Words Wired: Neurolinguistic Terms That Map the Brain’s Language
Words Wired for Speech:
Terms from Neurolinguistics
1. Broca’s Aphasia
A language disorder caused by damage to Broca’s area (usually in the left frontal lobe), characterized by non-fluent, effortful speech but relatively preserved comprehension.
E.g., “... walk... store... yesterday.”
2. Wernicke’s Aphasia
Results from damage to Wernicke’s area in the temporal lobe. Patients produce fluent but meaningless speech and show poor comprehension.
E.g., “I called mother on the television but couldn’t answer the floor.”
3. Conduction Aphasia
A rare condition where speech comprehension and production are intact, but repetition is impaired — linked to damage in the arcuate fasciculus.
4. Arcuate Fasciculus
A bundle of nerve fibers connecting Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas — essential for integrating speech comprehension and production.
5. Agraphia
The inability to write due to brain damage, often co-occurring with alexia (inability to read).
Can occur with intact oral language skills.
6. Alexia (Pure Word Blindness)
Loss of the ability to read, typically due to disruption between visual processing and language areas.
Writing remains intact.
7. Neuroplasticity
The brain's ability to reorganize neural pathways — particularly crucial in recovery from aphasia and in bilingual language control.
8. Anomic Aphasia
A mild form of aphasia where individuals have difficulty retrieving words, especially nouns and verbs, despite knowing their meanings.
9. Lateralization
The principle that certain language functions are dominant in one hemisphere (typically the left in right-handed individuals).
10. Split-Brain Studies
Experiments on patients with a severed corpus callosum, revealing lateralized language functions and inter-hemispheric processing.
11. EEG (Electroencephalography)
A non-invasive method to record electrical activity in the brain, widely used to study the timing of language processing.
12. ERP (Event-Related Potential)
Brain responses triggered by specific linguistic stimuli.
Example: N400 is linked to semantic incongruence, like “I drink coffee with socks.”
13. fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging)
A technique to map brain activity in real-time, identifying regions activated during language tasks.
14. Hemispherectomy
Surgical removal of one cerebral hemisphere. Some children develop near-normal language abilities — showcasing extreme plasticity.
15. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
A method to temporarily disrupt activity in specific brain regions to study their function — including language production areas.
16. Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA)
A neurological condition where language ability deteriorates gradually over time, unrelated to stroke or trauma.
17. Logopenic Variant
A type of PPA marked by word-finding pauses, poor repetition, but preserved grammar — often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's.
18. Hemispheric Asymmetry Reduction in Older Adults (HAROLD Model)
As people age, language tasks activate both hemispheres, possibly compensating for declining neural efficiency.
19. Crossed Aphasia
A rare phenomenon where a right-hemisphere lesion causes aphasia in a right-handed individual — defying the usual lateralization pattern.
20. Semantic Dementia
A condition affecting the anterior temporal lobes, leading to progressive loss of word and object meanings despite fluent speech.
