Neuroanatomy
Which brain area is indicated by the arrow labeled “A”?
anterior STG (superior temporal gyrus)
What does it mean to say that language is lateralized in the brain?
a. It means that the brain areas involved in processing language are in the left hemisphere.
b. It means that the brain areas involved in processing language are in the right hemisphere.
c. It means that the brain areas involved in processing language are, for each individual, predominantly in only one hemisphere.
d. It means that the brain areas involved in processing language are in cortical structures, not in subcortical structures.
c. It means that the brain areas involved in processing language are, for each individual, predominantly in only one hemisphere.
Generally speaking, ventral brain areas are involved in ____________________________, while dorsal brain areas are involved in ____________________________.
a. speech production; speech comprehension
b. syntactic processes; semantic processes
c. processing subject relative clauses; processing object relative clauses
d. processing oral speech; processing written language
b. syntactic processes; semantic processes
The following are associated with deficits to Broca’s area:
a. difficulties in producing fluent speech
b. difficulties in comprehending speech and producing meaningful speech
c. difficulties in producing the names of objects presented in the right visual field.
d. all of the above
e. a and b only
a. difficulties in producing fluent speech
Which brain area is indicated by the arrow labeled “B”?
Broca’s area
Is it always the left hemisphere that processes most language-related functions?
No, in some individuals, language is lateralized in the right hemisphere.
Put the brain areas in the order in which they are involved in reading a written word aloud, according to the Wernicke-Lichtheim-Geschwind model. (If one or more areas are not involved, leave them out.)
a. Broca’s area
b. Wernicke’s area
c. angular gyrus
d. motor areas
e. primary visual area
f. primary auditory area
e -> c -> b -> a -> f
The following are associated with deficits to Wernicke’s area:
a. difficulties in producing fluent speech
b. difficulties in comprehending speech and producing meaningful speech
c. difficulties in producing the names of objects presented in the left visual field.
d. all of the above
e. a and b only
b. difficulties in comprehending speech and producing meaningful speech
Which brain area is indicated by the arrow labeled “C”?
primary auditory area (A1)
A “split brain” patient whose corpus callosum has been severed is unable to
a. speak the name of an object that is presented in their right visual field.
b. speak the name of an object that is presented in their left visual field.
c. draw a picture of an object that is presented in their right visual field.
d. draw a picture of an object that is presented in their left visual field.
b. speak the name of an object that is presented in their left visual field.
Put the brain areas in the order in which they are involved in reading a written word aloud, according to the Wernicke-Lichtheim-Geschwind model. (If one or more areas are not involved, leave them out.)
f -> b -> a -> d
Louis Victor Leborgne had progressively lost the ability to produce speech (and was paralyzed on the right side of his body), but had relatively spared language comprehension and mental function. This famous patient’s brain damage was found to be localized to which of the following brain regions?
a. primary auditory cortex
b. superior temporal gyrus
c. Broca’s area
d. Wernicke’s area
c. Broca’s area
Which brain area is indicated by the arrow labeled “D”?
posterior STG (posterior temporal gyrus), aka Wernicke’s area
According to Hickok & Poeppel (2004), ventral brain areas carry out which of the following language functions?
a. early stages of speech perception
b. translating between auditory and motor representations of speech
c. turning sound into meaning
d. mapping sound onto a representation involving articulation
c. turning sound into meaning
Generally speaking, how does the Wernicke-Lichtheim-Geschwind model differ from Frierderici’s (2012) overview of the functional neuroanatomy of language in the brain?
Although the flow of information is similar, the Wernicke-Lichtheim-Geschwind model it is much simpler! It describes the flow of information going through the relevant primary sensory areas (visual or auditory) and then pretty much just going from Wernicke’s area to Broca’s area, and then to whatever area would be responsible for producing an output in a particular modality (e.g., writing vs speaking). But Friederici’s (2012) overview describes the flow of information going through a much greater swath of brain tissues.
Which of the two sentences below would you expect a patient with damage to Broca’s area to have difficulty correctly understanding? Explain.
“The son was punished by his father.”
“The boy was startled by the girl.”
The patient with damage to Broca’s area would most likely have difficulty with the second sentence. This is because understanding this sentence requires processing the passive construction. It not possible to make sense of this sentence using just the context words – the verb and the nouns, because the nouns are “reversible”. It’s no more likely that a girl was startled than that a boy was startled. However, it is more likely that the father is the one who did the punishing and not the son, so it’s possible to make sense of the sentence even without parsing the passive construction.
Which brain area is indicated by the arrow labeled “E”?
primary visual area (V1)
What is a double dissociation?
It describes the situation in which damage to area A results in loss of function A but not function B, while damage to area B results in loss of function B but not function A.
What is the basic order in which brain areas are involved according to Friederici’s (2012) functional neuroanatomical model of language comprehension and speech production?
a. primary auditory area -> Broca’s area -> anterior STG (superior temporal gyrus) -> MTG (middle temporal gryus) and posterior STG (superior temporal gyrus) -> premotor cortex
b. primary auditory area -> anterior STG (superior temporal gyrus) -> posterior STG (superior temporal gyrus) -> Broca’s area -> back projections to MTG (middle temporal gryus) and posterior STG (superior temporal gyrus) -> premotor cortex
c. primary auditory area -> posterior STG (superior temporal gyrus) -> Broca’s area -> anterior STG (superior temporal gyrus) -> premotor cortex
d. primary visual area -> MTG (middle temporal gryus) -> posterior STG (superior temporal gyrus) Broca’s area -> premotor cortex
b. primary auditory area -> anterior STG (superior temporal gyrus) -> posterior STG (superior temporal gyrus) -> Broca’s area -> back projections to MTG (middle temporal gryus) and posterior STG (superior temporal gyrus) -> premotor cortex
In a lexical decision task, participants read the beginnings of sentences and then they were presented with a word and asked to respond as quickly as possible whether the presented word is a real word or a made up word. Broca’s patients were found to respond more slowly than Wernicke’s patients when the presented word
a. was a non-word.
b. was an infrequent word.
c. involved a long-distance dependency.
d. involved an object relative clause
c. involved a long-distance dependency.