整理Chapter 12Language and the Brain.docx

1、整理Chapter 12 Language and the BrainChapter 12 Language and the BrainNeurolinguisticsNeurolinguistics is the study of two related areas: language disorders and the relationship between brain and language.It includes research into 1. How the brain is structured2. What function each part of the brain p

2、erforms3. How and in which parts of the brain language is stored4. How damage to the brain affects the ability to use languageThe focus of this Section A brief survey of the brain structure and its function The methods used in the study of the brain in terms of evideces for lateralization (referring

3、 to cognitive functions controlled either by the left or the right side of the brain)（边侧性） The different types of language disturbance that result from the brain damageThe biological foundations of language By far, human beings are the only species that possess language ability. Our linguistic abili

4、ty is a biological gift of the speciess gene program.Speech organs These organs consist of lips, teeth, tongue, oral cavity, nasal cavity, palate(硬腭), velum(软腭), pharynx(咽), epiglottis(会厌), vocal cord(声带), pulmonic cavity(肺腔) and so on.Two sections of the brainthe brain stemConnecting to the spinal

5、cord（脊椎） and shared by all animals, keeps the body alive by maintaining the essential functions such as respiration, heart rate, and muscle co-ordinationCerebrumThe cerebrum that differs in different species is not essential for life.Cerebral CortexThe cerebral cortex is the decision-making organ of

6、 the body and storehouse of “memory”. It receives messages from all the sensory organs and initiates all voluntary actions.It is the cerebral cortex that accounts for the human distinctness in the animal world and it is within the human cortext that the secrets of language representation and process

7、ing are to be found.Animals, reptiles and amphibians have no cortex at all.Cerebral hemispheresThe left and the right brainThe main connection between them is a bundle of nerve fibres known as the corpus callosum胼胝体, a pathway leading one to another, allowing the two hemispheres to communicate with

8、each other. The left hemisphere seems to do better in language, rhythmic perception, temporal-order judgments and mathematical thinking The right hemispheres show distinct abilities and responsibilities, complex mental activities such as language do not always fall neatly into one hemisphere or the

9、other but involve the coordinated functioning of both hemispheres.4 lobes of cerebral cortexRevision The structure of the human brain Three parts in human brain (1) brain stem (脑干): keeps the body alive by maintaining the essential functions such as respiration, heart rate, and muscle co-ordination.

10、 (2) cerebellum (小脑): responsible for controlling body equilibrium and regulating the function of voluntary movements. (3) cerebrum (大脑): important for language psychology The surface of the cerebrum: cerebral cortex (大脑皮层) is the information processing and decision-making organ and the biological b

11、asis of human psychology. The structure of the human brainThe importance of cerebral cortex It is the cerebral cortex that accounts for the human distinctness in the animal world and it is within the human cortex that the secrets of language representation and processing are to be found. Major menta

12、l functions under the control of each cerebral hemisphere Such localization of cognitive and perceptual functions in a particular hemisphere of the brain is called brain lateralization.Methods for the study of the brain and evidences for lateralization Autopsy studies 验尸 Methods to the study of the

13、brain SAT 阿米妥纳试验 CT scanning 计算机化轴向层面射线摄影法 PET 阳电子发射X线体层摄影法 MRI 磁共振成像 fMRI 功能磁共振成像 Methods to examine the behaviour associated with the braining Dichotic listening 双耳分听试验 Split brain studies 裂脑试验Autopsy studies (验尸)It has been and continues to be an important tool in the understanding of the brain.

14、Method: to examine the brain after the patients death in order to find the relationship between the area of brain damage and the type of disorder the patient displayed while alive.A woman with epilepsy 癫痫,羊角风Methods to the study of the brainMethods to examine the behaviour associated with the brain5

15、. Right ear advantage:6. Most people report the stimuli heard in the right ear more accurately than that in the left one.7. How to explain such a phenomenon?8. e.g. the dichotic listening research9. (双耳分听试验)10. The majority of normal human beings have speech located primarily in the left hemisphere.

16、Methods to examine the behaviour associated with the brain The cerebral hemispheres are connected by the corpus callosum (胼胝体). What may happen when the brain is split surgically? Information from the left side of the body is received only by the right side of the brain and vice versa. Right hemisph

17、ere can understand and comprehend information, but it is mute. Split brain studies (裂脑试验): the experiments that investigate the effects of surgically severing the corpus callosum on cognition.Language center and aphasia Verbal information processing is realized mainly through a number of language ce

18、nters situated in the left hemisphere. 1) Brocas area (布罗卡区) anterior language area It lies in the frontal part of the left brain. 2) Wernickes area (韦尼克区) posterior language area It leans behind Brocas area. 3) Angular gyrus (角形脑回) It lies further behind the Wernickes area. It is by this part that

19、human beings match a spoken form with a perceived object, name the objects and comprehend the written language.Aphasia (失语症) Aphasia refers to a number of acquired language disorders due to the cerebral lesions (大脑损伤) caused by vascular problems (血管问题), a tumour, an accident and so on. The study of

20、aphasia is by far the most important tool in the investigation of language in the brain.Brocas aphasia (布罗卡失语症) Paul Broca, French doctor, 1861 Any lesion of the anterior part of the left hemisphere will lead to speech production difficulties. (expressive aphasia, non-fluent aphasia) e.g. Yes ahMond

21、ayDad and Peterhospital and ah Wednesday, nine oclockand ah doctors twoerteethyah. Symptoms: poor articulation express a single word at a time omit articles, conjunctions, and other functional words omit grammatical inflections (- telegraphic speech)Wernickes aphasia (韦尼克失语症) Carl Wernicke, German p

22、hysician, 1874 Any lesion in left cortex behind the central sulcus (脑沟) will lead to speech comprehension deficits. (receptive aphasia, fluent aphasia) e.g. Colorless green ideas are sleeping furiously. Symptoms: fast and fluent speech good intonation, pronunciation inappropriate content even nonsen

23、se difficulty in comprehension Acquired dyslexia (习得性失读症) Acquired dyslexia: damage in and around the angular gyrus of the parietal lobe (顶叶) often causes the impairment of reading and writing ability. Two types of acquired dyslexia: 1. phonological dyslexia (拼音性失读症): patients can only read words th

24、at they have seen before. They seem to have lost the ability to use spelling-to-sound rule. 2. Surface dyslexia (浅层诵读困难): patients seem unable to recognize words as wholes but must process all words through a set of spelling-to-sound rules. Acquired dyslexia (习得性失读症)Psycholinguistics Psycholinguisti

25、c research methods Field work Experimental methods Linguistics and language processing Phonetics and phonology Morphological processing Syntax Psycholinguistic modelingPsycholinguistics In the1940s, the term psycholinguistics came into being. The publication of Psycholinguistics: A Survey of Theory

26、and Research Problems (1954) (by Charles Osgood and Thomas Sebeok) A milestone, marking the birth of the new science Psycholinguistics is the study of psychological states and mental activity associated with the use of language. It concerns the representation of language in the mind, the planning, p

27、roduction, perception and comprehension of speech, and language acquisition.The focus of this sectionWhat do psycholinguists do?Explore: 11. how language is represented and processed in the mind12. How the concepts and principles are used in different levels of language processing13. How speech is p

28、roducedPsycholinguistic research methods Field work spoonerisms 首音互换 Experimental methods Lexical Decision The priming experiment Timed-reading experiments Eye movement experiments Event-related potential experiment11.2.1 Psycholinguistic research methods Language production is a process of conversi

29、on from thoughts to speech. Easy or difficult to study? Why? Difficult to study. It is almost impossible to observe the internal ideas or the involved processes. Now, language production can only be studied through indirect evidence: 1) the analysis of pauses in spontaneous speech 2) the analysis of

30、 instances of speech errors (slips of the tongue)Field work: Pauses or silence14. Around 40%-50% of an average spontaneous utterance consists of pauses.15. Types of pauses: breathing & hesitation16. Reasons for pauses: (Inaugural address)17. 1) to take a breath18. 2) to organize his thought19. 3) to

31、 find a proper word20. 4) to wait to see the effect of his speech on the listener21. Finding: Speakers do not normally pause between clauses; they pause inside them.22. Conclusion: There is overlapping in the planning and production of clauses.23. That is, we begin to plan the next clause while still uttering the present one.Spoonerisms 斯本内现象 首音互换24. William A. SpoonerSpeech Errorsslips of tonguePhonological errors primarily in content words, not in grammatical morphemes, such as s, or edWords and lexical morphemes (used for