What kinds of perceptual and cognitive processing is needed for understanding spoken and written language? What...

50.1K

Verified Solution

Question

Psychology

What kinds of perceptual and cognitive processing is needed forunderstanding spoken and written language? What neural structuresare involved?

Answer & Explanation Solved by verified expert

4.4 Ratings (775 Votes)

THE HUMAN BRAIN The brain is divided into two halves a left hemisphere and a right hemisphere This is called lateralizationIn human beings it is the left hemisphere that usually contains the specialized language areas While this holds true for 97 of righthanded people about 19 of lefthanded people have their language areas in the right hemisphere and as many as 68 of them have some language abilities in both the left and the right hemispheres WHAT IS LANGUAGE PROCESSING Language processing refers to the way humans use words to communicate ideas and feelings and how such communications are processed and understood Thus it is how the brain creates and understands language UNDERSTANDING SPOKEN LANGUAGE Sound waves received by the ear are turned into neural activity by a complex mechanism involving the eardrum the bones in the middle ear and the hair cells within the cochlea The auditory nerve carries the signal from the ears to the brainstem from where it passes via the thalamus to the auditory areas of the cerebral cortex In the cortex speech sounds are extracted from the incoming signal There are neural circuits in the auditory cortex that are specialized for speech and language as opposed to other types of sound Speech production and speech perception takes place predominantly in one hemisphere of the brain usually the left Several areas within the left hemisphere are involved Brocas area in the frontal lobe seems to be crucial for syntactic operations in both production and perception of speech Wernickes area in the temporal lobe seems to be crucial for accessing the concrete meanings of words The evidence for the distinction in function between posterior and anterior language areas comes from the study of aphasia that is difficulties with language resulting from brain injury PERCEPTUAL PROCESSES INVOLVED Speech perception Acoustic stimuli are received by the auditive organ and are converted to bioelectric signals on the organ of Corti These electric impulses are then transported through scarpas ganglion vestibulocochlear nerve to the primary auditory cortex on both hemispheres Each hemisphere treats it See Answer

Get Answers to Unlimited Questions

Join us to gain access to millions of questions and expert answers. Enjoy exclusive benefits tailored just for you!

Membership Benefits:

Unlimited Question Access with detailed Answers
Zin AI - 3 Million Words
10 Dall-E 3 Images
20 Plot Generations
Conversation with Dialogue Memory
No Ads, Ever!
Access to Our Best AI Platform: Flex AI - Your personal assistant for all your inquiries!

Become a Member