LANGUAGE AND COGNITION

BRAIN, MEMORY AND LANGUAGE

(Field, 2003)
 Three important issues

Comparison

Nativist* argue that a human infant must have some kind of genetically transmitted faculty in order to acquire
language as rapidly and successfully as it does. Indeed, cognitivists argue that our special operation of the human
brain makes us different from other species in language production. Cognitivists believe that our such abilities are
not only because of special articulators humanbeings have, but because we are thinking and learning as well.

Localisation

It is reported that a normal child successfully achieves its first language ability, regardless their intelligence
(Chomsky). It is no wonder some said that language production is separated from the thought and reasoning
capability of humanbeings.

Lateralisation

The left and right hemispheres of human brain contribute to different functions in language production. Damage
in either way causes different impacts.

• *a person who advocates the theory that concepts, mental capacities, and mental structures are innate rather than acquired by learning. (Oxford online dictionary)
https://anatomyinfo.com/frontal-lobe/
 • A QUICK GEOGRAPHY OF THE BRAIN

1. UPPER VS LOWER

The upper color of the brain is ‘grey matter’, the color when the brain is exposed to air.
This is responsible for:

1). Making connections with stored information;

2). Analysing input and controlling sophisticated muscular movements.

Below is the sub-cortex of ‘white matter’, mainly comprise nerve cell fibres.

The lower part is responsible for:

1). Reflex actions;

2). Controlling functions such as breathing and heart beats.

The cerebellum at the base has a role of coordinating a range of muscular movements
which have become highly automotic.
2. LEFT VS RIGHT

• Please note that the left and right are from the perspective of the individuals. Left and
right hemispheres are connected by a complex web of nerve namely corpus callosum.
The left hemisphere controls movement and sensation on the right side of the body
(analythic processing and symbolisation), while the right hemisphere (perceptual and
spatial representation) is linked to the left side (of the body).

3. FRONT VS BACK

• The outer surface of the brain is marked by the mounds (gyri) and valley (sulci). These
serve to mark out four major regions in each hemisphere, known as lobes. They are the
frontal lobe at the front, the temporal lobe running from front to back and the occipital
and parietal lobes at the back.

• Especially important are the pre-frontal areas, which appear to be responsible for
recognising similarities between objects and grouping them into categories. Damage in
these areas may reduce the ability to choose between alternatives and to suppress old
routines when new information tell us to modify them. It may also limit the sufferer’s ability
to perform tasks that involve seeing things from the perspectives of others.
 How we process the language?
• Angular gyrus : transfer visual stimuli to (Wernicke’s)

• Wernicke’s area: responsible for language comprehension

• Broca’s area: responsible for language production

• Arcuate Fasciculus (a bundle of nerve fibers) connecting

Wernicke’s to Broca’s area.

• What happens when you read aloud?

• Visual cortex collects information as perceived by the eyes and

passes it to the angular gyrus which process and transfer the
information to Wernicke’s area where it is then matched with an
existing entry in the mind’s lexicon and made available for recall.
This information, recognition of the word ‘dog’ and its meaning,
for example, then travels across the arcuate fasciculus to Broca’s
area which takes it and transmit the articulatory information -
how the word is pronounced - to the motor cortex which directs
the movements of the muscles in the vocal tract in order to
actually say the word.
Comparisons between the brains of human
beings and those of other primates.
▪ The cortex is much more extensive in human beings.
▪ Human pre-frontal areas are up to six times bigger than those of chimpanzees (in
relation to body size)
▪ The brains of other species are divided into two hemispheres. Like human beings,
a number of species (birds, rodents, and other primates) have a left hemisphere
which is more developed. In monkeys, the left hemisphere dominates in the
processing of rapid auditory stimuli.
▪ In human beings, a greater proportion of the motor area is given over to the
control of mouth, tongue and jaw.
▪ The human cerebellum is very much larger, relative to brain size, than in other
species.
▪ The motor areas in the human cortex appear to exercise a high degree of control
over the larynx, which regulates the passage of air in breathing and speech. In
other species, the operation of the larynx is mainly or entirely controlled by the
lower parts of the brain.
What information we need to carry in our minds and
what process we need to apply to locate any word we
need?
▪ Please note the result is not fixed.
▪ A word = as a movable unit of meaning which cannot be broken
into free standing pieces
▪ Rather than words, vocabulary (in referring to lexical items) is
more appropriate to use.
▪ Three areas of studying vocabulary are set:
▪ Lexical entries : what information do we need to store in our mind
about lexical item?
▪ Lexical storage : how are lexical items stored in relation to each other?
▪ Lexical access : what is the process that enables us to retrieve lexical
items when we need them?
‘KNOWING’ A WORD
▪ It is assumed that language users has a personal vocabulary
store or lexicon (mental lexicon) from which they select words for
use and to which they refer the words they encounter in the
utterances of others.
▪ Each person’s lexicon as consisting of a large set of lexical
entries, one for each lexical item.
▪ Content of a lexical entry:
▪ What information needed to recognize and understand an item of
vocabulary when we encounter it in speech or writing?
▪ A lexical entry for a content word must provide information of two
different types: form and meaning.
FORM
▪ Phonological/orthographic Phonological Orthographic
information. form form
▪ Mental representation of a word / ɡɪv / give
▪ This is diverse according to
modality. If speech, a
phonological model is needed. If
reading, an orthographic model is
one needed. MEANING

▪ Morphological information
▪ Related to the change in one
word, a word may change due to
the change of meaning
▪ e.g.: sit – sat – sat
▪ legal – illegal
MEANING
▪ The meaning component of a lexical entry is sometimes referred to as
its lemma.
▪ SYNTAX
▪ The lemma includes syntactic information about a word.
▪ The lexical entry would also need to contain information on word class to be
used in generating sentences.
▪ We tend to relate the word with one or two patterns of a sentence.
▪ RANGE OF SENSES
▪ The lemma attaches meaning to the word.
▪ Our interpretation of a particular word may also vary according to context.
 LEXICAL STORAGE AND LEXICAL ACCESS
▪ Lexical storage : how words are stored in our minds in relation to each
other.
▪ Lexical access (or lexical retrieval): how we reach a word when we need it.

▪ Storage assists access

▪ Words are not stored in the mind independently. Every content word appears to have
close links to others.
▪ Assume a speaker is seeking a word for a fruit. Using the meaning as a point of
departure, the speaker might retrieve the whole set of fruit, which includes:
▪ APPLE – PLUM –PEAR – GRAPE – BANANA – ORANGE – PEACH - CHERRY
▪ The fruit is yellowish, which restrict the search to the first five. It is roundish and of
medium size which limits us the first three.
▪ Then the word can also be found in its form. At the same time as exploring the lexicon
through meaning sets, it is possible that the speaker associates the sound /ea/ with the
word being sought
▪ BEAR – CARE – DARE – FARE – PEAR – RARE – SHARE – TEAR – WEAR etc
 How a child learns the word TERRIFIED?

▪ Form a connection with HORRIFIED and TERRIER which are

similar in form
▪ Form a connection with AFRAID and SCARED which are similar
(but different) in meaning
Weak links and strong links
▪ Connectionism models itself upon the way in which the brain
operates by transferring signals across multiple neutral (nerve)
connections
▪ When a connection is used a great deal, it gets proportionately
stronger; when a connection is little used, it gets weaker.
▪ Thus, the link between AFRAID and SCARED is strong one
because the two often compete when we need a word to
express fear.
Weak links and strong links
• The notion of connection strength is useful because it accounts
for:
• Frequency : the words we use most are the ones that are
easiest for us to retrieve. This is because the connections to the
are more often used.
• Collocation : we retrieve certain words together because
they are so closely connected we talk about a heavy smoker ,
never a large smoker or a compulsive smoker.
Spreading activation
▪ Part of evidence for associative links between words come from
a phenomenon called spreading activation.
▪ If you have just see the word DOCTOR, you will recognize words
such as patient, hospital, or medicine more quickly as a result.
▪ The idea is that activation (think of it as a kind of electrical
impulse) runs along the connections which link the words in our
minds. Activation does not last long; it quite quickly decays.
Spreading activation
▪ If you read a text and come across the word CAMEL. Your
reading would benefit from two distinct processes:
▪ Spreading activation. The word CAMEL would trigger automatic
associations with closely connected words in your lexicon such as hump,
desert, sand and help you to recognize those words more quickly if
they occur.
▪ World knowledge. Knowing the word create certain expectation at a
rather more conscious level: there may be something in the text about
storing water in the hump, something about the two types of camel,
something about survival in a hot climate.
Spreading activation is believed to be the explanation for an effect known
as priming. This activity includes response to the word by taking the words
which are or are not associated with it. The forms can be w rod or non
word task (lexical decision task) where a button has to be pressed every
time a group of letters on a screen is an actual English word.
CONTENT AND FUNCTION WORDS
▪ CONTENT words
▪ Words that carry content
▪ Words that may change, be it they are added by affixes or be it
expanded or clipped
▪ FUNCTIONS words
▪ Words that carry function
▪ Words do not change