PSYB55H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11.10: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Lateral Sulcus, Cognitive Architecture
Document Summary
Animal calls can carry meaning and show evidence of rudimentary syntax. However, animal calls tend to be inflexible, assoc d w/ a specific emotional state, and is linked to a specific stimulus. Many researchers suggest that language evolved from hand gestures, or a combination of hand gestures + facial mvmnt. Areas that control hand mvmnt + vocalizations are closely located in homologous structures in monkeys + humans. Language is unique among mental functions in that only humans possess a true language system. We have known for more than a century that regions around the sylvian fissure of the dominant left hemisphere participate in language comprehension and production. Classical models, however, are insufficient for understanding the computations that support language. Newer formulations based on detailed analysis of the effects of neurological lesions (supported by improvements in structural imaging), functional neuroimaging, human electrophysiology, transcranial magnetic stimulation (tms), and computational modeling now provide some surprising modifications of older models.
