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Language and the brain
When we see an object – like a red apple, we recognise its shape and its colour and
other things about it. Surprisingly, perhaps, different parts of the brain deal with
different aspects of the same thing. So the colour – the redness – registers in one place
in the brain and the apple shape – the roundness of the apple is seen in another area of
the brain. (So someone who is colour-blind can still actually see an apple). And as we
would expect the taste and smell of the apple are processed and stored separately, we
think. Of course we not only see what it looks like, but we know its name and we
know it is something to eat, and so on. We know what to call it when we speak and
we understand what other people are talking about when they say apple. We know
things about it – that it is a fruit and that it is a fruit. We know other words connected
with it – apple tree, apple pie, the apple of your eye, and so on. So the brain has a
natural tendency to analyse things and also to create a system of connections so that it
can make links between these different aspects of the same thing. The cells in the
brain that process and transmit all this information are called neurons.
As you probably know, the human brain is divided in the middle (if you are looking
down onto it) and we call the two parts the left and right hemispheres. Many language
functions seem to take place mostly in one side of the brain or other. Grammar and
vocabulary seem to be associated with activity in the left hemisphere. But other
functions of language seem to take place in the right hemisphere, for example
intonation in language – the music of the language, if you like. - Music and art seem
to be more associated with the right hemisphere.
Left hemisphere functions
Right hemisphere functions
sequential
simultaneous
analytical
holistic
verbal
imagistic
logical
intuitive
linear algorithmic processing
holistic algorithmic processing
mathematics (approximate calculation,
numerical comparison, estimation)
mathematics (approximate calculation,
left hemisphere only: direct fact
retrieval[5][6]
numerical comparison, estimation)[5][6]
present and past
present and future[citation needed]
language: grammar/vocabulary, literal[7]
language: intonation/accentuation, prosody,
pragmatic, contextual[7]
One of the most important parts of the brain as regards language production is called
Broca’s area. It is in the left hemisphere and towards the front of the brain. Damage to
the Broca’s area can affect speech production. Another important area is Wernicke’s
area and damage to this area affects comprehension.
Some of the areas of the brain involved in language processing: Broca's area,
Wernicke's area, Supramarginal gyrus, Angular gyrus, Primary Auditory Cortex
Damage to the Broca’s area can result in difficulty in composing grammatical
sentences.
Damage to the Wernicke’s area can result in production of fluent speech that is
meaningless.
there is a pathway connecting the two.
In other ways too, the brain can be divided up into different areas – we call these
lobes. The small area at bottom of the brain located just behind the brainstem and
connected to the spinal cord is called the cerebellum. It is The larger part of the brain
above this is called the cerebrum and this can be divided into four lobes. Directly
above the cerebellum is the temporal lobe. The large area at the front of the brain
(behind your forehead) is the frontal lobe. At the back of your head is the occipital
lobe and behind the frontal lobe at the top of your head is the parietal lobe.
The frontal lobe has a part to play in decision-making, and there is a connection with
personality. The parietal lobe specialises in functions relating to spatial awareness and
coordination of movement as well as certain mathematical functions. But colour
recognition seems to be a function of the occipital lobe. The temporal lobe has
functions relating to hearing and to semantics (the meanings of things). It contains the
hippocampus, which plays a major role in short term memory and the formation of
memories.