Language and the Brain

Understanding how language is

represented and processed in the
brain
Psycholinguisics

 The study of acquisition, storage,

comprehension and production of
language
 Neurolinguistics: branch of
psycholinguistics dealing with language
and the brain
 Cerebral cortex
 Cerebral cortex: A one-quarter-inch thick
membrane covering the brain
– consciousness, thinking, learning, emotions,
language
– Constitutes the difference between humans and
other animals
 Corpus callosum: bundle of nerve fibers that
connects the brain’s right and left hemispheres
LATERALIZATION
Each hemisphere specializes in diff. cognitive
functions (referred to as lateralization)
 RIGHT  LEFT
HEMISPHERE HEMISPHERE
 holistic reasoning  analytic reasoning
 music processing  temporal ordering
 processing of non-  arithmetic
linguistic sounds  language processing
 visual, spatial
processing
Lateralization (Cont’d)
Most right-handers
left-hemisphere dominance for language
Left-handers
generally less lateralized for language
Evidence of Lateralization:
Language damage far more likely following left-hemisphere
damage (70% vs. 1%)
Dichotic listening test
Split-brain patients
 Dichotic listening test

two three

Which one do you

think is more
accurately reported?

• Two different stimuli are presented simultaneously

through earphones to the left and right ears
• The listeners are asked to say what they hear
Contralateralization

 The connection between

R sensory information

L sensory information
the brain and the body are
almost completely
contralateral

two three
 The right ear advantage (REA)
nonlinguistic language
sound processing
processing
R L
Brain

R ear L ear

two three

 Listeners can identify linguistic stimuli more

accurately when presented to their right ear.
BONES AND MUSCLES OF THE HEAD
 The left ear advantage
nonlinguistic language
sound processing
processing
R L
Brain

R ear L ear

Zzzz Ha
Riiing!
ha ha

Listeners can identify nonlinguistic stimuli more accurately when

presented to their left ear.
BONES AND MUSCLES OF THE HEAD
Split brain experiments

 The hemispheres of the brain are

connected by the corpus callosum
 Corpus callosum severed to prevent
severe seizures
 In these experiments, patients are
blindfolded and an object (let’s say a
key) is placed in their right or left hand
Split-brain patients & language

key in
left hand

L R Brain
Split-brain patients & language

key in
right
hand

L R Brain
Split Brain Experiments
 KEY IN RIGHT  KEY IN LEFT HAND
HAND – Patient unable to
– Patient can name name object
object
Language centers
Integrates visual &
Speech production
auditory info
Syntactic info
Crucial for reading
Broca’s area
Angular gyrus

Wernicke’s area
Language comprehension
Lexicon
BACK
FRONT
Language Disorders

 A damage to one of these areas will

affect the ability to produce/perceive
language
– Aphasia:
– Broca’s Aphasia
– Wernicke’s Aphasia
Broca’s area
 Involved in speech production
– motor programming for articulation
 Involved in morphosyntactic analysis
– Inflection
– Structural complexity
 Add grammatical refinements to content words
selected in Wernicke’s area.
 (Akmajian et al. 2001: p. 543)
Sample speech: Broca’s
aphasia
•Examiner: Tell me, what did you do
before you retired?
•Aphasic: Uh, uh, uh, pub, par, partender,
no.
•Examiner: Carpenter?
•Aphasic: (Nodding to signal yes)
Carpenter, tuh, tuh, twenty
year.
Broca’s Aphasia and
Syntactic Disorder
 Broca’s aphasics tend to omit inflectional morphemes
(-ing, -ed, -en, -s)—necessary for syntax
 Broca’s aphasics can’t determine grammaticality in
following sentences:
– The boy ate it up.
– * The boy ate up it.
– * Boy ate it up.
– The boy ate up the cake.
Broca’s Aphasia and
Syntactic Disorder
 a. The mouse was chased by the cat.
 b. The cat was chased by the mouse
 Broca’s aphasiacs tend to interpret (a)
correctly, but they tend to give (b) the
same interpretation as (a)
 Our understanding of (a) and (b) is
driven by syntax; a Broca’s aphasiac’s
understanding is driven by semantics.
Wernicke’s area
 Essential to language comprehension
 Involved in selection/evaluation of content
words (contained in lexicon)
 (Akmajian et al. 2001: p. 544)

Sample speech: Wernicke’s aphasia

 Examiner: Do you like it here in Kansas City?
 Aphasic: Yes, I am.
 Examiner: I’d like to have you tell me
something about your problem.
 Aphasic: Yes, I, ugh, can’t hill all of my
way. I can’t talk all of the things I do, and part of the
part I can go alright, but I can’t tell from the other
people. I usually most of my things. I know what can I
talk and know what they are, but I can’t always come
back even though I know they should be in, and I
know should something eely I should know what I’m
doing...
Wernicke’s aphasia

 Fluent, but their speech doesn’t make

any sense.