
fou nd in hea ring
. . 1·ke tho se . h d
De af pati ent s wit. h lesi.on s in . , d fic1 ts t . hos e wit amage
Bro ca s area sho.w lan .
gua ge e
duc cio n,
L·k
1 ew ise , t . d · h d
pat ien ts. namely severe ly dys fluent st ge fill e wi t ma e-
. , agr arn rnac i_
c g n_ pro her ent sign languda fi'~its the y hav
ro \'Xlern1ck
. e's a re a have fluent but o f ten s em ann h ca 11y inc o age e '
e · no
. · k d si·gn lan gu . tur es eve n t oughh
up s1gns . Although dea f aphasic
pan ent s s ow ma r e of nlin gut· t 1c ges '
d 1.ff·1cu1ty pro d uci.ng non 1. . • cures or seq uen ces 00 s " rtic ula tor s"- the
. mgu 1st1 c ges . . h sar ne a
bot h non l111g . .
mst1c gestures ~n d l'ng I uis uc signs are pro duc ed by. t enon . • tic vis ual -sp atia l
diff icu lt in pro hng u1s
han ds and arm s. De af aphasics also ces sin g . lin uis tic aud itor y
. ns h ' . h have 00 bly 'th pro ces sin
re Iat1o .
1ps , 1ust as ear ing ap h . have no pro em wt g non h g • late rali zed
stim uli. These findings are imp ortas1cs h h hat the le f t h e rni sp ere. ts
for lan gua ge- an abs trac t system of
ant because t ey s ow t d t sim ply for hea nn g _or ~pe ec h·
symbols _a nd rul es- _ an . nod but wil l be lat~ rah ze
Lan gua ge can be realized in diff ere to the
nt mo dal iue s, spo ken or Signe '
left hemisphere regardless of modal .
ity. . . . h has
The kin d of selective imp airm ent s tha ia has pro vid ed tmp or~ ant
t we fmd m peo ple wit ;p niti ve abi liti es, esp eci ally
inf orm atio n abo ut the org ani zat ion
of diff ere nt lan gua ge an cog_ tive
gra mm ar and the lex ico n_. It tells us mo du le- so aph asi cs
tha t lan gua ge is a_ sep ara te_::g :t sep
can be oth erw ise cognitively no rm ara te com pon ent s can
al- and also tha t w1 thm lan g _g '
be diff ere ntia lly affe cte d by dam age
to different reg io'n s of the bra in.
Historical Descriptions of Aphasia
.
Int ere st m aph asi.a has a long his.
tory. Gre ek H1. ppocrat1c . h · · epo rte d tha t los
f h
oft en occ urr ed sim ulta neo usl y wit P ysi cia ns r l s o spe ec
h paralysis of the rig ht side of the . "If
I for get the e, Oh Jer usa lem , ma y bod y. Psa m 13 7 st ate s.
my righ t han d lose its cun nin g and
roo f of my mo uth ." Thi s pas sag e also my ton gue cle ave to_ the
shows tha t a link bet we en los s of
the rig ht side wa s rec ogn ize d. spe ech and par aly sis of
Pliny the Eld er (c.E. 23- 79) refers. .
to an Ath eni an wh o . "w ith the
pre sen tly to for get his lett ers onl str oke of a sto ne fell
y, and cou ld rea d no mo re; oth erw
him well eno ugh ." Nu me rou s clin ise , his me mo ry ser ved
ical des crip tion s of ·pat ien ts like the
deficits, but int act non ling uis tic cog Ath eni an wi th lan gua ge
nitive systems, we re pub lish ed bet
eig hte ent h cen turi es. Th e lan gua ge we en the fift een th and
difficulties we re not attr ibu ted to
deficits or loss of me mo ry, but to a eith er gen era l int elle ctu al
specific imp airm ent of lan gua ge.
Car l Lin nae us in 1745 pub lish ed a
case stu dy of a ma n suf fer ing fro
spo ke "as 1'f.1t wer e a fore1gn. l
ang uag e, havm . gh m ·arg on a h ·
1 ho
.
o f tha t cen tur y rep ort e d on a pat ien , is ow n nam es for all wo rds " A h
p as1 a, w
t s wo rd sub stit utio n err ors : . h
no t er p ys1·c1a ·
n
Aft er an illness, she wa s sud den ly
affl icte d wit h a for get ting or r th
con f us1. on o f speec h ... ~ I f s he d es1. red . •
' ' a er, an mc apa c1t .
a chair, she wo uld ask for a t bl y or
herself perceived tha t she mis nam ed
objects· at oth er tim es sh
S .
. h a e.... om eti
w h 1c she had ask ed for, wa s bro ugh
t to her
'
, ins tea d ' e wa s ann oye d hme s she
had req ues ted . of .the bon net h . i
w en a ,an ,
' w ich she tho ug ht she

Physicians of the day des crib ed oth

er
. b .
w l10, fo 11ow mg . kin ds .of 11·ng ms · t. b kd · .
ram dam age , reta ine d his ab· i ·r - t 1c d rea
L .
ow n in d .1 .
Ge rm an. I I y o rea atm but l eta1h , suc h as a pn es t
0st t e abi lity
Th e his tori cal des crip tion s of lan to rea d
. ·t· d' gua ge loss f 11 · b · d
f
con tra 11 ed sc1ent1 1c stu 1es o aph
. asi a tha t ha o ow mg ram am a f
is pre dom ma ntly and mo st frequen ve prov1·d e d su b sta nt' lge . ore sha dow th e I tr ·r
tly a left-he • h . e
m1sp ere f unc tto .
n Inta evi den ce th a t l·..1n g u ~1~t'
· mo st ca
ses Ies1.o ns to rh c
 53
left h~n~i sphere _res ult in a_ph as ia , but injuri es to the ri ght do not (although such lesions result
in detici rs 111 fac ia l recognmo n, pa ttern recog niti on, a nd oth er cogniti ve abilities). Still, caution
rnus t he ta ke n. T he a ht! it y to und er st a nd int onati o n conn ec ted w ith various emotional states
and also _to under st a n~ meta_ph ors_ (e.g., Th e wa lls have ears ), jokes , puns, double entendres,
and the like ~a n be aftected tn pa tients w ith right hemi sph ere damage . If such understindi-ng
has a lingui stic co mpo nent, then we ma y have to attribute some language cognition to the right
hemi sphere.
Srudies of aphasia have provided not only important information regarding where and how
la nguage is loca lized in the brain, but also data bearing on the properties and principles of
gra mma r that have been hypothesized for non -brain-damaged adults. For example, the study
of aphasia has provided empirical evidence concerning theories of word structure (chapter 3),
sentence formation (chapter 4 ), meaning (chapter 5), and sound systems (chapters 6 and 7).

Brain Imaging Technology

The historical descriptions of aphasia illustrate that people have long been fascinated by the
brain-language connection. Today we no longer need to rely on surgery or autopsy to locate
brain lesions or to identify the language regions of the brain. Noninvasive brain recording
technologies such as computer tomography (CT) scans and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
can reveal lesions in the living brain shortly after the damage occurs. In addition, positron
emission tomography (PET) scans, functional MRI (fMRI) scans, and single photon emission
CT (SPECT) scans provide images of the brain in action. It is now possible to detect changes in
brain activity and to relate these changes to localized brain damage and specific linguistic and
nonlinguistic cognitive tasks.
Figures 2.4 and 2.5 show MRI scans of the brains of a Broca's aphasic patient and a
Wern.icke's aphasic patient. The black areas show the sites of the lesions. Each diagram repre-
sents a slice of the left side of the brain.

Three-dimensional reconstruction of the brain of a living patient with Broca's aphasia. Note
area of damage in left frontal region (dark gray), which was caused by a stroke.
C-OUrtesy of Hanna Damasio.
 I

54

l'll al 2.5 Three-dimensional reconstruction of the . . atie nt wit h We rnic ke's aphasia
Note area of damage in left posterior tem bram 0 _f a
hvm ~ p dark ray) , whi ch was caused.
poral and lower pan etal region ( g
by a stro ke.
Courtesy of Hanna Damasio.

A variety of scanning techniques permit

us to measure met abo lic act ivit y in par
of the bra in. Areas of greater activity are ticu lar areas
those mo st involved in the me nta l pro
mo me nt of the scan. Supplemented by ces ses at the
magnetic enc eph alo gra phy (M EG ), wh
magnetic fields in the living brain, these ich measures
techniques can sho w us how the hea lthy
par ticu lar linguistic stimuli. For example, bra in rea cts to
the brains of nor ma l adu lts are obs erv
are asked to listen to two or more sounds ed wh en they
and det erm ine if the y are the sam e. Or
asked to listen to strings of sounds or read the y ma y be
a stri ng of letters and det erm ine if the y
possible words, or listen to or read sequen are rea l or
ces of wor ds and say wh eth er the y for m
or ung ram ma tica l sentences. The results gra mm atic al
of these studies rea ffir m the ear lier find
language resides in specific areas of the left ing s that
hemisphere.
Dra mat ic evidence for a differentiated and .
stru ctu red bra in is also pro vid ed by stu
bot h normal individuals and patients wit die s of
Wermc e s areas. some h lesi ons in reg ion s
· k , · ts have d1·ff·1cu1ty spe k
patien
of the bra in oth er th B
an
, d
· · a ing a per son 's nam roe a s an
nam mg ammals; an st1·11 ot hers can not
d e·
,
oth h
ers ave pro ems
bl
locat1on· f h b · l · nam e too ls. fM RI stud ies hav er Id h h
·
· l ·
o t e ram
· d'
es1ons m eac h o f t hese types of pat ien ts. The pat evea e t e s ape an d
bram ·
es1ons m 1stmct, nonover lappmg · ' · h
regi ons of the left ten ts 1n eac gro up ha d
tem por al 1
· ls or 0 e. n a fo IIow -up PE T
scan stu dy, nor ma l su bJect . s wer b I
e as ke d to name per son s, ani ma
h
t at t here was d 1'fferentta · l act1·vat1·on · h t 1 E .
m t e nor mal bra ins in just' tho 00 s. · xpe nm ent ers found
in the aphasics who were unable to name h
persons ani ma ls or too l se s1 tes t at
Fur the r evidence for t he separation of , ' we re dam age d
cognitive systems is p s. ·d
. and behavioral findings tha t follow bra
in damage. Some pat ien ts rl~:~ ed by _t?e
sou nds or colors or familiar faces while neu rolo gic al
retaining all oth er fun ct' th
A e _ability to rec ogn ize
to recognize his wife when she walks into
the roo m unt il she stn s. . pat ien t ma
diff ere ntia tion of many aspects of visual y not be able
and aud itor y pro ces sing ~rts to talk . Thi
s sug ges ts the
 l- Cl\ _-1-<,N"- I,. i o- -h ·rn - ¾A.lM-s u,ut fv I\J- ~ h ~ 17 Ir1
~ hr\Nl 1) M.t <L L tJ µJ.A, -Ev.. WJt ~ u'i +eiss
dv;
Brain Plasticity and Lateralization in Early Life L lu\/1 Y\ •
It takes only one hemisphere to have a mind.
A. L. WIGAN, The Duality of the Mind, 1844

Lateralization of_language to the left hemisphere is a process that begins very early in life.
Wernicke's area is visibly distinctive in the left hemisphere of the fetus by the twenty-sixth
gestational week. Infai:ts as young as one week old show a greater electrical response in the
left hemisphere tq language and in the right hemisphere to music. A recent study videotaped
the mouths of babies between the ages of five and twelve months when they were smiling and
when they were babbling in syllables {producing sequences like mamama or gugugu). The study
found that during smiling, the babies had a greater opening of the left side of the mouth (the side
controlled by the right hemisphere), whereas during babbling, they had a greater opening of the
right side (controlled by the left hemisphere). This indicates more left hemisphere involvement
even at this very early stage of productive language development (see chapter 8). .
While the left hemisphere is innately predisposed to specialize for language, there is also
evidence of considerable plasticity (i.e., flexibility) in the system during the early stages of
language development. This means that under certain circumstances, the right hemisphere can
take over many of the language functions that would normally reside in the left hemisphere.
An impressive illustration of plasticity is provided by children who have undergone a procedure
known as hemispherectomy, in which one hemisphere of the brain is surgically removed. This
procedure is used to treat otherwise intractable cases of epilepsy. In cases of left hemispher-
ectomy after language acquisition has begun, children experience an initial period of aphasia
and then reacquire a linguistic system that is virtually indistinguishabl e from that of normal
children. They also show many of the developmental patterns of normal language acquisition.
UCLA professor Susan Curtiss and colleagues have studied many of these children. They
hypothesize that the latent linguistic ability of the right hemisphere is "freed" by the removal of
the diseased left hemisphere, which may have had a strong inhibitory effect before the surgery.
In adults, however, surgical removal of the left hemisphere inevitably results in severe loss of
· language function (and so is done only in life-threatening circumstances), whereas adults (and
children who have already acquired language) who have had their right hemispheres removed
retain their language abilities. Other cognitive losses may result, such as those typically later-
alized to the right hemisphere. The plasticity of the brain decreases with age and with the
increasing specialization of the different hemispheres and regions of the brain.
Despite strong evidence that · the left hemisphere is predetermined to be the language
hemisphere in most humans, some evidence suggests that the right hemisphere also plays a roJe
in the earliest stages of language acquisition. Children with prenatal, perinatal, or childhood
brain lesions in the right hemisphere can show delays and impairments in babbling and vocab -
ulary learning, whereas children with early left hemisphere lesions demonstrate impairments in
their ability to form phrases and sentences. Also, many children who undergo right hemi sph er-
ectomy before two years of age do not develop language, even though they still ha ve a lefr
hemisphere.
Various findings converge to show that the human brain is essentially designed to spcci ~1Ii , c
for language in the left hemisphere but that the right hemisphere is invol ved in ea rl y l.111p1.1 ~:('
de velopment. They also show that, under the right circumstances, the bra in is rcm .lf ~.1 H,
resi lie nt and that if brain damage or surgery occurs early in life, norm 3l ldr lll·rn i, rhc rc
functions ca n be taken over by the right hemisphere.
 56

Spl it Brains
.
.
omm unic atio n between
Peopl e su ffe ring . b
fro m inr n1et able epilepsy may c trea te d by seve ring c .
· ·
thei r two hemi spheres . Surgeons cut through t he corp ( ee Figu re 2 · 1) ' the fibrou s
us ca llosu
. m s · co mm un1-·
netw ork th at conn ec ts the two halv es. W hen t h is . pat h y as severe d ' ther e is no
.
ca tion between the "two bra ins." Such spat 1· b .
wa
. nts also prov1
·de evid ence f or Ianguage
- ram patte . ·
later aliza tion and for unde rstan ding cont rala tera l
brai n functaons.
The psyc hologist Mic hael Gazzaniga states:
. f
Wit h [the corp us callosum] intact, the two halves d h'ave 00 secr ets rom one
of th.e bo Y · scio us men tal sphe res,
anot her. Wit h it sectioned, the two halves become
two diffe rent cinh vior al ope rati ons ....
each with its own experience base and cont rol
Unbelievable as this may seem, this is the flavor sy stem fo~ e fa peri men tal stud ies
of a long sene s O ex
first carr ied out in the cat and monkey. 1

Whe n the brai n is surgically split, cert ain mfo .· . . f

. rmat10n rom t h e left side ofh the t
bod y is
k
received only by the right side of the brain, and vice . t
versa. 10 i11u st ra e, supp ose tfl a h"
-r . a mon ey
is train ed to resp ond with both its hand s to a cert 1" h
ain visual stim ulus , su~h as a has ing ~g t.
Afte r the train ing is complete, the brai n is surgicall
the left visual field (the righ t hemisphere). Because
y split. The stim ulus 1s then s own
the righ t hem isph ere con trol s the left Slde of
°~ Y to
the body, the mon key will perf orm only with the
left hand .
In hum ans who have undergone split-brain oper
atio ns, the two hem isph eres app ear to be
inde pend ent, and messages sent to the brai n resu
lt in diffe rent resp onse s, dep end ing on whic h
side receives the message. For example if a pencil is
placed in·th e left han d of a spli t-br ain pers on
who se eyes are closed, the pers on can use the pe~c
il appr opri ately but can not nam e it beca use
only the left hem isph ere can speak. The righ t brai
n senses the penc il but the info rma tion cann ot
be relayed to the left brai n for linguistic .nam ing
because the conn ~cti oris betw een the two
halves have been severed. By cont rast, if ,t he penc
il is plac ed· in_the righ t han d, . the subj ect is
imm edia tely able to nam e it as well as to desc;ribe
· it because the sens ory info rma tion from the
righ t han d goes dire ctly to the left hemisphere, whe
re the lang uage area s are loca ted.
Vari ous e~p erim ents of t~is sort ~ave prov ided info
rma tion on the diff eren t capa bilit ies of
the two hem isph eres . The ngh t bram does bett er
reco gmz . . f
mg aces, an d m .
spat . 1 k Th 1 f h than
ia .
the left in patt ern- mat ch·
. t k ·0
tas s. ing
percept1·0n, · tem pera 1-or· d · d e
d
e t
. h
e.m1s
.
pher e 1s supe rior for lan has hs, t·
er JU gme nts, gua ge, r
" h . h h . h an ant met1c calc ulat ions Acc ord·
t e ng t em1sp ere as we 11· as t h e 1ef t hem1. sp h ere . G yt m1c ·
· h t cann ,, can emo te .
and whi le th 1 fing to azza n1ga ,
w h y, t h e ng ot. e e t can te ll you
Studies of hum an split -bra in pati ents have also
· .show n that whe th •
vISua l conn ecti·ons are severe d , v1su · al · f
m orm atio n e inte r
h
em1
.
sphe
.
. d tot h e 1e f n from the righ t and I ft · f· nc
con f me tan d ng· h t h emis· p heres, resp
ectiv ely. Bec ause of the e visu a 1 1elds beco mes
· ·
left hem isph ere for lang uage , wnt· ten mat eria l delivered to the cruc ia 1end
alou d if the brai n is split , because the info rma tion righ t h . h
can not be tran sfer e:is p ~re can not _h e read
owm
°
en t f the
An imag e or pict ure that is flashed to the,righ t visu
al field of a spli t-b: :int o: . e left hem isph ere.
proc esse d hY, the left hemisphere) can be nam ed. How
ever whe n th . P ~•ent (and ther efor e
visu al field and ther efor e "lan ds" in the righ t hem
isph ere' it cannote bpicture is flas hed in the left
. ' e nam ed.

JGaz zanig a, M. S. 1970 . The bisected brain. New

York: Appl eton- Cent ury-C rofts .