Language location in the brain - ASL
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Language location in the brain - ASL
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[post_content] => Practice Passage (Question 1-5)
*This passage is the property of Khan Academy and has been reformatted into an AAMC-style interface in their entirety by MedLife Mastery. MedLife Mastery does not endorse and is not an affiliate of Khan Academy.
American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language started as a combination of various home pidgin languages and the French Sign Language by the American School for the Deaf. Language is dependent on cognitive structure rather than mechanical creation. This is evident when one looks at the similarities in both structure location and function between speaking and deaf individuals. Both spoken languages and sign languages are lateralized and correlated with hand dominance (90% right-handers have left-dominant language localization vs. 70% for left-handers). ASL uses a different modality for communication than spoken language; however, left hemisphere damage often causes symptoms of aphasia very similar to compatible damage in a speaking individual. In addition, the location of intonation, irony, and speech rhythm, all of which are elements of prosody, are located in similar places to speaking individuals. When ASL is spoken as a second language in an individual whose first language was spoken, the localization of ASL is similar to a second spoken language.
A researcher wanted to test whether language in right-handed deaf signers exhibited the same lateralization as right-handed English speakers. A group of deaf participants (ASL was the first language) were given a version of the Word Discrimination test assessing single word comprehension, simple sentence comprehension (single-clause), and complex sentence comprehension (multi-clause). The results (Figure 1) were sorted based on whether the lesion was on the left or right hemisphere.
Figure 1: Comparison of left hemisphere lesion (LHL) vs right hemisphere lesion (RHL) in language comprehension (p < .05).
[post_title] => Language location in the brain - ASL
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[question] => In a patient who communicates exclusively with ASL, what is the likely outcome of damage to the arcuate fasciculus, a bundle of axons which connects Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area?
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[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
Left hemisphere damage often causes symptoms of aphasia very similar to compatible damage in a speaking individual.
Wernicke’s aphasia is caused by damage to the left temporal lobe.
A global aphasia is caused by damage to a large area of the brain’s speech areas including both Broca’s aphasia and Wernicke’s aphasia.
Broca’s aphasia is caused by damage to Broca’s area, which is located in the left frontal lobe in most right-handed individuals.
A conduction aphasia is caused by damage to the arcuate fasciculus.
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[each_answer] => A. Wernicke’s aphasia
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[each_answer] => B. Global aphasia
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[each_answer] => C. Conduction aphasia
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[each_answer] => D. Broca’s aphasia
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[question] => Given the information in the passage, what is the likely outcome of a large lesion to the right hemisphere of a right-handed person who communicates exclusively with ASL?
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[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
Language understanding is located in the left hemisphere for 90% of right-handed individuals.
Language production is also located in the left hemisphere for 90% of right-handed individuals.
Prosody is most often located in the right hemisphere for 90% of right-handed individuals.
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[each_answer] => A. Problems with the production of spoken language
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[each_answer] => B. Problems with prosody in spoken language
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[each_answer] => C. Problems with understanding spoken language
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[each_answer] => D. Problems with understanding written language
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[quiz_unique_key] => 83407773
[question] => In which part of the brain is the production of ASL located, when acquired as the first language?
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[answer] => 4
[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
The somatosensory cortex processes sensory input from the body.
Wernicke’s area is involved with language understanding.
The corpus callosum allows information to pass between the left and right cerebral hemispheres.
Broca’s area is involved with the production of language.
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[each_answer] => A. Corpus callosum
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[each_answer] => B. Wernicke’s area
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[each_answer] => C. Somatosensory cortex
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[question] => A lesion was detected only in the left frontal lobe of a right-handed individual who uses French Sign Language. Which type of aphasia would this patient likely display?
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[answer] => 3
[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
Left hemisphere damage in a deaf individual often causes symptoms of aphasia very similar to compatible damage in a speaking individual.
Wernicke’s aphasia is caused by damage to the left temporal lobe.
Conduction aphasia is caused by damage to the Arcuate fasciculus.
A global aphasia is caused by damage to a large area of the brain’s speech areas including both Broca’s and Wernicke’s aphasia.
Broca’s aphasia is caused by damage to Broca’s area, which is located in the left frontal lobe in most right-handed individuals.
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[each_answer] => A. Conduction aphasia
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[each_answer] => B. Wernicke’s aphasia
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[each_answer] => C. Broca’s aphasia
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[question] => Based on the information in Figure 1, what conclusion could the data support?
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[answer] => 4
[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
Most right-handed, English speaking individuals have language lateralized to the left hemisphere.
Right hemisphere damage did not significantly affect language comprehension in this test.
Language comprehension is lateralized to the left hemisphere in individuals who communicate with ASL.
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[each_answer] => A. Language comprehension is lateralized to the right hemisphere only in individuals with right hemisphere damage who communicate with ASL.
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[each_answer] => B. ASL language comprehension is lateralized to the left hemisphere only in individuals with left hemisphere damage.
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[each_answer] => C. Language comprehension is lateralized to the right hemisphere in individuals with left hemisphere damage.
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[each_answer] => D. Language comprehension is lateralized to the left hemisphere in individuals who communicate with ASL.
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