Language Development and Neurological Theory

1st Edition - January 28, 1977
Editors: Sidney J. Segalowitz, Frederic A. Gruber
Language: English
eBook ISBN:
9 7 8 - 1 - 4 8 3 2 - 2 0 1 8 - 5

Language Development and Neurological Theory presents a neuropsychological theory of language development. The discussions are organized around the following themes: cerebral… Read more

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Language Development and Neurological Theory presents a neuropsychological theory of language development. The discussions are organized around the following themes: cerebral specialization for language in normal and brain-damaged individuals; development of cerebral dominance; and speech perception. Much emphasis is placed on the issue of cerebral specialization, or lateralization. Comprised of 20 chapters, this volume begins with a review of some of the methods used to correlate neurophysiological and behavioral functions, as well as some of the issues involved in trying to unite the empirical science of neuropsychology and the rationalist science of linguistics. The next chapter deals with lateralization for speech sounds shown by young infants and possible factors in the sound signal responsible for the differentiation. Subsequent chapters focus on asymmetries in young children during continuous verbal-nonvisual and visual-nonverbal story tasks; the effects of multi-language elementary school program on the degree of lateralization for language; intramodal and cross-modal pattern perception in stroke patients with lateralized lesions; and visual half-field asymmetries in deaf and hearing children. Several hypotheses as to why language is lateralized to the left hemisphere rather than to the right are also examined. This book is addressed to researchers and students of the neuropsychology of language, whether they call themselves psychologists, neuropsychologists, neurologists, or linguists.

List of Contributors

Preface

Part I Cerebral Specialization for Language in Normals

1 Some Issues and Methods in the Neuropsychology of Language

Correlating Neurophysiological and Psychological Functions

Tying Empirical Bonds with Linguistics

References

2 Infant Cerebral Asymmetry

Experiment 1

Experiment 2

Experiment 3

References

3 Bilateral Alpha Rhythm in Children During Listening and Looking

Method

Results

Discussion

References

4 Multiple Language Experience and the Development of Cerebral Dominance

Method and Procedure

Results and Discussion

Results: Study 2

References

5 Visual Field and Cerebral Hemisphere Preferences in Bilinguals

Method

Results and Discussion

References

6 Hemispheric Asymmetry in Processing of Dichotically Presented Speech and Nonspeech Stimuli by Infants

Procedure

Stimulus Materials

Subjects and Design

Discussion

References

7 Acoustic Problems in Dichotic Listening Tasks

Control of Acoustic Variables

Nonacoustic Factors

Stimulus Variables

Summary

References

Part II Cerebral Specialization for Language in Brain-Damaged Patients

What Is It That Is Lateralized?

References

8 Hemispheric Equipotentiality and Language Acquisition

The Equipotentiality Hypothesis

Language Functions After Early Lateralized Cerebral Damage

Intelligence, Language, and Early Lesion Laterality

Language Acquisition in Only a Right or a Left Hemisphere: A Test Case for Equipotentiality

References

9 Language Deficits and Cross-Modal Sensory Perception

Theories of Cross-Modal Perceptual Learning

Cross-Modal Theory and Neurological Development

Cross-Modal Perception and Language Deficits in Children

Cross-Modal Perception and Language Deficits in Adults

Language Deficits and Supramodal Functions

Cross-Modal Perception and Supramodal Skills: An Investigation

References

10 Electroencephalographic Testing of Cerebral Specialization in Normal and Congenitally Deaf Children: A Preliminary Report

Method

Results

Discussion

References

11 Dichotic Listening of Callosal Agenesis and Turner's Syndrome Patients

Study 1: Patients with Neurological Lesions

Study 2: Cases of Sex Chromosome Anomaly

Conclusions

References

12 A Long-Term Study of Dichotic Speech Perception and Receptive Language Skills in a Child with Acquired Aphasia

The Case History

Hearing, Language, and Dichotic Listening Tests

Discussion

References

13 An External View of Neuropsy chology and Its Working Milieu

The Infant and Experimental Observation

Individual Differences in Brain Organization

Test-Retest Reliability with Normals Versus Brain-Damaged Patients

Interpreting Results of Surgery

Interpreting EEGs

Examples of False Diagnoses

References

Part III The Development of Cerebral Dominance

Why Is Language Lateralized to the Left?

References

14 Does Cerebral Dominance Develop?

Left-Handedness

Ontogenetic Changes in Lateralization

Asymmetries in Infants

References

15 The Development of Lateralization of Language Functions and Its Relation to Cognitive and Linguistic Development: A Review and Some Theoretical Speculations

A Brief History

The Restitution of Language in the Right Hemisphere Following Left-Hemisphere Damage

The Nature of Right-Hemisphere Language

Some Speculation on the Causes of Dysphasia following Early Right-Sided Damage

The Process of Lateralization of Language to the Left Hemisphere and Its Relation to Normal Cognitive Development

Summary

References

16 Early Hemisphere Specialization and Interhemispheric Plasticity: An Empirical and Theoretical Review

Outline of Chapter

Methods of Studying Hemisphere Specialization in Children

Early Specialization of the Left Hemisphere for Speech and Language

Role of the Right Hemisphere in the Early Mediation of Speech and Language

Early Hemisphere Equipotentiality and Internemisphere Transfer of Speech and Language

Early Specialization of the Right Hemisphere for Spatial-Holistic Processing

A Possible Theory of Early Cerebral Organization Involving Lateralization of Function at Birth Coexistent with Interhemisphere Plasticity

References

17 Manual Specialization in Infancy: Implications for Lateralization of Brain Function

Development of Lateralization of Manual Behavior

Implications for Hemispheric Specialization

Conclusions

Appendix

References

Part IV Speech Perception

Speech Perception and Language Models

References

18 Invariant Features and Feature Detectors: Some Developmental Implications

Motor Theories of Speech Perception

The Invariant Features of Speech

Features and Feature Detectors

Developmental Implications

Implications of Invariance for Neurological Theories of Speech Perception

References

19 The Identification of Four Vowels by Children 21/2 to 3 Years Chronological Age as an Indicator of Perceptual Processing

Experimental Method

Stimulus Presentation

Results

Discussion

References

20 The Development of Speech Timing

General Aspects of Speech Development

The Development of Temporal Coordination in Consonant Production

Some Contextual Rules of Syllable Timing

Rules for Sentence Timing

Concluding Remarks

References

Subject Index