April 23, 2001

The readings for this class were:

• Whitney, Chapter 12
• Read Speech-like cerebral activity in profoundly deaf people processing signed languages: Implications for the neural basis of human language by L. A. Petitto, R. J. Zatorre, K. Gauna, E. J. Nikelski, D. Dostie, and A. C. Evans, 2000, PNAS, 97(25):13961-13966.

The outline for the class is:

1. Announcements
2. Questions
3. Franz Gall and the origins of the classical theory
4. Broca and Wernicke, image 1, image 2
5. Information processing approach/functional structures
6. Methods and Broca's area refined
7. Handedness
8. Laterality (visual pathways), corpus callosum
9. The neuroscience of signed language
10. Petitto, et. al. PNAS article
11. Class evaluations

Digressions/Miscellaneous

• The History of Phrenology on the Web
• A Bit About Phrenology
• the Psycograph
• cortical layout
• language areas
• insula
• Multimodality Interactive Sterioscopic Image-Guided Neurosurgery

Overhead Notes

1. functional neural structure
2. X-ray, CAT scan - structural information
   EEGs, ERPs, PET/cRBF - functional information
   fMRI - structural and functional information

Parting Thoughts

• Chimp to Chimp, Time magazine, August 28, 1978:61.
• Symbolic Communication Between Two Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes) by E. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, Duane M. Rumbaugh, and Sally Boysen, 1978, Science, 201:641-644.
• Symbolic Communication Between Two Pigeons (Columba Livia Domestica) by Robert Epstein, Robert P. Lanza and B. F. Skinner, 1980, Science, 207:543-545.
• Studies to Determine the Intelligences of African Grey Parrots by Irene M. Pepperberg, 1995, Proceedings of the International Aviculturists Society.

Self-test Questions

• For which language function(s) is the evidence strongest for localization in a rather restricted area? Describe a function that is not strictly localized. Describe evidence that supports your answer.
• Discuss the distinction between the terms "related" and "exclusively related" as applied to the study of brain-language relationships. How are these terms related to the idea of modularity? Why are both activation studies and lesion studies needed to determine whether some function is related to a particular brain area?
• Draw a sketch of the left hemisphere and label the areas comprising the classic language circuit. Describe the classical theory's approach to the function of these areas and the relationships between these areas.