Introduction to Psychology Memory and Language Prof. Jan Lauwereyns

Types of memory Declarative memory – Facts (who is…, what is…) – Events (when did you…) Non-declarative memory – Procedures (how do you…) – Conditioning (automatic responses) Musculature Emotional

Declarative memory – Facts (who is…, what is…) – Events (when did you…) Non-declarative memory – Procedures (how do you…) – Conditioning (automatic responses) Musculature Emotional Medial temporal lobe Hippocampus Types of memory

Declarative memory – Facts (who is…, what is…) – Events (when did you…) Non-declarative memory – Procedures (how do you…) – Conditioning (automatic responses) Musculature Emotional Medial temporal lobe Hippocampus Striatum Cerebellum Amygdala Types of memory

More types of memory… Long-term memory – Questions about encoding, retrieving – Medial temporal lobe (“store”) Short-term memory – Working memory – (Consciousness, attention) – Dorsolateral frontal cortex (“operator”)

Some of the biggest questions about memory… True or False? – How can we check? Memory as an active process – Recall – Re-construction – Influences of context

Language: Unique to humans?

Evolution and Physiology of Language Human language is different because it is more productive – can produce new signals to represent new ideas Chimpanzees can learn to communicate using sign language or symbols, but different from human language – symbols used to request but rarely to describe – seldom recombine in new combinations – say more than they understand, the opposite of children

Humans have evolved with something that enables them to learn language easily – Chomsky and Pinker: a language acquisition device children learn language with ease, including children of deaf parents deaf children learn sign or invent one of their own not likely a separate module since most language areas used for other functions, e.g., memory, music perception – intelligence may be by-product of language Language as a Special Module

Critical Periods for Language Development Children learn the pronunciation and unfamiliar aspects of language better than adults – adults are better at memorizing vocabulary The earlier you start learning a second language the better – but the amount of language area in brain activated depends on mastery, not age started The earlier the child has a chance to learn sign language, the more skilled they will become If you do not learn language before starting school, you will never develop much skill

Some ideas… Noam Chomsky – Recursion – (Russian dolls) – I think, I think that I think, I think that I think that… Steven Pinker (“ The Language Instinct ”) Language Acquisition Device – The Kissinger brothers, Henry and Walter – Walter (“I’m the Kissinger who listens”) Marc Hauser and IF… THEN… Terrence Deacon (“ The Symbolic Species ”) – Higher-order symbolic relations

Broca vs Wernicke

Broca’s Aphasia Also called non-fluent aphasia – severe deficits in language production caused by damage to Broca’s area, and other cortical and subcortical structures – difficulty pronouncing, gesturing and writing as well as understanding complex speech uses and understands nouns and verbs more easily than closed-class words, e.g., prepositions, pronouns – ignores grammar and relies on inferences – but, can usually recognize when something is wrong with sentence even if they cannot correct it

Wernicke’s Aphasia Also called fluent aphasia – caused by damage to left temporal cortex – seriously impaired language comprehension – difficulty finding the right word and trouble recalling names of objects – grammatical but often nonsensical speech perhaps because can’t “find” words due to rapid speech – but, can pronounce clearly, fluently and rapidly

Broca: Production, Syntax Wernicke: Comprehension, Meaning

What about language on the left?

Lateralization of Brain Function Two hemispheres are not mirror images of each other – left hemisphere controls right side of body – right controls left side – taste and smell input to same side Lateralization is the specialization of labor between the two hemispheres – left hemisphere specialized for language – right specialized for complex visual-spatial tasks and synthetic processing What about language on the left?