| Term | Definition |
|---|
| clustered vs. distributed neurons | two binary choices that will decide between localizationist and holist positions; functionally homogeneous neurons are either one or the other |
| shared vs. dedicated neurons | neurons perform duties 'across functions' or are solely devoted to a specific language function |
| dependent variable | what you use to make measurements; i.e. words to write, read, etc. when studying aphasia |
| independent variable | the results of what you are testing; errors and correct answer, how long it takes to answer correctly, etc. when studying aphasia |
| functional architecture | box and arrow flowchart, not like neuroanatomy, based on a patient's performance on multi-related language tasks, from sensory input (visual/auditory) to output (written/spoken) |
| phonologically plausible | (like kids spelling) fabric > phabric; cabin > kabbin |
| semantic paragraphias | truck > bus; leopard > tiger; apple > orange |
| orthographic related errors | brush > bpush; happy > fabby; soft > ssoft |
| morphological paragraphias | learn > learning; powerful > powerfully; picked > pick |
| event-related potentials | using scalp electrodes, small electrical responses to specific inputs can only be observed by averaging the EEG traces over a series of trials |
| content words or "open class" | carry meaning; numerous; variable lengths; can add new ones to language; mainly consist of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs |
| function words or "closed class" | do not carry meanings by themselves; can't add new ones to language, usually small words (grammatical morphemes and endings); articles, conjunctions, prepositions, pronouns, quantifiers |
| lexicon | mental dictionary in brain |
| aggrammatism | Broca's aphasics show evidence for selective loss of closed class words while retaining open class |
| fMRI | add blood volume flow analysis: oxygenated blood has different magnetic properties relative to de-oxygenated blood, hence bigger signal |
| MRI | magnetic resonance imaging |
| PET | positron emission tomography |
| practice effects | practicing and repeating an experimental task can affect blood flow over a few trials. So test and control must have the same effect. |
| stimulus presentation rate | 14 items/min to 60 items/min in 5 studies reviewed |
| words with acoustic features | bugle, siren, horn, bell, whistle, sing, thunder |
| words without acoustic features | think, grass, rubber, plant, pensive, loneliness |
| N400 | reflects postlexical process involved in lexical integration of words in sentence |
| syntactic positive shift | a positive shift in the ERP waveform after the syntactic violation |
| Peterson study | by subtracting a "control state" from the current "stimulus state" one could isolate areas of activation related to mental operations present in the stimulus state, but not in the control state |
| subtraction method | built-in assumption of "forward only" processing |
Combine with other sets
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