Speaking Neuroscience

Phonological lexicon

A store of the abstract speech sounds that make up known words

Lexical access

The process of matching a perceptual description of a word on to a stored memory description of that word

Cohort model

In lexical access, a large number of spoken words are initially considered as candidates but works get eliminated as more evidence accumulates

Uniqueness point

The point at which the acoustic input unambiguously corresponds to only one known word

Amodal

Not tied to one or more perceptual systems

Imageability

The extent which a word can evoke a concrete image; e.g. “table,” is high on this measure but “truth” is low

N400

An event-related components in EEG found when a word meaning appears out of context or unexpectedly

Proper name/Proper noun

A type of noun denoting a unique entity such as people and place names like “Alice Walker” or “Washington DC”

Symbol grounding problem

The problem of defining concepts without assuming some pre-existing knowledge

Embodied cognition

The idea that the body (its movement or internal state) can be used in cognition (like to understand words or social situations)

Hub-and-spoke model

A model of semantic memory that contains both amodal concepts and semantic features that are grounded in sensory, motor, and bodily coordination

Sensory-functional distinction

The hypothesis that semantic features are clustered in the brain according to what are used for and what their physical properties are

Wernicke’s Aphasia

A type of aphasia associated with damage to the area and fluent yet nonsensical speech and poor comprehension

Broca’s aphasia

Aphasia associated with damage to this area and to symptoms like agrammatism and articulatory deficits

Syntax

The order and structure of the words within a sentence

Agrammatism

Halting, “telegraphic” speech production that is devoid of function words (such as of, at, the, and), bound morphemes (like ing, s) and other verbs

Parsing

The process of assigning a syntactic structure to words

Garden-Path sentence

A sentence in which the early party biases a syntactic interpretation that turns out to be incorrect

P600

An event related brain potential (ERP) typically associated with the processing of grammatical anomalies

Repetition priming

A stimulus seen previously will be identified faster on a subsequent occasion

Lexicalization

In speech production, the selection of a word based on the meaning that one wishes to convey

Freudian slip

The substitution of one word for another that is sometimes thought to reflect the hidden intentions of the speaker

Malapropisms

A speech error that consists of a word with a similar phonological form to the intended word

Spoonerism

A speech error in which initial consonants are swapped between words

Inner speech

Use of words or images without audible or physical speaking

Tip of the tongue phenomenon

A state in which a person knows, conceptually, the word that he or she wishes to say but is unable to retrieve the corresponding spoken form

Anomia

Word finding difficulties

Lemma

A modality-independent word-level entry that specifies the syntactic components of the word

Lexeme

A phonological code that drives articulation

Apraxia of speech

Difficulties in sharping the vocal tract

Dysarthria

Impaired muscular contractions of the articulatory apparatus

Dual routes of speech

What and how