Question 1

A stroke patient speaks in short, inarticulate but meaningful phrases such as "Weather hot" and "Dog bite man." This person is probably suffering from ____.

Accepted Answer

The patient is exhibiting symptoms of Broca's aphasia, which is characterized by difficulty in producing articulate speech. The patient is able to convey meaning using short and simple phrases, but struggles to form complete sentences. This often results from damage to the left frontal lobe of the brain.

Question 2

A person with Broca's aphasia ____.

Accepted Answer

Broca's aphasia is characterized by difficulty with the formation of speech, but the person still retains knowledge of grammar. Option A is incorrect as the person does not lose total knowledge of grammar. Option B is also incorrect as the person does not lose knowledge of the use of verbs specifically. Option D is incorrect as the person may recognize their speech difficulties and may not insist that others are wrong. Therefore, the best choice is C as the person with Broca's aphasia may recognize that certain sentences are grammatically incorrect.

Question 3

A loss of language ability, in general, is referred to as ____.

Accepted Answer

Aphasia refers to a loss of language ability or impairment in the ability to use or understand language. Apraxia refers to a difficulty in carrying out purposeful movements, dyslexia refers specifically to difficulty with reading, and anomia refers to difficulty with word finding or remembering words.

Question 4

The comprehension of language in people with Broca's aphasia is ____.

Accepted Answer

People with Broca's aphasia typically have difficulty with speech production but can understand language relatively well, similar to how normal individuals might comprehend language when they are highly distracted.

Question 5

Someone suffering from Wernicke's aphasia has difficulty ____.

Accepted Answer

Wernicke's aphasia is a type of language disorder in which the person has difficulty understanding language, both spoken and written. They may speak fluently but what they say may not make sense or be relevant to the conversation. They may also have difficulty comprehending the speech of others.

Question 6

People with Broca's aphasia speak meaningfully but ____.

Accepted Answer

People with Broca's aphasia have difficulty with the production of speech, particularly grammatical aspects such as pronouns, tense, and number endings. They may also struggle with word retrieval and speak in short, stilted phrases. However, they are able to understand language and may have intact comprehension. They also retain emotional expression in their speech.

Question 7

Prepositions, conjunctions, helping verbs, and so forth are known as the ____ of grammatical forms.

Accepted Answer

Prepositions, conjunctions, and helping verbs are examples of closed class words. Closed class words are a limited set of words that are unlikely to change or gain new members, in contrast to open class words like nouns or verbs, which are more flexible and can add new words over time.

Question 8

Dr. Vancil can tell when her patients have lost consciousness because they experience _____.

Accepted Answer

Decreased connectivity between the cerebral cortex and subcortical areas such as the thalamus, hypothalamus, and basal ganglia is associated with loss of consciousness. This reflects disruptions in the networks that integrate brain functions.

Question 9

Noam Chomsky and other advocates of the language acquisition device argue that humans ____.

Accepted Answer

Noam Chomsky and other advocates of the language acquisition device argue that humans are born with an innate ability to acquire language. This ability is encoded in the brain as a language acquisition device, which provides the foundation for language acquisition. Classical conditioning cannot fully explain the complexity and diversity of human language. Also, humans have been shown to have significantly more advanced language capabilities compared to gorillas.

Question 10

Broca's area is located in the ____.

Accepted Answer

Broca's area is typically localized in the left frontal lobe, specifically in the posterior part of the inferior frontal gyrus.

Question 11

Wernicke discovered that damage to the ____ cortex produced language impairment.

Accepted Answer

Wernicke discovered that damage to the left temporal cortex produced language impairment. Specifically, damage to the posterior part of the left superior temporal gyrus, which is now known as Wernicke's area, results in receptive aphasia, a condition where the affected individual struggles to understand language and produce coherent speech.

Question 12

Dr. Beeler is testing what happens when she presents her monkey with two similar choices that the monkey likes (eg., an apple slice or a banana slice). She has found that the monkey will have increased activity in the _____.

Accepted Answer

The orbitofrontal cortex is involved in decision making and reward processing. The increased activity in this region indicates that the monkey is considering the value and desirability of the options presented to it.

Question 13

Research with deaf children suggests that it is essential to ____.

Accepted Answer

Research with deaf children has shown that it is crucial to learn any language when you are young if you do not want to be at a disadvantage for the rest of your life. This is because language plays a crucial role in cognitive, social, and emotional development, and without language input during early childhood, children may struggle with various aspects of life. It is not necessary to learn spoken language before sign language as both can be learned simultaneously, but it is essential to learn some form of language early on.

Question 14

The strongest evidence for a critical period for human language development is the ____.

Accepted Answer

The difficulty deaf children have learning sign language if they start late suggests that there is a critical period for language acquisition, as they are not able to acquire the language as easily or fully as those who start learning at a younger age. This supports the idea that there is a limited window of time in early childhood during which language development is most successful. None of the other options directly relate to the concept of a critical period.

Question 15

Blair is having to choose between choices A and B. Normally, A would be the best choice. But given the circumstances, B would be the best choice right now. Blair will be able to make the best choice because his _____ will override his _____.

Accepted Answer

The prefrontal cortex is responsible for decision-making and weighing the consequences of actions, while the basal ganglia is responsible for habit formation and automatic behaviors. In this scenario, Blair needs to override his habit of always choosing A and make a conscious decision based on the current circumstances, which requires the involvement of the prefrontal cortex.

Question 16

Nonfluent aphasia, in which the victim is unable to speak fluently, is due to brain damage that includes ____.

Accepted Answer

Nonfluent aphasia, also called Broca's aphasia, is caused by damage to Broca's area, which is located in the left hemisphere of the brain and is responsible for language production. Patients with this type of aphasia have difficulty expressing themselves and may speak in short, halting phrases with grammatical errors. They may understand language well, but have trouble finding the right words to say. Damage to other areas of the brain, such as Wernicke's area or the corpus callosum, may cause different types of language impairments.

Question 17

Deaf children who do not learn any language by the time they enter school ____.

Accepted Answer

Deaf children who do not learn any language by the time they enter school will struggle with learning any language later in life and may never develop perfect skill in any language. This is due to the fact that language acquisition is most effective during the critical period of early childhood, and if this period is missed, language development could be permanently impaired.

Question 18

Kyle has Broca's aphasia. He has a really hard time with ____.

Accepted Answer

Broca's aphasia primarily affects the production of speech, including difficulties with fluency and the formation of words. This often includes trouble with function words like prepositions and conjunctions, which are essential for constructing grammatically correct sentences.

Question 19

Wilma had a loss of consciousness. When she first started to recover, she experienced _____.

Accepted Answer

Loss of consciousness is associated with decreased connectivity between subcortical and cortical areas. As Wilma starts to recover, she would experience increased connectivity between these areas as the brain returns to its normal state.

Question 20

Someone with Broca's aphasia has the greatest difficulty ____.

Accepted Answer

Broca's aphasia, also known as expressive aphasia, is a language disorder that affects a person's ability to speak. People with this type of aphasia have difficulty producing words and forming sentences. While they may understand language and be able to read, their ability to speak is severely impaired.

Quiz 13: Cognitive Functions