1. Introduction to Psychology Memory and Language Prof. Jan Lauwereyns jan@sls.kyushu-u.ac.jp jan@sls.kyushu-u.ac.jp

3. Types of memory Declarative memory – Facts (who is…, what is…) – Events (when did you…) Non-declarative memory – Procedures (how do you…) – Conditioning (automatic responses) Musculature Emotional

4. Declarative memory – Facts (who is…, what is…) – Events (when did you…) Non-declarative memory – Procedures (how do you…) – Conditioning (automatic responses) Musculature Emotional Medial temporal lobe Hippocampus Types of memory

5. Declarative memory – Facts (who is…, what is…) – Events (when did you…) Non-declarative memory – Procedures (how do you…) – Conditioning (automatic responses) Musculature Emotional Medial temporal lobe Hippocampus Striatum Cerebellum Amygdala Types of memory

6. More types of memory… Long-term memory – Questions about encoding, retrieving – Medial temporal lobe (“store”) Short-term memory – Working memory – (Consciousness, attention) – Dorsolateral frontal cortex (“operator”)

7. Some of the biggest questions about memory… True or False? – How can we check? Memory as an active process – Recall – Re-construction – Influences of context

10. Language: Unique to humans?

11. Evolution and Physiology of Language Human language is different because it is more productive – can produce new signals to represent new ideas Chimpanzees can learn to communicate using sign language or symbols, but different from human language – symbols used to request but rarely to describe – seldom recombine in new combinations – say more than they understand, the opposite of children

12. Humans have evolved with something that enables them to learn language easily – Chomsky and Pinker: a language acquisition device children learn language with ease, including children of deaf parents deaf children learn sign or invent one of their own not likely a separate module since most language areas used for other functions, e.g., memory, music perception – intelligence may be by-product of language Language as a Special Module

13. Critical Periods for Language Development Children learn the pronunciation and unfamiliar aspects of language better than adults – adults are better at memorizing vocabulary The earlier you start learning a second language the better – but the amount of language area in brain activated depends on mastery, not age started The earlier the child has a chance to learn sign language, the more skilled they will become If you do not learn language before starting school, you will never develop much skill

14. Some ideas… Noam Chomsky – Recursion – (Russian dolls) – I think, I think that I think, I think that I think that… Steven Pinker (“ The Language Instinct ”) Language Acquisition Device – The Kissinger brothers, Henry and Walter – Walter (“I’m the Kissinger who listens”) Marc Hauser and IF… THEN… Terrence Deacon (“ The Symbolic Species ”) – Higher-order symbolic relations

16. Broca vs Wernicke

18. Broca’s Aphasia Also called non-fluent aphasia – severe deficits in language production caused by damage to Broca’s area, and other cortical and subcortical structures – difficulty pronouncing, gesturing and writing as well as understanding complex speech uses and understands nouns and verbs more easily than closed-class words, e.g., prepositions, pronouns – ignores grammar and relies on inferences – but, can usually recognize when something is wrong with sentence even if they cannot correct it

19. Wernicke’s Aphasia Also called fluent aphasia – caused by damage to left temporal cortex – seriously impaired language comprehension – difficulty finding the right word and trouble recalling names of objects – grammatical but often nonsensical speech perhaps because can’t “find” words due to rapid speech – but, can pronounce clearly, fluently and rapidly

20. Broca: Production, Syntax Wernicke: Comprehension, Meaning

21. What about language on the left?

22. Lateralization of Brain Function Two hemispheres are not mirror images of each other – left hemisphere controls right side of body – right controls left side – taste and smell input to same side Lateralization is the specialization of labor between the two hemispheres – left hemisphere specialized for language – right specialized for complex visual-spatial tasks and synthetic processing What about language on the left?