1. Psy1302 Psychology of Language
Lectures 3 (& 4)
Language and the Brain

2. Review We discussed animal communication systems.
Last lecture
Review
We discussed animal communication systems.
We compared human language to animal communication systems, and noted features that were shared and that were unique.

3. Last lecture
Review
What are some of the features that are unique to human languages?

4. Biology
Chomsky
If an animal had a capacity as biologically advantageous as language but somehow hadn’t used it until now, it would be an evolutionary miracle, like finding an island of humans who could be taught to fly.

5. Preprogrammed for Language?
This week
Preprogrammed for Language?
Teaching animals language
How much of language learning is contributed by culture? How much of it is by the learner?
Language in the brain
If we are genetically preprogrammed for language, are there dedicated areas of the brain for processing language?
(digression)

6. Languages around the world
Biology & Environment
Languages around the world
Human language – product of biology & culture/environment.

7. Can Animals Learn Language?
Ape Language
Can Animals Learn Language?
Culture or biology?
Can nonhuman primates (or other animals) learn language-like communication systems?

8. Non-Primates Ape Language Rocky Akeakamai & Phoenix Alex & co.
Click to view: If they could only speak. PBS “Animal Einstein” show.

9. Non-Human Primates Ape Language sarah & co. washoe washoe & louslis
vicki
koko
nim chimsky
lana & co.
kanzi & co.

10. Ape Language
Research Questions.
Suppose you are the experimenter, what questions would you ask about the animal’s competence in learning language?
Arbitrariness (of word form to meaning)
Vocabulary Size
Displacement
Creativity; Spontaneous Novel Uses
Evidence of Syntax
Amount of signing within the community
Transmission of Language to others within the community

11. Washoe June 1965: born 1-yr-old; Begins training 6-months: 4 signs
Ape Language
Washoe
June 1965: born
1-yr-old; Begins training
6-months: 4 signs
2-yrs-old: 13 signs
3-yrs-old: 34 signs
4-yrs-old: 85
5-yrs-old: 132
27-yrs-old: 240
Findings (though controversial)
New extensions
e.g., “dirty”, “red”
New word combination & syntax
e.g., “water bird”, “baby in my drink.”
Transmitted 50 signs to Louslis (adopted son).

12. Ape Language
Nim Chimsky
Goal: To extend findings of Washoe, to communicate with chimps.
2-wks. old: Begin training 3-y.o.: Learned about 125 signs.
Findings:
Limited vocabulary
Little evidence of creativity
Rudimentary syntax (word order)
Lack of appropriate conversational skills

13. Conversation with Koko
Ape Language
Conversation with Koko
Moderator: Koko are you going to have a baby in the future?
Koko: Pink.
Dr. Patterson: We’ve had earlier discussion about colors today.
Koko: Listen! Koko loves eat. ….
Moderator: What are the names of your kittens? (and dogs?)
Koko: foot
Dr. Patterson: Foot isn’t the name of your kitty.
Moderator: Koko, what ’s the name of your cat?
Koko: no
....
Moderator: Do you like to chat with other people?
Koko: fine nipple
Dr. Patterson: Nipple rhymes with people, she doesn’t sign people per se, she was trying to do a “sounds like ...”

14. Ape Language
Lana & Friends
The Lana Project (or LANguage Analog) established in 1971.
Yerkish: Artificial language
LEXIGRAMS

15. Kanzi 6 m.o. exposed to spoken English and lexigrams.
Ape Language
Kanzi
6 m.o. exposed to spoken English and lexigrams.
2;5 spontaneous use of lexigrams
Findings:
Production (2006): 348 words
Evidence of word combination
Syntactic rule (Savage-Rumbaugh 1994)
verbs before nouns.
Hide peanut
Bite tomato
Estimate know English words

16. Comprehension vs. Production Asymmetry
Ape Language
Comprehension vs. Production Asymmetry

17. Kanzi (bonobo) vs. Alia (human child)
Ape Language
Kanzi (bonobo) vs. Alia (human child)
Savage- Rumbaugh et. al. 1993
Task: Compare language development in a normal child (Alia 2;0) and normal bonobo (Kanzi 8;0), based on responses to 660 spoken instructions.
Alia (the child):
Exposed to spoken English from birth and lexigrams from 3 mo.
Spontaneous use of lexigrams at 11 mo.

18. In Comprehension Kanzi pays attention to action verbs:
Ape Language
In Comprehension
Kanzi pays attention to action verbs:
‘Take the rock outdoors’
‘Get the rock that’s outdoors’
(Both locations had a rock available)
Kanzi pays attention to word order:
Put the hat on your ball
Put the ball on the hat
Kanzi’s comprehension at least matches a 2 y.o. child.
Demonstrates that animals can learn some aspects of the grammars of human language
word order
modifier noun relations

19. Some Interim Conclusions
Ape Language
Some Interim Conclusions
Small vocabularies
Little evidence of grammar
Little evidence of productive or innovative language
Maybe some evidence of displaced reference
Maybe some transmission of language to next generation

20. Some Linguists’ Concluding Remarks
Ape Language
Some Linguists’ Concluding Remarks
I do not believe that there has ever been an example anywhere of a nonhuman expressing an opinion, or asking a question. Not ever,” says Geoffrey Pullum, a linguist at the University of California at Santa Cruz. “It would be wonderful if animals could say things about the world, as opposed to just signaling a direct emotional state or need. But they just don’t.”
Source:

21. Ape Language
Culture vs. Biology

22. Interim Thought Questions (good website discussion points)
Ape Language
Interim Thought Questions (good website discussion points)
What additional studies would you like to see with language trained/exposed animals?
What are some of the similarities and differences between language trained animals and their communication systems in the wild?
If language trained animals have the abilities of mapping arbitrary words/symbols to meaning, or combine words, why do they not do this more often in the wild?

23. Ape Language
Some Thought Questions for Future Lectures (good website discussion points)
Note: some of the language training studies on animals were meant to see how animals think, and not meant to examine their language learning abilities
What cognitive prerequisites must the animals have in order to support the language training?
For next week: How would you compare the achievement of these language trained animals with home-signers, children of pidgin speakers, or those Nicaraguan Sign Language signers?

24. Language in the brain
Brain and Language
Our ability for language -- Is it the result of general intelligence? Or the result of evolved special circuitry for language?
Double Dissociations
Good on language, Poor on intelligence
Good on intelligence, Poor on language

25. Williams Syndrome (Bellugi et al.)
Language in the brain
Williams Syndrome (Bellugi et al.)
Genetic disorder: deletion of certain genes on chromosome 7
Preserved linguistic ability, hypersociability,
Even precocious vocabulary, ‘unusual’ command of language
Cognitive Deficits, low IQ (35-50)
“Preoperational” in Piaget’s terms
E.g. Fail conversation, Serialization tasks
Deficits in spatial abilities

26. Specific Language Impairment (SLI)
Language in the brain
Specific Language Impairment (SLI)
Converse of Williams Syndrome
Preserved cognitive ability, normal IQ.
Linguistic Deficits
inflecting nonsense words
making grammaticality judgments and correcting sentences
checking syntactic features (subject/verb agreement, tense marking)
production of correct derived forms
FoxP2 gene on chromosome 7: impairment affecting jaw and tongue movement, speech, and grammar (tense, number).

27. Language in the brain
Phrenology

28. Language Faculty Processing language is complex Areas of the Brain
Language in the brain
Outline
Language Faculty
Processing language is complex
Are there dedicated areas of the brain for processing language?
Areas of the Brain
Broca and Wernicke’s Areas (Loc.)
Left vs. Right Hemisphere (Lat.)
Time Course and Brain Plasticity

29. Language Faculty Processing language is complex Draw evidence from
Language in the brain
Outline
Language Faculty
Processing language is complex
Are there dedicated areas of the brain for processing language?
Draw evidence from
Patients with brain damage (Aphasics)
Patients with operations
Commissurotomy
Hemispherectomy
Normal Population (Spoken & Sign)

30. Areas associated with language
Language in the brain
Areas associated with language

31. In Search for Language Center
Language in the brain
Localization: Broca
In Search for Language Center
Broca (1861)
Patient "Tan"
Complete Aphasic Behavior
Right-side motor/sensation deficit.
Post-mortem Autopsy: Cyst in Left Hemisphere.
Next Eight Cases of Aphasics:
Lesion in Left Hemisphere (8 of 8).
“on parle avec l’hemisphere gauche”
Figure 4 from additional reading.

32. Broca’s Aphasia Parietal Lobe Frontal Lobe Occipital Lobe
Language in the brain
Localization: Broca
Broca’s Aphasia
Parietal Lobe
Frontal Lobe
Occipital Lobe

33. Broca’s Aphasia Patient: Peter Hogan. Worked in paper mill.
Language in the brain
Localization: Broca
Broca’s Aphasia
Patient: Peter Hogan. Worked in paper mill.
"What brings you to the hospital?"
Yes... ah....Monday...ah...Dad and Peter Hogan... and dad...ah...hospital...and ah...Wednesday...Wednesday nine o'clock...
“What was your job?”
Lower falls... Maine....Paper...Four hundred tons a day! And ah... sulfur machines....wood...

34. Broca’s Aphasia and Grammatical Processing
Language in the brain
Localization: Broca
Broca’s Aphasia and Grammatical Processing
Terrible Speech
Relatively Good Comprehension
Can understand sentences like:
The dog bit the woman.
The apple that the boy is eating is red.

35. Broca’s Aphasia and Grammatical Processing
Language in the brain
Localization: Broca
Broca’s Aphasia and Grammatical Processing
Caplan (1982)
Please Act Out Sentences like:
The car is pushed by the truck.
The girl whom the boy is pushing is tall.
These Sentences can only be understood by use of syntax.
Broca Aphasics do poorly.
 Broca Area = “Grammar”

36. Broca’s Aphasia and Grammatical Processing
Language in the brain
Localization: Broca
Broca’s Aphasia and Grammatical Processing
(from 2:58-6:16)
A lawyer who had a stroke and became aphasic.

37. Another language center
Language in the brain
Localization: Wernicke
Another language center
Wernicke (1874)
Studied effects of brain disease on speech
Discovered another area besides Broca’s Area creates speech disorders.

38. Language in the brain
Wernicke’s Aphasia
Localization: Wernicke
Patients with posterior lesions in the left hemisphere
Speech is fluent
But comprehension is impaired
Frontal Lobe
Occipital Lobe

39. Wernicke’s Aphasia From Howard Gardner's Research:
Language in the brain
Wernicke’s Aphasia
Localization: Wernicke
From Howard Gardner's Research:
"What brings you to the hospital?" I asked the 72 year old retired butcher, four weeks after his admission to the hospital.
"Boy, I'm sweating, I'm awful nervous, you know, once in a while I get caught up, I can't mention the tarrapoi, ... " …
I attempted several times to break in, but was unable to do so against this relentlessly steady and rapid outflow...

40. Wernicke’s Aphasia Fluent Grammatical Speech.
Language in the brain
Localization: Wernicke
Wernicke’s Aphasia
Fluent Grammatical Speech.
But, speech makes no sense.
word substitutions
"table" -> "chair"
"elbow" -> "knee"
Little Comprehension.
Wernicke's area seems to look up words and send them to on to Broca's area for grammatical structuring.

41. Deficits associated with brain damage
Language in the brain
Broca & Wernicke
Deficits associated with brain damage
Broca’s Area
Disturbance of speech production
Agrammatic speech
Relatively good comprehension and naming
Wernicke’s Area
Disturbances in auditory comprehension
Fluent speech
(GRAMMATICAL PROCESSING)
(LEXICAL PROCESSING)

42. Projections between two language areas
Language in the brain
Broca & Wernicke
Projections between two language areas

43. Language in the brain
Broca & Wernicke
Conduction Aphasia
Connection between Wernicke & Broca’s area is severed. (i.e., information is not being transmitted from WB)
What are the symptoms?
Production fluent?
Speech errors (a.k.a. Paraphasis)?
Comprehension?
Reading?
Repetition?

44. Wernicke/Lichtheim/Geschwind Model
Language in the brain
Broca & Wernicke
Wernicke/Lichtheim/Geschwind Model
Concept
Broca
Wernicke
Speech output
Auditory input

45. Other kinds of Aphasia Some examples Global Anomia
Language in the brain
Broca & Wernicke
Other kinds of Aphasia
Some examples
Global
Anomia
Transcortical Aphasias

46. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Technology
Language in the brain
Broca & Wernicke
Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Technology

47. STOPPING POINT FOR TUESDAY.

48. PET Study on non-patients (Normal)
Language in the brain
Broca & Wernicke
PET Study on non-patients (Normal)
The subjects stared at a crosshair on a computer monitor while their brain activity was monitored via PET imaging.
Common English nouns appeared on the screen (visual), or were heard (auditory). The presentation rate was 40 words a minute.
The subjects were asked to speak the words that they saw or heard.
The subjects were asked to say aloud a use appropriate for the noun they either viewed or heard. e.g., if the word was 'hammer' an appropriate response would be 'hit‘
The images were generated by subtraction of the PET images from each other (i.e., more complex minus less complex process)
Petersen, S.E., Fox, P.T., Posner, M.I., Mintun, M. & Raichle, M.E. (1989)

49. Language in the brain
Broca & Wernicke

50. English vs. ASL (Neville et al. 1998)
Language in the brain
Broca & Wernicke
English vs. ASL (Neville et al. 1998)
LEFT
RIGHT
Hearing Ss
Reading
English Sentences
Deaf Ss
watching a signer
signing ASL sentences

51. Contralateral Control (as opposed to ipsilateral control)
Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
Contralateral Control (as opposed to ipsilateral control)
1860s: investigators apply electric currents to brains of anesthetized animals and made an interesting discovery.
Left Brain
Right Brain
Left Body
Right Body

52. The Wada Test (1949) Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
The Wada Test (1949)
Tool for neurosurgeons to assess memory and language of the two sides of the brain
E.g. for language test: display pictures of objects on overhead screen and ask patients to name them.
Usually patient counts backwards, and upon injection, the injection disrupts counting and the other side of the body loses control.
Counting disruption is longer for dominant side (1-3 min) than for shorter side (5-20s).
Juhn A. Wada

53. Rasmussen & Milner (1977) Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
Rasmussen & Milner (1977)
(Normal Patients undergoing Wada Test)

54. Hemispheres & Visual Field
Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
Hemispheres & Visual Field
Left Visual Field
Right Visual Field
Left Brain
Right Brain

55. Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
Information Flow is
as follows:
LVF  RH  LH
RVF  LH  RH

56. Language in Left Hemisphere
Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
Language in Left Hemisphere
Visually Flashed Words:
(50 millisecond)
More Accurate on Right Visual Field

57. Language in Left Hemisphere
Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
Language in Left Hemisphere
More accurate with Right Ear

58. Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere

59. Kimura (1973) Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
Kimura (1973)

60. Split-Brain Research (Sperry, Gazzaniga, etc.)
Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
Split-Brain Research (Sperry, Gazzaniga, etc.)
Surgically Lesioned Corpus Callosum
“cure” for epilepsy
Post-surgery:
Normal Behavior

62. Testing Split-Brain Patient
Language in the brain
Testing Split-Brain Patient
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
General Testing Setup.

63. Name that object (picture in RVF)
Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
Name that object (picture in RVF)
Patient says: “Spoon!”

64. Name that object (picture in LVF)
Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
Name that object (picture in LVF)
Patient: (says nothing)
Researcher: “Did you see any thing?”
Patient: “Nope.”

65. Right Visual Field Left Visual Field Left Brain Right Brain Left Body
Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
Left Visual Field
Right Visual Field
Left Brain
Right Brain
Left Body
Right Body

66. Pick up the object displayed
Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
Pick up the object displayed
Right Hand: Pulls out Spoon!
Left Hand does nothing

67. Pick up the object displayed
Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
Pick up the object displayed
Left Hand: Pulls out Spoon!
Right hand does nothing

68. LH rationalizing behavior of RH
Language in the brain
LH rationalizing behavior of RH
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere

69. Typical Split Brain Patient
Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
Typical Split Brain Patient
Left Brain:
Normal Language Use
Speaking and listening
No easily detectable deficits.
Right Brain:
Some rudimentary word recognition.

70. Split-brain patient and Dichotic Listening
Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
Split-brain patient and Dichotic Listening
What does the patient report hearing in all three cases?

71. A Man with Two Brains Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
A Man with Two Brains
With communication between his left and right hemispheres severed, a patient teaches doctors about the division of labor within the brain.

72. American Sign Language (ASL)
Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
American Sign Language (ASL)
Deaf Signers with Left Hemisphere Damage:
Language Deficit. Aphasic.
Deaf Signers with Right Hemisphere Damage:
Visio-Spatial Deficits.
No easily detectable language deficits.
Left Hemisphere implicated in Language
Poizner, Klima, & Bellugi (1987)

73. Native ASL Signers – RH vs. LH damage
Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
Native ASL Signers – RH vs. LH damage
Hickok et al. (1998)

74. Native ASL Signers – RH vs. LH damage
Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
Native ASL Signers – RH vs. LH damage
Comparisons on:
Production
Comprehension
Phrase repetition Test
Naming Test
Rhyming Test
Paraphasias/min (#speech error/min)
Hickok et al. (1996)

75. Functions of the Hemispheres
Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
Functions of the Hemispheres
Left Hemisphere
Rapid language processing
Lexical, syntactic processing
Phonemic processing
Right Hemisphere
Higher level processing
Discourse processing
Prosodic information

76. Summary: Brain and modularity
Language in the brain
Lateralization: Left vs. Right Hemisphere
Summary: Brain and modularity
Patient data provide evidence that there are regions of the brain associated with language processing
Data from normals corroborate brain damage data
The evidence is suggestive of brain modularity – i.e. specialized areas for processing language.

77. When does lateralization emerge?
Language in the brain
Lateralization: Emergence
When does lateralization emerge?
Quickly within the first few years of life.
Dichotic listening task (Kimura,1963):
4-6 yr-olds show right-ear advantage
EEG/ERP data (Neville et al.)
4-6 yr-olds
High-amplitude sucking (Bertoncini et al. 1989):
Neonates (4-day-olds)
Right-ear advantage for syllable change
Left-ear advantage for musical tone change

78. When does lateralization emerge?
Language in the brain
Lateralization: Emergence
When does lateralization emerge?
Videoclip touches upon:
EEG/ERP technology
Lateralization emergence
Critical Period in Second Language Acquisition
Issues of Plasticity
Competition of processes

79. More to think about… Plasticity and Modularity
Language in the brain
More to think about…
Plasticity and Modularity
Evidence for brain plasticity is relevant to the question of whether there are dedicated faculties for language processing.

80. Question of Plasticity Rasmussen & Milner (1977) – Wada test
Language in the brain
Plasticity
Question of Plasticity Rasmussen & Milner (1977) – Wada test
Normals
Patients with Left Hemisphere Lesions

81. “Where” is important Above data (Rasmussen & Milner, 1977) show:
Language in the brain
Plasticity
“Where” is important
Above data (Rasmussen & Milner, 1977) show:
Shift of laterality occurs to some extent (plasticity of brain)
Those who are left-handed or mixed have greater plasticity than those who are right-handed

82. Language in the brain
Plasticity
“When” is important
Rasmussen & Milner (1977):
Brain damage after 5-years-old rarely results in shift of laterality
Severity of aphasia greater for those who suffer brain damage later
 The younger, the more plasticity
See Carroll (2008), Ch. 13 for cited corroborating data comparing hemispherectomy children.
Under 9, better recovery of language

83. The Power of Half Language in the brain Plasticity
Parataxis:
A glance into the life of Michelle Mack, a young woman born with half a brain after suffering a stroke in utero.

84. Next set of lecture notes
Continuation w/ ideas on being preprogrammed for language
Interaction between environment/culture & the learner