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Complete lecture notes Language in the Brain (PL1LB)
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12/01/2021 PL1LB – Lecture 1 language research methodsWhat is language? Abstract nucleus, independent communication, uniquely human, links sound &
meaning & supported by anatomical/functional systems (Chomsky, 1986)
Phonemes – basic sound units that humans can emit hundreds of
A language inventory systematically uses a small number of these sounds
Morpheme – basic meaning units that can be created from existing lexemes
E.g., pluralise nouns, conjugate verbs & make comparative adjectives
Function/bound morphemes can’t stand alone
Syntax – English as an SVO language ‘Broad’ language faculty – production of sounds
Languages have predefined orders for sentence components ‘Narrow’ language faculty - recursion
Unique characteristics of language
Decomposition/dissociation – constituent elements can be isolated into lower level units
Combinatorial abilities – elements can form infinitely complex lexis
Recursion – ability to freely extend sentences with embedded clauses
Evolutionary adaption – phono articulatory organs have evolved to accommodate language
Lesion studies = anatomo-clinical method of correlating patient behaviour with a post-mortem study
Broca (1861) – patient Tan has extensive damage in the left inferior frontal gyrus
Broca’s area – crucial for speech production
X direction of causality, deficits can improve with rehabilitation, multiple areas of neurology can be
implicated with one deficit
Transcranial magnetic stimulation = disrupts brain function through a strong magnetic force
Causes a temporary inactivation – ‘virtual brain lesion’
Can infer causality – if a behaviour is disrupted from the magnetic stimulation
✓ can target small cortical areas
X can’t target subcortical (deep) areas
, EEG = measures voltage fluctuations across the scalp
Event related potentials – EEG deviation that measures brain responses to stimlui
Bannon & Rothman (2016) – left/right anterior reacts differently to ungrammatical sentences
✓ high temporal resolution (measures fast activity)
X low spatial resolution (can’t pinpoint specific neurons)
Functional MRI = measures real time blood flow responses to stimulus
Structural MRI – investigates grey/white matter structures
Pliatsikas et al. (2014) – cerebellar volume in non-natives correlated with grammatical task speed
✓ high spatial resolution (pinpoints localisation)
X low temporal resolution (one image per 2 seconds)
MEG = records the brain’s natural magnetic fields
Combines benefits of EEG & MRI – high spatial & temporal resolution
X expensive & underutilised technology
Eye tracking
Saccades – ‘jumps’ between regions of text
Fixations – time spent on one region
Regressions – back & forth travel of eyes
Cunnings et al. (2016) – visual world paradigm where eyes fixate on a chosen image in ambiguous
conditions
Priming = recognition of a word facilitated by prior processing of similar words
Pilatsikas et al. (2014) – ‘keep’ is recognised faster after ‘kept’ vs ‘chair’
Masked priming = when the priming word is flashed so quickly it is not consciously recalled
Delayed priming = priming & target word are separated in a sequence
Self-paced reading = next part of a sentence is revealed when the first part has been read
Reaction time – reflects complexity of processing
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