Roles of Brain Areas in Language and Cognitive Control

Broca's area

Speech production, located in the frontal premotor area.

Wernicke's area

Speech and writing recognition, located in the superior temporal lobe.

Geschwind's area

Multimodal integration, located in the inferior parietal lobe.

Location of Broca's area

In the pars opercularis and triangularis of the frontal lobe.

Symptoms of Broca's patient 'Tan'

Could only say the word 'tan.'

Broca's aphasia

Difficulty speaking, repeating, and listening.

Wernicke's aphasia

Impaired language comprehension, located in the posterior superior temporal lobe.

Wernicke/Lichtheim model

A model of aphasias explaining language processing and damage effects.

Storage of words in the brain

As phonological, morphological, and orthographical forms.

Three processes of the Mental Lexicon

Access, Selection, and Integration.

Factors involved in the Mental Lexicon

Morpheme, phoneme, frequency of use, and semantic relationships.

Semantic Network

Words linked by similarities.

Category-specific agnosias

Based on biological, physical, visual, or functional properties.

Caramazza's findings on agnosia features

Animacy uses lateral fusiform & superior temporal lobe; inanimacy uses medial fusiform, left middle temporal, and left premotor areas.

Effect of number of attributes on agnosia

More attributes cause more difficulties.

Basic unit of spoken language

Phonemes.

Pathway for hearing speech

Primary auditory cortex → secondary auditory cortex → superior temporal sulcus → fusiform gyrus, Broca's area & left hemisphere premotor.

Areas activated by speech perception & production

Mid temporal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, posterior mid temporal gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex.

Panndemonium & Connectivist models

Used for letter recognition.

Visual Word Form Area (VWFA)

Neurons responding to letters, located at the occipital/temporal junction in both hemispheres.

Models of word comprehension

Modular, Interactive, and Hybrid.

Location of Lexical Access

Middle & superior temporal gyrus.

Location of Lexical Selection

Ventral and dorsal inferior frontal gyrus.

ERP components processed in the left temporal lobe

N400 (context abnormality), P560 (visual abnormality), P600 (semantic violation).

Hagmoort model of language

Memory (superior temporal gyrus), Unification (frontal lobe near Broca), Control (dorsolateral prefrontal & anterior cingulate).

Friederici's language pathways

4 pathways: 2 dorsal, 2 ventral connecting superior/middle temporal gyri to inferior frontal lobe.

4 pathways

2 dorsal, 2 ventral connecting superior/middle temporal gyri to inferior frontal lobe.

Superior temporal lobe auditory error cells

Monitors speech production errors.

Speech production hierarchy

Yes.

Levelt's model elements

Lemmas, Formulation, Articulation, Self-monitoring, Conceptualization.

Hierarchical State Feedback Control model

An evidence-based speech production model.

Language evolution anatomically

With a denser & larger arcuate fasciculus connecting language areas.

Cognitive Control or Executive Function

Using abilities, memories, and knowledge to achieve goals.

Four non-motor areas of the frontal lobe

Orbitofrontal cortex, lateral PFC, medial frontal cortex, frontal pole.

Frontal lobe damage effects

Goal development, reasoning, and memory.

Perseveration

Repeating a wrong answer after correction.

Symptoms of frontal lesions

Impulsivity, distraction, apathy, poor planning, social issues.

Behavior lost with frontal damage

Purpose-driven behavior.

Utilization Behavior (Lhermitte)

Extreme dependency on prototypical responses.

Chronic drug users impairment

Impaired response inhibition.

Goal-oriented actions

Linked to expected rewards and causal knowledge.

Habitual actions

Automatic actions not linked to external stimuli.

Task showing frontal lobe damage

Delayed-Response Task.

Neurons involved in goal maintenance

Lateral PFC cells.

3 organizational patterns of the frontal cortex

Ventral to Dorsal (What to How), Posterior to Anterior (Abstraction), Lateral to Medial (Motivation).

Decision-making theories

Normative, Descriptive, Action-Outcome, Model-based/free, Economic.

Factors determining Reward Value

Payoff, Probability, Cost/Effort, Context, Preference.

Brain regions processing reward value

OFC (payoff), LPFC (probability), ACC (all three), Striatum (effort).

Temporal Discounting

Discounting value based on time till payoff.

Reward Prediction Error

Dopamine release matching expected reward.

GABAergic cells influence on dopamine

They decrease activity to allow higher dopamine levels during reward expectation.

Salience and Valence

Salience = expectation of reward; Valence = size of reward.

Dynamic Filtering

Allocating attention resources to a task.

PFC modulation of sensory processing

By increasing or decreasing attention.

Stop/Signal task

Task requiring change of planned movement.

Area generating stop signals

Right inferior PFC.

Effect of Deep Brain Stimulation

Easier movement and increased impulsivity.

Supervisory Attentional System

Assesses task novelty and difficulty.

Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC)

Decision making, motor control, motivation, error monitoring.

Error-related negativity

Response-locked.

Feedback-related negativity

Feedback-locked.

Expected Value of Control model

Modern ACC model explaining control effort decisions.

Prefrontal cortex

Located in the non-motor regions of the frontal lobe.

Importance of play during development

Enhances social and cognitive skills.

Effects of social isolation

Negative social and cognitive deficits.

OFC damage

Causes social inappropriateness and unrealistic self-views.

Self-referential memory formation theories

Scaffolding and Self Uniqueness.

Medial PFC

Activates during self-referential tasks.

Personality recognition

Independent of general memory.

Default Network

Brain network active when not focused externally.

Sentinel Hypothesis

The brain is always active to monitor the environment.

dmPFC activity with attention

Increases without attention, decreases with attention.

Human self-views

Often wildly inaccurate.

vACC activation

For self-description and imagining positive future events.

Self-perceptions

Usually positive to maintain social acceptance.

vmPFC

Acts as a simulation center, processes novelty and gratification delay.

Embodiment

Connection between body and brain in spatial unity.

Occipitotemporal cortex

Processes body and movement recognition.

TPJ

Integrates multisensory body information.

TPJ stimulation

Induces out-of-body experiences (OBEs).

Autoscopic phenomena

OBEs, Autoscopic hallucinations, Heautoscopy.

Xenomelia

Desire for limb amputation, linked to cortical thinness in superior parietal lobule.

Understanding others

Mental State Attribution and Experience Sharing.

Theory of Mind onset

Around 7 months of age.

Sally-Anne False Belief Test

Used for assessing Theory of Mind.

Premotor neurons

Store movement patterns and purpose.

Empathy mediation

Mirror neurons, insula, and amygdala connections.

Insula activation during disgust

Self and others' disgust (mirrored).

Pain empathy activation areas

Anterior cingulate, insula, frontal operculum.

ACC activity with social closeness

Varies depending on personal closeness.

Superior temporal sulcus (STS)

Integrates verbal/nonverbal cues and mentalizes about others.

Autism (ASD)

Neurodevelopmental disorder with genetic/environmental causes.

OFC in social cognition

Learns social knowledge and norms.

Ultimatum Game activation areas

dlPFC and insula.

Trolley Dilemma activation change

Based on relationship closeness.