The Functional Neuroanatomy of Language (Part I)

Ling 411 – 21

Gregory Hickok (UC Irvine)

Gregory Hickok (949)-824-1409gshickok@uci.edu

Hickok: The Functional Neuroanatomy of Language

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B75DC-4WKTWYR-1-W&_cdi=13035&_user=963248&_pii=S1571064509000220&_origin=gateway&_coverDate=09%2F30%2F2009&_sk=999939996&view=c&wchp=dGLbVzz-zSkWA&md5=530582ee8ec8c2ab9c110448b9d5dffe&ie=/sdarticle.pdf

Hickok’s “computation”

“… to think of human language as a computational system in the brain that computes a transform between thought (ideas, concepts, desires, etc.) on the one hand and an acoustic signal on the other” (122)

Surely he is using the term metaphorically (not literally) Example: “we went to the bank at noon”

• “could imply a financial transaction or riverside picnic” Hickok doesn’t say anything about what the

“computation” consists of – how it works• The important point is that there must be some process that

“computes a transform between thought… and an acoustic signal…”

• How it works is outside the scope of the article

Ambiguous lexemes

Lemma

Meanings

Polysemy: e.g., bank

bank

Meanings

MONEY

BUILDING

RIVER

COUNTRYSIDE

“Computation” as broadcasting and integration

Lemma

Broadcasting

Integration

Category thinking in neurolinguistics

Hickok: phonological processes in spoken word recognition are supported by STG and STS – bilaterally

The dangerous* category: phonological processes• Underdifferentiation

Maybe there are different subsystems for different kinds of phonological elements

• Known from previous findings:Consonants in LHVowels and tones in RHHeavily entrenched things can be bilateral

*i.e., potentially misleading

Thinking in Categories

Underdifferentiation• Members of same category treated alike• Unwarranted attribution of properties

Overdifferentiation• Members of different categories treated as

altogether different Really, they may share important properties Us vs. them Humans vs. animals

Thinking in categories

Example: Tomatoes

Briggs & Calloway, Nutrition and Physical Fitness (1984):

One medium-sized tomato contains 0.3 mg of zinc.

Either-Or thinking in Neurolinguistics:The motor theory of speech perception

The argument:• Phonemes can’t be perceived as units (1)

Stop consonants: silence during the stop itself• But consonants can function as units in speech

production• Therefore speech production mechanisms must be

responsible for speech perception (2) Fallacies and corrections:

• (1): But demisyllables can be perceived• (2): Either-Or thinking!

Better: Motor structures contribute to perception

Binary Thinking

Either-Or Thinking The Yes-or-No Fallacy

• Is there thought without language?• Do animals have consciousness?

The All-or-Nothing Fallacy Chicken and Egg Questions The Essence Fallacy

end