Lateralization,

Language,
and
Intelligence
Calbario, Felicano, & Ormillada
BS Psychology 3B
Savant
Behaviors Extraordinary skills and
talents found in those whose
overall level of intellectual
functioning usually falls in the
mentally retarded range.

the preferred terminology

is "intellectual disability".
Savant
Behaviors
Dustin Hoffman’s character in the film Rain Man was able to count
the number of pennies in a jar instantly but was unable to make
change for a dollar.
Leslie Lemke, a patient who is blind and mentally retarded, heard
Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 played one time on television.
Several hours later, Lemke sat down at the piano, which he had
never studied, and played the entire concerto without error
(Treffert & Wallace, 2002).
Savant Although the origin of savant behaviors
remains a mystery, current speculation

Behaviors centers on possible damage to the left

hemisphere, leading to compensating
activity in the right hemisphere.

The exceptional talents demonstrated

by savants usually occur in modalities
that we associate with right-
hemisphere function such as art, music,
mathematics, and spatial skills.
Savant
Behaviors
Why would human beings harbor extraordinary abilities without
typically being able to use them?

Although scientists continue to explore savant behavior, it is

likely that these abilities reflect the activity of isolated
subroutines that are rarely seen in the end products of
human intelligence.
specific cognitive processes or mechanisms that are highly specialized
and can produce exceptional performance in certain tasks.
how human intelligence is
multifaceted and that our
abilities to learn, communicate,
and problem solve require the
recruitment and cooperation of
multiple specialized structures
and patterns of activity in the
brain.
Lateralization,
Language,
and
Intelligence
Calbario, Felicano, & Ormillada
BS Psychology 3B
Lateralization of
Function

The right and left hemispheres are not just

typically different in size; substantial evidence
suggests that they differ in function as well.

The localization of a function in one hemisphere or

the other is known as lateralization.
 Lateralization of
Hemispherectomy Function

Rasmussen’s syndrome is a rare brain

disorder that produces seizures in The cortex of the frontal, parietal, temporal, and
only one hemisphere of the brain. occipital lobes is removed, leaving the underlying
white matter, basal ganglia, thalamus, and
ventricles.
Following surgery, the remaining cavity
For about 75 to 80 percent of the eventually fills with cerebrospinal fluid.
patients, seizures are completely
stopped, and for most others, seizure
activity is greatly reduced.
Seven year-old child whose brain
underwent a hemispherectomy for
Rasmussen’s syndrome at age three
years.

Child retains her bilingual ability

and has only slight motor
problems in her left arm and leg.
She leads an otherwise
completely normal life.
Rather than being completely
paralyzed on one half of the body as
we might expect, most children move
with a slight limp and perhaps an ankle
brace.

Language development is also

surprisingly normal, although the
removal of the left hemisphere
impacts language to a greater extent
than removal of the right hemisphere
(Curtiss, de Bode, & Mathern, 2001).
The fact that we are
capable of living with one
hemisphere certainly does
not imply that we don’t need
or use all parts of our brains.
Instead, the two
hemispheres appear to
provide unique and distinct
contributions to our highest
levels of human cognitive
functions.
The Split Brain
A treatment for seizure disorder in which the
commissures linking the two cerebral
hemispheres are severed.
The Split Brain

Performed in the 1960s by Joseph Bogen.

Split-brain procedures reduce both the severity and overall frequency of seizures
Surprisingly, Bogen’s patients experienced no changes in personality, intelligence, or speech (Gazzaniga, 1970;
Sperry, 1974).
Sperry (1964; as cited in Ornstein, 1977, p. 53) described patients after split-brain operations as people “with two
separate minds,” and occasionally, those minds disagreed with each other.
Normally, these so-called “alien hand syndrome” effects decrease with time.
Forty-one percent of the patients in one sample were completely free of seizures following surgery, and another
45 percent had seizures less than half as frequently as before surgery (Sorenson et al., 1997).
 Roger Sperry, Michael Gazzaniga,
and their colleagues explored the
unique behavioral outcomes of this
surgery.
These investigations took advantage
of the fact that the processing of
certain types of information is
lateralized.

⇒
Right visual field left half of each retina ⇒ left hemisphere
⇒
Left visual field right half of each retina ⇒ right hemisphere
 Assuming that the eyes and head
are stationary, information from
the right visual field (blue) is
processed in the left visual
cortex.
Conversely, information from the
left visual field (red) is processed
in the right visual cortex.
In the patient with a split brain,
this organization allows
researchers to demonstrate
differences between the
properties of the right and left
The Relationship Between the Visual Fields and the Right and
Left Visual Cortices
hemispheres.
The Wada Test Juhn Wada

The anesthetic sodium amytal is

applied to one cerebral hemisphere
through a catheter inserted in the
groin area and advanced into one of
the carotid arteries in the neck.

The drug then travels to the brain

and temporarily anesthetizes one
hemisphere, causing it to become
functionally inactive for a short
period of time.
The Wada Test
If the patient has language localized
to the anesthetized hemisphere,
speech and most comprehension
will be absent.

Although the Wada test is

considered to be the gold
standard of pre-surgery
lateralization evaluation
techniques, newer and less invasive
technologies, particularly fMRI, are
being explored as alternatives
(Abou-Khalil, 2007)
The Development
of Lateralization

Lateralization is not exclusive to human beings. Preferences for one

hand (or paw) are generally accepted as indications of functional
asymmetry in the brain.
Paw preferences during reaching for food have been observed in mice,
rats, cats, and dogs (Sun & Walsh, 2006). Chimpanzees and other great
apes show structural asymmetries in their brains that are similar to
those in humans (Cantalupo & Hopkins, 2001; Gannon, Holloway,
Broadfield, & Braun, 1998).
 What advantages might lateralization provide?
The Rogers (2000) suggested that lateralization allows
Development organisms to multitask, or to split their attention between
different aspects of the environment.
of
Lateralization What produces lateralization in humans?
Geschwind and Galaburda (1987) suggested that prenatal
androgens play key roles in the lateralization of language and
visuospatial skills.
This hypothesis predicts gender differences in lateralization,
given the much higher exposure of males to prenatal androgens.
One example of gender differences in lateralization is the higher
proportion of males who are left-handed (Mathews et al., 2004).

Stephan, Fink, and Marshall (2007) argue that structural and

functional lateralization originates in differences in the
connectivity found in the two hemispheres.
 Environmental factors have been implicated in
The the
Development development of lateralization.
of
Lateralization A study of 180,000 Swedish male military recruits
suggested that routine ultrasounds conducted
during their mothers’ pregnancies resulted in
higher numbers of left- handers (Kieler,
Cnattingius, Haglund, Palmgren, & Axelsson, 2001).
Three follow-up studies confirmed these initial
results (Salvesen, 2002).
Although no studies support any relationship
between prenatal ultrasound and later
neurological problems in children, further research
into this phenomenon seems warranted (Salvesen,
2007).
Implications of One common assertion about hemisphere

Hemispheric Asymmetry lateralization is the concept of a dominant

for Behavior hemisphere (Bakan, 1971; Zenhausen, 1978).

People who are “left-brain dominant” are
described as logical, verbal, and analytic.
“Right-brained” people are supposed to be
What are the artistic and intuitive.
However, experimental support for this
implications of notion is weak.

lateralization in the
Springer and Deutsch (1998) report no
typical intact brain? strong correlations between hemisphere
dominance and occupational choice or
artistic talent.
Handedness, The most significant correlation
Language, and regarding hemisphere lateralization is the
association between handedness and the
Hemisphere localization of language.
Lateralization Handedness is surprisingly difficult to
establish, but a common standard is the
use of a preferred hand for writing
(McManus, 1999).
Using that standard, approximately equal
use of both hands is quite rare,
accounting for about 1 percent of the
population (Corballis, Hattie, & Fletcher,
2008).
Of the 90 percent of the population who are Handedness,
primarily right-handed, about 95 percent
localize language primarily to the left
Language, and
hemisphere. Hemisphere
Most of the remaining 5 percent localize
language to the right, although there are a very Lateralization
small number of right-handed individuals who
use both hemispheres for language.
Among the 10 percent of people who are
primarily left-handed, about 70 percent localize
language to the left hemisphere, 15 percent
localize language to the right hemisphere, and
the remaining 15 percent use both hemispheres
fairly equally for language (Corballis, 2003;
Rasmussen & Milner, 1977).
Dichotic Listening

Listening tasks also provide insight into lateralization

Although information from one ear is processed by both cerebral hemispheres, it is processed more rapidly by the
contralateral auditory cortex.
To investigate the lateralization of auditory processing, Doreen Kimura used dichotic listening tasks, in which different
sounds are presented simultaneously to the left and right ears.
If words reaching the two ears are different, most right-handers show a right-ear advantage, repeating the word
they heard in the right ear (Kimura, 1973).
This result suggests that language for these individuals is lateralized to the left hemisphere.
 The Lateralization of Prosody

Planum
and Musical Abilities

Temporale
Prosody- the use of pitch and intonation in language
to convey emotional tone and meaning.

Study of Charbonneau, Scherzer, Aspirot, and

Cohen on 2003
Composer Maurice Ravel

The planum temporale is usually somewhat larger in

the left hemisphere than in the right in most people.
However, the difference between the left and right
planum temporale was about twice as large in the
musicians with perfect pitch as in the control
participants.
These results suggest that perfect pitch is
mediated by the left hemisphere.
Gender Differences in
Lateralization
Such discrepancies could
Gender differences in lateralization
have been proposed to explain
result from different degrees
observations of gender differences in of functional asymmetry in
language. the brains of males and
Halpern (1992) noted that girls begin females.
speaking at younger ages and have
larger vocabularies and better
reading scores than boys.
Some researchers argued
Three to seven times as many boys that female brains are more
as girls are diagnosed with language functionally symmetrical than
disabilities (Liederman, Kantrowitz, & male brains (Harris, 1980
Flannery, 2005).
Gender Differences in Recent meta-analysis of over 1,000 studies of
Lateralization gender differences in handedness, the
asymmetry of the planum temporale, language
performance in dichotic listening tasks, and
language lateralization measured with fMRI
concluded that a gender difference in
handedness exists, but that no significant
gender differences occur in lateralization of
language or structural symmetry (Sommer,
Aleman, Somers, Boks, & Kahn, 2008).
These conclusions appear more consistent with the
lack of support discussed previously for a strong
role of prenatal androgens in lateralization.
The basis for gender differences in handedness
requires further investigation.
Summary Table:
Localization of Function in the Cerebral
Hemispheres
Language
What is language?

A language is defined as a system of

communicating with others using sounds,
symbols and words used to express a
meaning, idea or thought.
The Origins of Language
Chomsky believes that language
arose indirectly as a result of
other adaptations.
Pinker views language as the
direct result of natural selection.
Steven Pinker Noam Chomsky

There are no specific instructions in learning a specific language which

need to be followed like in reading and writing.
The fact that language learning does not always correlate with
intelligence provides evidence for an independent language module in the
brain.
 Atchinson’s
Ten Criteria
for Language
Foxhead box P2 Gene (FOXP2 Gene)
The gene closely associated with speech
and language disorders.

Lai et. al (2001) studied a particular family, named the KE family, that
showed a mutation of the FOXP2 gene accompanied with symptoms of low
intelligence and difficulty in language production.

A number of structural abnormalities have been identified in the caudate

nucleus of the basal ganglia in the family.

During brain development, FOXP2 targets the basal ganglia and the inferior
frontal lobes.
Foxhead box P2 Gene (FOXP2 Gene)
The gene closely associated with speech
and language disorders.

The genetic mutation required for modern language use occurred

only about 100,000 years ago. There was evidence that
Neanderthals, the closest relatives of Homo sapiens, had the FOXP2
mutation required for language use.
Skull structures from our ancestors
Skull structure indicating hemispheric
asymmetry has been suggested as a possible
sign of language development

The Homo Habilis, which existed approximately 2

million years ago, is a possible candidate for
language use.
The Homo Erectus, dating from 1.5 million years ago, Homo Habilis

is an even more likely candidate for language use.

The Homo Sapiens, who appeared around 200,000 Homo Erectus

years ago, must now have been capable of

language. Homo Sapiens
Click Languages
Found in the African continent, ranging
from Tanzania to the San people of South
Africa, might be representative of the
earliest forms of human language.

The distinctive click of these languages is

noteworthy, as these languages across the
African continent have not shared a common
ancestral language for 15-35,000 years.

This suggests that the origin of the click

languages occurred in a time before human
beings settled down to begin agriculture
Are Non-Human Animals
Capable of Real Language?
According to Dronkers, et. al
(2000), communication is not the
same as language. Some animals
have a set group of calls used for
interspecies communication
such as signaling, danger and
identifying territories.
The Great Apes and our Connection to them
Amongst the great apes, our nearest
precursor to human language ability, the
Brodmann’s Area 44, part of the Broca’s
area, shows asymmetry between the left
and right hemispheres, just like in
humans.

This suggests that human brain

development for language is not
completely unique.
The Great Apes and our Connection to them
Other researchers point to the existence
of mirror neurons, activated both when
an animal performs an action and when it
observes another animal performing an
action, in non-human primates as a
possible precursor for human language.

The presence of mirror neurons in the

Broca’s area of both humans and apes
suggest a basis for the evolution of
language.
In an experiment headed by Kellog (1931), he and his wife adopted a baby
Chimpanzee, named Gua and attempted, but failed to teach it spoken language.

However, in an experiment headed by Gardner (1969), they taught 132 signs to a

chimp named Washoe. A follow-up work by Patterson (1978) to a gorilla named
Koko & Rumbaugh et. al (1978) to a pygmy chimpanzee named Kanzi, who was
taught to associate geometric symbols with words, and apparently understood
some human speech.

Whether the animal behavior above constitutes real language is the subject of
debate. Terrace (1979) concluded that signing is just an advanced imitation
which lacks several major features of the human language.
Human children can build vocabulary just by exposure while apes need to be
laboriously taught. Furthermore, word order, which is important for humans,
does not seem to matter too much for apes.

An example for this is when Washoe signed “waterbird” when signing a swan he
saw in the water. It is ambiguous whether it is the actual noun, or if he merely
saw a “bird” sitting in the “water”.

Furthermore, Pepperberg (1990) makes a strong case for her research on African
Grey parrots based on their ability to communicate in ways that meet many of the
criteria for language.
Are Non-Human Animals
Capable of Real Language?
Whether we believe in animal
language or not, we are left with
an enormous respect for both
the complexity and intelligence of
animal behavior and the
remarkable sophistication of
human language.
 Multilingualism

Research into the effects of

Refers to the proficiency of stroke and other types of brain
more than one language. More damage in multilingual patients
than half the world is bilingual, or provide insights into how the
proficient in two languages. brain “manages” multiple
languages.
Multilingualism
According to researchers, languages learned
early in life and the languages in which the
patient is highly fluent are retained better in
events of brain damage than languages learned
later in life and/or with less fluency.

If a patient is fluent in two languages, both are

affected on the same level.

Multiple language users’ brains use some of the

same areas of the brain, but the degree of
overlap is not 100%.
Multilingualism
Perani et. al (1998) argues that language
proficiency influences the cortical
representation of language. But even if held
constant, neural bilingual signatures, or a
difference in activity which indicates a bilingual
speaker, may still be detected.

For example, participants who were highly

proficient, early learners of English as a
second language activated the same brain
structures as monolingual English speakers,
but showed a greater activation of the
portion of the Broca’s area.
Multilingualism
Hernandez et. al (2010), using an fMRI machine,
investigated bilingual participants' reactions to
picture-naming tasks. In a single language task,
participants were asked to name objects in one
language only, while in multiple language tasks,
participants were asked to name objects in one
of their languages or the other on different
trials.
During the mixed-language condition,
reaction time was slower, and activation of
the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
increased when compared with the single-
language condition.
Multilingualism

Kim et. al (1998) reported that participants who

learn multiple languages at an early age do not
show much spatial separation between the
areas of the frontal and temporal cortex that
respond to each language (including the Broca’s
area), while late language learners showed
greater spatial separation.
 American Sign Language (ASL)

The American Sign Language is a

sign language which provides an
interesting contrast between
language functions, generally
lateralized to the left
hemisphere.
 American Sign Damasio et. al (1986) documented a case of a

Language
young ASL interpreter who had her right
temporal lobe removed to control her
seizures.
During a Wada test prior to surgery,
anesthetizing the left hemisphere of the
brain produced a number of deficits in both
spoken English and ASL signing, with a
subsequent surgery on the patient’s right
temporal lobe not impairing her ability to
sign.

This proves that despite the “spatial”

nature of ASL, it is still a “language”, and
the left hemisphere of the brain is likely a
place for it to be processed.
 American Sign
Language
Interestingly, people who use ASL differ more
from non-ASL users in their processing of
human development than in their processing
of language;

Corina et. al (2007) found that hearing

participants showed that same patterns of
brain activity while watching a person drink a
cup, stretch or use ASL, while deaf signers
used different patterns of activity to
distinguish between the linguistic
movements of ASL and non-linguistic
movements.
Paul Broca and Patient Tan
Paul Broca, who made some of
the earliest observations of brain
localization and is the namesake
of the brain’s Broca’s Area

In 1861, he began to study a man named

Leborgne, who had been institutionalized for
more than 20 years. He was referred to as
“Tan” due to the fact that “Tan” was one of the
only few syllables he could utter. Paul Broca
Paul Broca and Patient Tan

Tan apparently understood much of what was

said to him, and retained his ability to answer
numerical questions by raising an appropriate
number of fingers with his left hand.

After he died, Broca performed an autopsy of

Tan’s brain, with damage seen to the patient’s
left inferior frontal region (Broca’s Area)
 Aphasia
is defined as the total/partial
loss of the ability to either
produce and/or comprehend
spoken language

In Tan’s case, it was caused by the STD Syphilis;

Modern cases of aphasia are now commonly
caused by strokes or head injuries.

Paul Broca
Tan’s preserved brain was imaged using high-
resolution MRI, and the lesions which Broca
observed turned out to be deeper than they
seemed.

Tan’s area of lesions also differed somewhat to

our current understanding of the Broca’s area.
 Characterized by:
Broca’s Aphasia
Difficulty in speech production - Speech is slow and
requires significant effort, and errors occur in the
pronunciation of some speech sounds.

Modifying words - Although the speech produced amongst

people with aphasia generally makes sense, many expected
Also known as production modifying words are omitted.
aphasia, damage in these
cases affects the Broca’s Anomia - Typically showed by patients with Broca’s
area in the frontal lobe, Aphasia, which is the difficulty of retrieving the correct
words for some ideas they would like to express.
along with the associated
subcortical regions. Comprehension - Is also affected with patients with
Broca’s Aphasia. They may struggle with the meanings of
some sentences which depend on the same modifying
words and endings which they often omit from their own
speech.
 Characterized by:
Broca’s Aphasia
There is evidence that Broca’s aphasia is more than a
simple motor deficit affecting the production of speech.

A good example of this is that patients with Broca’s Aphasia

Also known as production are still able to sing songs and know them well,
aphasia, damage in these
cases affects the Broca’s If damage to the Broca’s area affected motor control of
the vocal appar.
area in the frontal lobe,
along with the associated Moreover, Broca’s area might participate in the
subcortical regions. maintenance of verbal short-term memory through
rehearsal.
Broca’s Aphasia

Patients with Broca’s aphasia are unable to

identify grammatical errors when the salient
elements are widely spaced in a sentence

An example of this is patients identifying the

sentence, “John was finally kissed Louise” as
incorrect, but “The woman is outside, isn’t it?” as
correct. The “gap” are the words between the
“woman” and “it”.
 Characterized by:
Wernicke’s Aphasia
The speech of patients of Wernicke’s aphasia sounds
normal and/or rather fast. Grammar is generally
correct, but there is an appearance of a lack of
meaning.
Named after Carl
Wernicke, is an aphasia A good example of this is a patient interviewed by
Wernicke, Mr. Morgan, diagnosed with Wernicke’s
characterized by rapid
Aphasia, as follows:
speech with no meaning;
Patients with this aphasia Thank you, Mr. Gorgan. I want to ask a few—” Oh sure, go
seem to be unaware that ahead, any old think you want. If I could I would. Oh, I’m taking
they are not making sense. the word the wrong way to say, all of the barbers here
whenever they stop you it’s going around and around, if you
It is characterized by:
known what I mean, that is typ- ing and tying for repucer,
repuceration, well we were trying the best that we could
while another time it was with the beds over the same thing
. . .”
 Characterized by:
Wernicke’s Aphasia

Substitution of sounds, such as think for thing, is common,

Named after Carl as well as neologisms, or made up words (such as trebbin).
Wernicke, is an aphasia
characterized by rapid The major deficit in Wernicke’s aphasia is comprehension,
usually for both written and spoken words; Patients can
speech with no meaning;
neither repeat/understand words or that they hear; Locked
Patients with this aphasia in a world without linguistic connection with other people.
seem to be unaware that
they are not making sense.
It is characterized by:
 Characterized by:
Conduction Aphasia The aphasia becomes apparent when patients are asked
to repeat a sentence, which is a task they find almost
impossible to do.

Aphasia characterized by They also struggle with conduction framing, which is the
the compromise of the process of verbally producing the names of pictures and
arcuate fasciculus, which objects.
connects the Broca’s area
They have a difficult time assembling speech sounds into
and the Wernicke’s area.
words, shown by their frequent sound substitutions.
Speech remains fluent and
comprehension is fairly This results from impairments in the patient’s ability to
good transfer information about the speech sounds directly
from the Wernicke’s area to the Broca’s area due to
damage of the arcuate fasciculus.
 Characterized by:
Abilities to speak, comprehend, read and write are
Global Aphasia impaired to some extent, depending on the amount of
damage the patient has experienced.

Most patients are still able to curse, count, say the days of
A severe form of aphasia the week, and sing familiar songs.
wherein patients lose
essentially all language Comprehension is typically limited to a certain amount of
words.
functions. This condition
combines the deficits of The amount of cortex damaged in global aphasia is
Broca’s, Wernicke’s and substantial; The Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas, as well as
conduction aphasia much of the cortex and white matter between them, are
affected.

Most cases of global aphasia is caused by damage to the

middle cerebral artery, which serves the language centers
of the left hemisphere of the brain.
Transcortical Aphasias Transcortical motor aphasia - Damage is found in
the supplementary motor area (SMA), which is
located adjacent to the primary motor cortex in the
Results from damage to
frontal lobe. Features include:
connections and cortical
areas associated with the They do not speak fluently, but are capable of
major language centers accurate repetition of complex sentences.

Probable damage in the supplementary motor area,

Patients affected may
which is responsible for the initiation of speech; and
share symptoms with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is
other patients with either responsible for the ongoing executive control of
Wernicke’s or Broca’s speech. It is also responsible for language switching
aphasia, with the amongst multilingual speakes.

difference of patients being

Patients with this aphasia fail in the task of being
able to retain the ability to asked to produce verbs related to particle nouns
repeat words which is (like drive in response to car), but are able to use the
lacking in other aphasias same words in normal conversation.
Transcortical Aphasias Transcortical sensory aphasia - Damage is found in
the intersection of the temporal, parietal and occipital
Results from damage to lobes. The connection between the language centers
connections and cortical and the parts of the brain responsible for word
areas associated with the meaning are disrupted.
major language centers
Patients retain fluent, grammatical speech, but their
comprehension is impaired.
Patients affected may
share symptoms with They experience difficulty naming tasks, but their
other patients with either repetition experience is excellent.
Wernicke’s or Broca’s
In general, these deficits affect the patients’ ability
aphasia, with the
to understand the meaning of words, although basic
difference of patients being processing at the levels of speech sounds and
able to retain the ability to grammar are spared.
repeat words which is
lacking in other aphasias
Language Models
Wernicke-Geschwind Model
A classic model developed by Carl Wernicke and
Norman Geschwind, emphasizes the
connections between various speech and
language-processing areas in the brain.

The model states that Broca’s area in the

brain was responsible for speech
production, and Wernicke's area was
responsible for speech comprehension. The
arcuate fasciculus was believed to be a one-
way pathway connecting the Wernicke’s area
to the Broca’s area.
Wernicke-Geschwind Model
However, this model is not completely consistent
with the wealth of data from modern imaging
investigations of language in healthy participants.

Research now states the information travels in

two directions between the Broca’s and
Wernicke’s area.

Much larger areas of the cortex appear to be

involved in the processing of language. This
includes parts of the frontal, temporal, parietal
lobes & the cingulate cortex, insular cortex and
the basal ganglia.
Three interacting language component
Language implementation system - Made up of the
Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area, parts of the insular
cortex and the basal ganglia. This system decodes
incoming verbal information, and produces
appropriate verbal responses.

Mediational system - Made up of association cortex

in the temporal, parietal and frontal lobes. This
system manages communication between the
implementation system and the final component,

Conceptual system - Responsible for managing

semantic knowledge, and is located in higher-level
association cortex areas.
 Disorders of Reading and
Writing
Reading and writing developed
relatively recently in human
history at some point in the past
5,000-6,000 years. They appear
to be localized in the brain, just like
spoken language.
Alexia and Agraphia Alexia - Patients speak and understand normally, but
are unable to read or point out words/letters on
command. They, however, retain the ability to
recognize words that are spelled out loud to them.

Deficits in reading and Correlated with damage in the left occipital cortex
and the corpus callosum.
writing, respectively. For
most, reading and writing Damage to the left occipital cortex appears to affect
are both localized in the patients’ ability to perceive visually both words and
same hemisphere as speech. word-like shapes.

Damage to the corpus callosum prevents transfer of

information from the intact right hemisphere visual
cortex to the left hemisphere language areas.
Alexia and Agraphia Agrapha - The inability to write and/or spell words
correctly.

Phonological Agraphia - Patients are unable to sound out

new words or nonsense words. They can, however, write
familiar words through visual imagery.
Deficits in reading and
Occurs in response to damage in the left posterior
writing, respectively. For superior temporal gyrus
most, reading and writing
are both localized in the Ortographic agraphia - Patients can only spell
same hemisphere as speech. phonetically; They have difficulty with words that are not
particularly phonetic,such as rough or through.
The exact areas involved wirth orthographic
agraphia are unknown, but the condition is frequently
observed in patients with dementia.
Dyslexia
An unexpected difficulty in reading fluently in
spite of normal intelligence and exposure to
normal teaching methods and is the most
common form of learning disability

Estimates for the prevalence of dyslexia

range from about 10 to 30 percent of the
population
Boys are still somewhat more likely to have
dyslexia but are more likely than girls to be
referred for remedial services
Dyslexia
Strongly influenced by genetics. A parent with
dyslexia has a 23 to 65 percent chance of
producing a child with dyslexia, and 40 percent
of the siblings of a child with dyslexia will also
have the disorder
Anatomical features are as follows:

The left planum temporale is usually larger

in people whose language functions are
located in the left hemisphere.

Most researchers report less difference

between the right and left planum
temporale in participants with dyslexia
Stuttering
Approximately 1 percent of the population
stutters, producing repetitions (wa wa want) or
the prolonging of sounds (n-ah-ah-ah-ow). It
appears to be primarily genetic in origin.

Adults who stutter process some language in

the right hemisphere
Both hemispheres try to control the vocal
apparatus simultaneously, leading to
conflict
Some imaging studies suggest that abnormal
activity in the basal ganglia and midbrain
motor structures might be responsible for
stuttering
Stuttering
Because motor systems use dopamine as their
major neurotransmitter, stuttering is improved
by dopamine antagonists, such as haloperidol.

Current treatments for stuttering center

on reducing the rate at which speech is
produced and on the stress usually
associated with the disorder.

Use of software programs that teach

people to use special breathing techniques,
soft voice onsets, and the prolongation of
syllable.
Intelligence
Intelligence
-is our ability to engage in
“goal-directed adaptive
behavior.”
Sternberg and Salter
(1982, p. 3)

-reflects our ability to

learn and solve problems.
Assessing
Interest in assessing intelligence arose in the 19th and
early 20th centuries.
Intelligence 1904: Alfred Binet was tasked by the French
government to identify schoolchildren's potential
Binet and Théodore Simon hypothesize brighter
children behave cognitively like older children. Less
intelligent children are expected to behave like
younger children.
Developed items to assess "mental age" or
"intelligence quotient" (IQ).
Lewis Terman (1916): Adapts Binet's test for the U.S.
Renames it the Stanford-Binet
 Assessing Intelligence

The IQ tests used today, such as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised
(WAIS-R) or the Stanford-Binet, are structured in such a way that the results
fall along a statistically normal curve.
 General or Specific Abilities
Psychologists are unable to agree on whether intelligence comprises a single underlying
ability or some combination of separate abilities.

CharlesSpearman proposed a HowardGardner(1983)

general intelligence (g) factor. believed we have multiple,
He believed that all intelligent independent types of
behavior arises intelligence.
from a single trait.
 General or Specific Abilities
Savant behaviors highlight Both approaches are likely
the separation of specific true to some extent.
abilities. We seem to have separate
In Williams syndrome, abilities for different types of
children may exhibit mental behavior.
retardation on tests but Despite variations, there is
excel in verbal skills. generally enough correlation
Some athletes excel in among abilities to support
physical abilities but may Spearman's concept of a
struggle with reading. general intelligence factor.
Intelligence
andGenetics
Estimates of intelligence heritability (60-
80%) suggest a significant genetic influence,
but it doesn't mean 60-80% of an individual's
intelligence is solely determined by genes;
environmental factors contribute to the
remaining variation.
 Research on the genetic and
Intelligence environmental influences on intelligence
andGenetics often involves comparing identical
(monozygotic) and fraternal (dizygotic)
twins. For instance, Thompson et al. (2001)
used MRI to map human gray matter,
revealing a high correlation (0.95) in volume
among monozygotic twins. This similarity,
especially in frontal lobe and language
areas, suggests a genetic influence on
gray matter volume, which is linked to
cognitive ability.
While we've pinpointed many genes linked to
mental retardation, finding genes specifically
tied to high intelligence has been challenging.
Intelligence is likely influenced by numerous
genes, each with a small impact. For instance, a
single gene, as highlighted by Robert Plomin and
colleagues (Plomin et al., 2004), can lead to a
modest 1.5-point difference in IQ.
 However, the gain produced by
breastfeeding interacts with
genetics. Those with one version
of a gene related to fatty acid
metabolism don't show an IQ
benefit from breastfeeding, while
Children who are breastfed individuals with another gene
variant gain up to seven IQ points
have higher IQs than those
when breastfed, in contrast to
who are not, and this result
those with the same genetic
persists into adulthood (Caspi
profile who are not breastfed
et al., 2007).
(Caspi et al., 2007).
 BiologicalCorrelatesof
Intelligence
Gray matter volume and cortical
thickness in prefrontal and
temporal association areas
strongly correlate with intellectual
ability (Narr et al., 2007), while
white matter volume also shows
some association with intellect.
BiologicalCorrelates
ofIntelligence
Dahlia Zaidel (2001)
examined slides
made from Albert
Einstein’s brain after
he died in 1955 at
the age of 76.
 Sandra Witelson and her
Zaidel noted that the
colleagues (Witelson, Kigar, &
neurons in Einstein’s left hip-
Harvey, 1999) found another
pocampus were much
apparent abnormality in
larger than neurons in the
Einstein’s brain.
right hippocampus.
Einstein’s inferior parietal lobe,
She found this structural
an area believed to be related to
asymmetry to be quite
mathematical and abstract
different from the brains of
reasoning, was about 15 percent
ten control participants with
larger than comparable areas in
normal intelligence.
the brains of control
participants.
“There are no great limits to
growth because there are no
limits of human intelligence,
imagination, and wonder.”

Ronald Reagan