LANGUAGE

APHASIA

Lecture by: M.K. Sastry

Language
• Aphasia is an impairment of language, usually
caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca’s
area (impaired speaking) or to Wernicke’s area
(impaired understanding).
• Broca’s Area
• Receives impulse from
Wernicke’s Area and converts it
into motor commands.
• Damage: disrupts speaking
• Person can understand language
• Words may not be properly
formed
• Speech is slow and slurred.
• Patients may get frustrated
because they know that
something is wrong.
• Wernicke’s Area
• The area in our brain that allows understanding
of spoken and written language.
• It is the part that enables a person to interpret
language, so damage to this part causes the
person to become unaware of his own speech
and the speech of others.
• Sometimes the person can speak clearly, but the
words that are put together make no sense. This
way of speaking has been called "word salad"
because it appears that the words are all mixed
up like the vegetables in a salad.
• Might use complete nonsense words.
• Often not aware of their problem.
The Cerebrum:
_____ Hemispheres, _____ Lobes
• Cerebral Hemispheres – two specialized halves
connected by the corpus callosum.
• Left hemisphere – verbal processing: language, speech, reading,
writing
• Right hemisphere – nonverbal processing: spatial, musical, visual
recognition
The Corpus Callosum: communication between
hemispheres
• If you were to pull the two halves of the brain apart along the
fissure, about midway down you would see a bundle of fibers
called the corpus callosum.
• This bundle of fibers is made up of several million myelinated axons and
it is what allows each half of the brain _____________ with the other
half.
Split-Brain

• Doctors severed the corpus callosum of patients

with epileptic seizures
• Seizures all but eliminated
• Patients now have split brains
• How did this surgery impact their personality and
intellect?
It’s Opposite Day!
• Each hemisphere controls the opposite side of the
body. The left hemisphere controls movement and
sensation on the right side of the body, and the right
hemisphere controls the left side of the body.
• When it comes to our vision, this is a little different.
Our eyeballs are basically divided into two halves,
one half from each eye sends information to one
half of our brain.
• Because the two halves of our brains communicate,
we end up understanding the whole picture
instantly.
Right Brain/Left Brain: Visual Input
Split Brain Patients
With the corpus callosum severed, objects (apple)
presented in the right visual field can be named.
Objects (pencil) in the left visual field cannot.
Divided Consciousness
Try This!
Try drawing one shape with your left hand and one
with your right hand, simultaneously.

Watch this man’s

experiments in
action!
http://www.youtube
.com/watch?v=ZMLz
P1VCANo
Hemisphere Dominance and “Handedness”
• Hemisphere Dominance:
• Many psychologists believe that a person can be “Right-brain dominant”
or “left-brain dominant,” where that side of their brain tends to
influence them more than the other
• Take the dominance quiz to see your results.
• “Handedness” –
• Lefties- The right hemisphere dominates, so odds are they will be better
at and deal more with their right hemisphere. This increases the chances
that they will do well in art, music, architecture, etc.
• Righties- The left hemisphere dominates, so odds are they will be better
at and deal more with their left hemisphere. This increases the chances
that they will do well in verbal activities, debate, logic, writing, etc.
• There is no real evidence for “right-brain” or “left-brain”
people, or handedness for that matter…but it is still
interesting to consider!
Recap

For more
information, see
http://serendip.bry
nmawr.edu/bb/kins
er/Structure1.html

Figure 3.16 Structures and areas in the human brain

Figure 3.19 The cerebral cortex in humans
Thank You