Language and the Brain

Sign language is language that uses visual hand patterns to convey a meaning without using any vocal. It truly is a superb way of communication, although it was not always accepted in society. Wherever communities of deaf people exist, sign language develops. There was no

First, children¡¯s acquisition of language is an innate mechanism that enables a child to analyze language and extract the basic rules of grammar, granted by Chomsky. It basically states that humans are born with a language acquisition device that, the ability to learn a language rapidly as children. However, there is one important controversy in language acquisition concerns how we acquire language; since Chomsky fails to adequately explain individual differences. From the behaviorists¡¯ perspectives, the language is learned like other learned behaviors. It is learned through operant

Nothing brings people together more than language. As an international student, I noticed that more often than not, international students tend to befriend those with a common native language. Perhaps their common language makes it easier for them to communicate since they might not be comfortable with speaking English. Another possibility would be that sharing a language can also mean that they share a common way of thinking. Lera Boroditsky, an assistant psychology professor at Stanford University, wrote the article “How Does Our Language Shape the Way We Think?” to illustrate to her readers that language, whether it is grammar or just the general logic, does indeed affect how we think. Boroditsky and research teams in Stanford and MIT collected data from all over the world. Because of the extensive amount of research and her article’s solid structure, I find Boroditsky’s argument easy to follow and understand, therefore quite convincing. She is so knowledgeable in her area that her arguments and article are solid and build on top of each other like Tetris tiles. A well-written article can only be achieved by knowing and understanding your material well.

The case of “Genie” is a tragic look at the effects of child abuse and neglect on childhood development. Genie’s case was particularly extreme, as she lived the first 13 years of her life in isolation and confinement. With little to no human interaction throughout her entire life, she developed no language skills. Researchers were extremely interested in this case, as it gave them a chance to explore two theories of language development. One theory is Noam Chomsky’s view that children are born with an innate ability to learn and understand language. Chomsky termed this structure in our brain the “Language Acquisition Device” (LAD). An alternate theory by Eric Lenneberg stated that language development is a result of our environment, and stressed the importance of critical periods. Lenneberg believed that the critical period for language development only lasted until around 12 years of age, and inability to develop language during these critical periods would result in major deficits.

Human beings occasionally suffer bad damage to particular parts of their brains. Unfortunately, these injuries may lead to major failure of speech production, understanding language and comprehension which most of the patients suffer it permanently. This impairment is called Aphasia. Gayle (2012) states that people with aphasia fail to understand sentence comprehension although it is a simple sentence. She also mentioned that aphasia patients also have difficulty in reading and understanding speeches. According to Fromkin, Rodman and Hyams (2011), aphasia is a scientific term used to explained language disorder due to brain injuries caused by diseases or trauma. In other words, aphasia involves partial or total loss of the ability to

Examines how language develops from infancy into adulthood. Focuses on the modularity debate of how language is organized in the brain. Some theorize that language is domain-specific in that the brain has processes dedicated to the task of language learning and comprehension. Others focus on a domain-general theory for language learning where the processes used to learn language are the same processes used in other situations such as problem solving.

The subjects were recruited from various aphasia support groups and clinics in Alabama and Illinois. Subjects had chronic aphasia from a single ischemic stroke in the left middle cerebral artery. They spoke English and their language abilities fell in the impaired range when administered the Token Test. Subjects were excluded if they had a history of degenerative diseases, a metabolic disorder, life-threatening illnesses, a history of severe mental illness, multiple strokes, or were pregnant. Out of the 24 eligible, 14 were randomized to the treatment group and 10 to the control group. All participants were given an explanation and goals of the CIAT program before treatment

Neurological injuries can manifest themselves in endless ways across a wide spectrum of physical, emotional, and developmental deficits. Within just one of these manifestations, aphasia, there is a wide range of variation based on the location and level of damage from a neurological injury. Aphasia encapsulates a spectrum of deficits. It is defined as a disorder of language acquired secondary to brain damage (ASHA). These disorders can manifest themselves as receptive, damaging to the ability to process speech, expressive, damaging to the ability to produce speech, or both. In most right-handed and some left-handed patients, aphasia results from a lesion in the left hemisphere (ASHA). I strongly believe that a comprehensive knowledge of aphasias

SPLP 634 - Aphasia. Aphasia is a major course in the curriculum with emphasis on acquired communication disorders, including the etiologies, characteristics, anatomical/physiological, acoustic, psychological, developmental, and linguistic and cultural correlates. Aphasia is a graduate-level seminar-based course directed toward the study of acquired neurogenic language and cognitive disorders due to lesions of the central and peripheral nervous systems. Four major neurogenic disorders are addressed including: the aphasias, right hemisphere syndrome, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and dementia. An introduction to the language found in neurogenic psychopathology are also discussed. Etiological factors that affect varied cultural groups (e.g.,

This symptom can occur as a result of various different brain injuries. In stroke, the deficit is usually sudden and obvious. In head traumas, the aphasia may be undetectable. Exceptions are hemorrhages or traumatic contusions directly disrupting the left hemisphere language cortex, which may resemble stroke patterns. There are a variety of language disorders in dementia.

Another type of Aphasia is Broca’s Aphasia. Because this form of Aphasia affects the left hemisphere of the brain, there are numerous types of language issues that can occur. For instance, they could have a hard time making a complete sentence. Those who suffer from Broca’s Aphasia might also have a hard time understanding sentences along with leaving out some words when talking. Lastly, they might have a hard time following directions (“Types of

In my interview, Michelle described Lisa’s features of Aphasia that were similar to existing studies done on stroke victims that also suffer from aphasia. Symptoms of her language disorder were more prominent during the first year after her stroke, but through intensive therapies she has benefited in her communication abilities. Michelle explains that right after the stroke, her daughter suffered from a period of not speaking at all. She experienced mild paralyzation in the right side of her body and had great difficulties swallowing. After a few weeks, her swallowing ability recovered on its own, and she started speaking again but could not put together a whole sentence. Lisa admits the struggle to find her words was the most frustrating part,

Aphasia is a language disorder that can be the result of a brain injury. An individual that is suffering from aphasia may experience difficulty speaking, writing, reading, or comprehending. There are three different types of Aphasia that differ in various ways. First, Wernicke’s Aphasia is the inability to grasp the meaning of words and sentences that have been produced by another individual. This type of aphasia is also known as “fluent aphasia” or “receptive aphasia”. Wernicke patients’ speech may come across like a jumble of words or jargon, but it is very well articulated and they have no issue producing their own connected speech. If the patient is consecutively making errors, it is common for them to be unaware of their difficulties, and not realize that their sentences don’t make sense. The severity of the disorder varies depending on the patient, and the disorder results form damage in the left posterior temporal region of the brain, which is also known as Wernicke’s area.

Being aware of the words we use can be helpful in navigating life in many ways. For instance people on the west coast specifically southern california have an accent where we combine words and shorten them like “want to” to “wanna.” I've also found after reading a book called How Words Change Your Brain the use of negative words when in a brainstorming session in a meeting can significantly reduce people's abilities to come up with new innovative ideas and share ones they might have out of being ridiculed. Another would be soft sexism/racism. Soft sexism/racism are slurs that slip into our day to day live where we generalize a population in waqy the receiver might feel offended by. For instance one might say hey guys when there is clearly no

The purpose of this paper is to pursue one important and fundamental aim: language and the brain are purely inseparable since it allows us to perform essential tasks such as generating, comprehending and expressing speech. With damage to the brain, individuals can no longer perform such tasks which can ultimately lead to many types of language disorders. The focus of this paper is Broca’s aphasia, a language disorder characterized by the inability to produce written and spoken speech. Damage to the brain can cause many types of speech impairments as well as comprehension deficits.