text:
User:Johnboudreau

John Boudreau
John Boudreau is a third year BSc student at Dalhousie University, majoring in psychology.

January 17, 2011
From the very early pages of our text, and first lectures, the notion that language is arbitrary seemed to make perfect sense to me, however, I was then left wondering. Where exactly do words originate? If there is no relation between objects and the names we give them, how do we form and attribute names to these objects? I know English, to an extent, has Latin roots, and borrows from neighboring languages, but in creating the language, was assignment of names to objects aimless and arbitrary? Was it completely random? There must be some reason as to why a shoe is known as a shoe and so forth.

The productivity of language allows it to be free and open to creating an infinite amount of sentences and phrases. The possibilities for creation and interpretation are unfathomable. I believe it is this productivity that allows us to be creative in our expressions and thoughts. I often take note of those special human beings who seem to have a way with words, whether it is an artist (musician or poet) or an academic, some of us seem to use words with ease in communication, and do so in a way that sets us apart from others. In a way, the productivity of language facilitates our creativity. What is it about us that makes some people more capable in their linguistic abilities? I presume there to be some neurological evidence, some part of the brain functioning that differs as language ability increases. I hinted above to a relationship between language and thought, which was presented as Whorf’s hypothesis in our readings. From my interpretation thus far, I understand language to be a form of knowledge, and I believe it is knowledge that shapes our daily cognitions and thoughts. I believe there must be some truth to Whorf’s ideas.

January 24, 2011
I was surprised to learn that the lateralization of language is not as left-hemisphere dominated as I thought. In the past I seem to recall hearing of left hemisphere dominance and very little of the right hemisphere. Thanks to Dr. Newman, this belief of mine has been discounted, along with the belief that most left-handers had right hemisphere dominance (turns out only 27% of left-handed people are RH dominant). I would be interested in hearing more about how handedness affects intelligence, whether being right-handed or left-handed is associated with greater intelligence, or if one or the other corresponds to strengths in different types of intelligence. Of interest to me also are the sex differences in language processing, with women seeming to be more capable in their language abilities, partially (or fully?) due to less lateralization and more inter-hemispheric connections via the corpus collosum.

I once again have been confronted by the colossal relationship between the amygdala and emotional processing. I learned recently of paired deficits in the perception and generation of negative stimuli (eg. Fear) in processing facial expressions. Those who show a reduced amygdala response in perceiving fear also have a deficit in generating a response to this fear. I never considered this before, but read in the text that an impaired amygdala goes beyond association in processing emotional stimuli such as faces, but also is related to having difficulty processing threatening speech. Is there a reduced response (less amygdala activity) in processing speech associated with negative emotional stimuli? Does reduced amygdaloid volume correspond to a deficit in processing speech?

January 31, 2011
I was most interested in the lecture on speech perception to see just how good humans are at understanding speech. We seem to do so with great ease. By the short-comings of speech recognition programs, I realized how advanced and how complex the process of speech recognition is in our brains. I was quite surprised at how incapable the speech recognition programs were, and in thinking technology had come so far that this would be easy…. I must re-evaluate my brain vs. technology stance. I also found the answer to a question I had always wondered but not made an effort to find. I wondered where amongst the 20Hz to 20KHz spectrum of audible sound (for humans) our voices are. With a great interest in music, I am aware of where different instruments are on this continuum, but not the human voice. My puzzle, now complete, has the important frequency for understanding speech between 1000Hz and 2500Hz (F1 and F2 bands).

Although consonants and vowels seem like black and white, I know understand the importance of vowels in shaping speech. Consonants as I now understand, are completely dependent on vowels, and based on the context of vowels, consonants can change in sound (ex. Frequency). A final question, and one we touched on in class, is the possibility that with such dependency on vowels, maybe a syllable, rather than a phoneme are the units we use in understanding speech? I know this is Dr. Newman’s question, but could such a question be answered? Is this a current focus of research in the field?

February 6, 2011
February 6

Of the differing views on the organization and functioning of the mental lexicon, I found that I most agree with Conrad’s idea of ‘distance effects’ being based on the strength of the associations between words. It seems simple and straight-forward that highly associated words are to be stored together in memory. I have my questions about the hierarchical model. Is it required that all knowledge at the base level be encoded before moving on the following more specific levels? It seems like a lot of information to process, if you have to move in bottom-up fashion from the ‘animal’ level all the way up to the ‘canary’ level in order to encode the concept of canary into semantic memory. It seemed somewhat inefficient to me, unless these lower hierarchical processes become automatic. Luckily the ‘spreading activation model’ improved on this and made the process seem less rigid. I wondered if there is any variance in the initial activation of nodes? I understand how once a node/concept is activated, it spreads its activation to other associated concepts, but would be more interested in understanding the initial activation of a node. For understand a given ‘concept’, is one single node activated and then allowed to spread, or are multiple nodes activated simultaneously and then allowed to spread?

February 28, 2011
With an interest and fascination with music that has only continues grow, I felt it only appropriate for this entry to focus on Friday’s material on music and language. From the reading I was surprised to find a lack of definite answers to syntactic processing in music, as it appears the focus of has been predominantly on language. At first the notion that the processing of language and music could be similar seemed unlikely to me. The syntactic processing of language is of course very rule governed by our grammar and implicit knowledge of language. I think of music to be very different from this; I see chord progressions as much more free components of music, where syntax is not so rigid and unusual progressions are indeed permissible. However, the DLT theory for language and TPS theory for music (cognitive theories), showed me possible common properties in language and music in representation, more so than processing. It made perfect sense that the proximity effect applies also to the notes of a chord, where in a C-scale, c, e, and g, are more easily accessible than the other notes due to their close relations. I began to realize the common features in language and music representation just by applying the proximity effect to music rather than to words. The article however did not indicate much understanding beyond representation. Is processing similar in both music and language? This surprisingly is still a huge question. I am interested to see if those with comprehension deficits in language also share similar deficits in comprehension of music. Would someone with Broca’s aphasia have an impairment beyond words? Would they struggle to understand syntax, and further the semantics of music? I would believe processing to be shared amongst language and music in some respects as they are of course both auditory processing. The degree to which, I cannot begin to speculate, but I would be most interested in seeing results of music processing studies in individuals with Broca’s aphasia. If Broca’s aphasia applies also to music comprehension, would one’s production of music (their own musical abilities) be hindered? Or would they remain intact like the language production of one with this aphasia.

March 7, 2011
This weeks lecture on language and music left me questioning theories of a shared mechanism for language and music processing. While I am convinced that there are shared neural mechanisms and brain regions that are used in both language and music processing, I must question whether there is such sharing in mechanisms for acquisition and learning of the two disciplines. With a proposed language acquisition device, all humans are able to successfully learn their given language (unless developmental problems occur of course). We seem to have a universal ability to understand language. I believe that the acquisition of music, however, may not be so universal. I would be interested in knowing more about the neural processes involved in the acquisition of musical knowledge and abilities. Is there a comparable device to the LAD? If there is such a device specialized for music, I would suggest it must not have such universal traits, as no where near the amount of humans can flourish and succeed in their musical abilities like we do with our language. Perhaps we all acquire a complete LAD, as language has made such a substantial contribution to our evolution. Music on the other hand has not played such a role in our progress as a species. Maybe some are given more of a music acquisition device than others? Is it possible that a lineage of musically adept relatives provides someone with more of this music acquisition device than those born of parents who don’t play music? Maybe there is a specific MAD! Or maybe there is no such thing at all..

March 14, 2011
I was most interested this past week in our lecture on writing, and the evolution of the symbols of writing and communication. The origins of our writing are evidently in early pictures scrawled in stone, but what intrigued me was that these pictographs might have been more of a form of art rather than an intentional means of communication. It is art that first allowed us humans to symbolize and communicate our thoughts, which leads me to suggest that writing is then the product of millenniums of art evolution. Wow! I understand that pictographs are the origins of writing in all different cultures around the world, but I was unclear on how or why some cultures’ writing comes to be more phonetic based than others? Does further abstraction from pictographs mean a more-evolved and advanced writing system?

How do you become a good writer? Aside from the obvious practices of planning, editing, etc, I would be interested in seeing neurological research on what makes a ‘gifted’ writer. We touched on reading making a fair contribution to enhanced writing ability, but I presume reading does not cause good writing. Some could read all they want and still struggle with putting pen to paper for an essay. What are the limitations that affect one’s writing ability? I know working memory is a contributing factor, and from this I hypothesize that brain systems and regions involved in working memory could determine one’s writing ability. It seems unlikely that this alone is the factor; what about regions and processes for creativity? Are these also tied to working memory?

March 21, 2011
This week was of course not the first time I have heard mention of the uncanny hearing abilities of a newborn baby, but I certainly learned that this distinctive ability goes beyond just having a greater perceptual range. I’m amazed by this innate ability to discriminate speech contrasts that occur in all languages and their sensitivity to prosody (French-Russian study). I believe these abilities provide clear support for an innate acquisition device as proposed by Chomsky. What is puzzling is how this broadened ability to perceive so many sounds is degenerative, with the ability to differentiate becoming weaker as they learn their own language. I fully understand the reasons why, but wonder if this process can be reversed? As an adult, if you were to learn a new language(s) (the more the better for this matter), are you able to regain that innate ability to discriminate between the sounds that you would have once had as an infant? Would it become easier to learn languages if you could broaden your perception? Or does this ability become lost and irretrievable?

March 28, 2011
I was left wondering this week when Dr. Newman talked about the prevalence of multiple languages here on our continent. He mentioned North America being one of the least multilingual regions in the world, but I then thought of how diverse of a country Canada is. I though we would be above and beyond other regions as far as how many languages are here. I presume the intended message was that there are fewer people here who speak multiple languages (2 or more) than other world regions, but that aside, we must still live in one of the most linguistically diverse regions? Correct me if I am wrong in saying this! Further, why is it that in NA we are less likely to learn multiple languages, where as it is so very common in places like Eastern Europe. Are we North Americans lazy, or is there just no motive or need to be bilingual here?

I understand that the critical and sensitive period for language acquisition is reduced by a biologically-caused change in neuroplasticity, however I would be interested in a further explanation of what causes the variance in learning a new language following the sensitive period. Why are some successful and fluent in learning later on in life, and others not so much? Does your initial language provide a scaffolding that enables you to learn certain languages but hinders you from learning others? I would hypothesize that similar languages are easier to learn (maybe an obvious point), but would learning one language (say English) take up space and impede the acquisition of a new language (such as Arabic)?

April 4, 2011
I must admit, as first mention of a debate, I was not at all looking forward to it! The thought lingered all semester about what I would be presenting, who I’d be presenting with, and who I would be competing against. It was not so much a fear of presentation, more so a distaste towards competition concerning the topic of psycholinguistics. That being said, I presented on Wednesday, arguing against the implementation of the Fast ForWard program for dyslexic students and I am very pleased with the outcome of our debate. I think this idea of having a debate for the end of term is great. My topic made me realize the relevance of the material we covered throughout the semester. The fact that there would be a presentation and debate was great motivation to do extensive research and really investigate the topic of dyslexia. Once I got working with my teammates, it almost became exciting when we found a weakness to argue against in the other group. I was shocked to find in my research that such a large company with such a popular learning program had so many faults in their own research. I found that their program had very little empirical support, and all supporting studies were borderline quasi-experimental! The company, however, seems to have had great success in implementing the Fast ForWord program. Their success with what I consider to be unsupported claims, makes me question not only their program, but perhaps many other academic learning companies creating learning programs for children and adults alike. This reminded me of how important it is to have empirical evidence and individual reviews done to confirm the effects of such programs, something I thought would be a given this day in age. Apparently this isn't so!

The Last Post
Initially, the prospect of no examination for this course was very appealing (and still is). WIth that in mind, I incorrectly dismissed of the notion that this course would be a lot of work, and figured no exam= easier course! Of course I was wrong, and there proved to be a consistent work load for this course, but I must now say I enjoyed the change in format. Although there was no testing, I somehow maintained motivation and attended class every day, in part due to the weekly blog posts. I think the weekly posts are a great way to keep us students engaged and to have us thinking critically about what we are learning. Considering the amount of time I invested into these posts however, I wish they had been worth more of my mark. If you were to consider the time commitment to a blog post (approximately an hour a week minimum it took me), and compare it to that of the learning exercise, I believe that some weight could be stolen from the learning exercise and given to the blog. These posts are a great way to maintain the interest of students and with greater weight they could provide even more incentive to dive into the course material.

All in all, I enjoyed the change in format and probably gained from the more steady work load, and of course the debate. The course provided a wide variety of avenues to learn and study the topic of psycholinguistics, and assignments made the subject material seem very relevant to my studies of psychology.

Thanks for a good semester!

Cheers, John

title: User:Johnboudreau


text:
User:Charliekramer

Third year Psych student at Dalhousie. From NYC.

This semester in Psycholinguistics class, I will be writing the first chapter, on the history and major theories of Psycholinguistics. As much as I enjoy the science of psychology, I also am a history buff, and this is a way for me to channel my love for history in a major that doesn't usually deal with history. It's probably not grammatically correct to use history three times in one sentence. I'm also still getting used to the ins and outs of editing on the Wikiversity site, so please bear with me.

Blog Post 1- Jan 17
The first few lectures in this course led me to think a lot about what language is. We know that language is productive and generative, and that it has a set of rules. But is language necessary to communicate effectively? I would presume that it is. Without language, we have no way to express our thoughts and intentions. Even if you came up with a set of grunts and facial expressions, that is still a language, because it is still a mode of communication where you are expressing yourself. I also never really thought about the sheer amount of words in the English language. According to Dr. Newman's lecture, English has 10,000 nouns and 4,000 verbs. We can generate 6.4 trillion possible 5 word sentences. That is amazing, but if I think about it, I guess it isn't that surprising. It really is remarkable about how much languages have grown over the many thousands of years that they have been in existence. I went to Thailand, and a few locals told me about how complicated the Thai language is. Much like Mandarin and Cantonese, it is a very tonal language, so the same word might have two different meanings depending on tone. The Thai man told me that sometimes two Thai people have no idea what they are saying to each other, and you might even start a dispute depending on the tone of which you say a word, because it might come out the wrong way. I would be interested in further studying how languages like that work. I couldn't imagine living in a society where tone matters so much, but I suppose if I grew up in it, I wouldn't know any other way. Charles Kramer, Jan 16, 6:47 PM

Blog Post 2- Jan 24
I recently came across an interesting article in the New York Times science section (Jan 17) entitled "Sit. Stay. Parse. Good Girl!", by Nicholas Wade (2011). This article tells the story of a border colie dog named Chaser (from South Carolina) who has the largest vocabulary of any known dog. According to the article, Chaser knows 1,022 nouns, which is a record, and also may help scientists figure out and explain how children can explain language. One reason why Chaser was able to learn so many words was because her breed of dog, border collies, are bred to herd sheep tirelessly all day dog, and if they are given nothing to do, they will become restless. Therefore, Chaser was motivated to learn new words because it was in her genetics, and unlike most children who dread spending hours doing homework, Chaser was incredibly motivated and encouraged to learn new words. The challenge that Chaser had was that unlike when children learn words, Chaser had nothing to relate words that she was learning. For example, children can relate different kinds of furniture to each other, such as tables, chairs, and couches, whereas each word Chaser learned was a new and unique word. The relevant question to be asked is how impressive is Chaser's feat in the context of other animal language feats, such as Kanzi the Bonobo Chimp, which we learned about earlier. One of the experts quoted in the story said he wasn't surprised by the fact that Chaser knew all those words, but instead was surprised that Chaser's instructor had the patience to teach all those words to her. Chaser's instructor, Dr. Pilley, believes that most or all border collies could gain Chaser's command of language if enough time was put in. Another key difference in the way that Chaser learns words versus the way children learn words is that Chaser learns them through brute repetition, and that is not the way children learn. A big step would be to somehow teach Chaser syntax, and that if you change the order of the words, it could possibly change the definition that Chaser assigns to each words. So the question still remains as to how much of a sign of progression the case of Chaser is towards a bigger understanding of language. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/science/18dog.html?src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB PS- this post is in italics, I've tried changing it, but I can't quite figure it out. My apologies. --Charliekramer 00:01, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

I'm sorry to be a giant creep, but in procrastinating on writing my own chapter, I was skimming through random blogs to see if I was writing enough...turns out you had the exact same issue I was confused about until I realized that the Wiki markup for italics is two single quotation marks, which you had instead of the one double quotation mark. Thus, random italics. Hopefully this helps.

That is all. Back I go to writing about reading... --jnvincent 00:42, 3 February 2011 (UTC)

Blog Post 3- Jan 31
One part of Dr. Newman's lecture on Friday that really caught my attention was the fact that most deaf people have problems reading. I never really thought about that idea, because it never came to me. But it actually makes total sense that deaf people would have some reading issues. They are unable to match the words they see to sounds since they cannot hear. That explanation helps me see why they are not as proficient readers as non-deaf people. Another key factor that doesn't allow deaf people to read as well as non-deaf people is the fact that American Sign Language (ASL) is their first language and mother tongue, and English is their second language. ASL has its own sentence structure and grammar rules that are unique to itself, and English operates completely differently, so I can see why there might be some problems reading. Also I would imagine that deaf people's locographic recognition and alphabetic reading would be somewhat compromised. Alphabetic reading involves matching words and sounds, and I would assume that that would be a weakness for deaf people. I think more research needs to be done in this field. Deaf people are not stupid, but one might get that impression if you see them not being able to read.

Blog Post 4- Feb 7
Due to the wondrous nature of snow days, as well as the equally magnificent Munro Day, there was very little lecture material to draw on this week. I started surfing the web for interesting nuggets I could find about the different quirks of language and I came across something interesting in a small little newspaper called the New York Times. What the article was discussing (and I will link below), was the idea of the language of space, and how we describe the orientation of the world around us. If I am giving someone directions, I could say turn right, then left, then right. I could also say, go North, then East, the North again. However, I would not give the latter description, and I don't think any of you would either. It is much more natural for us to use words like "in front of you," or "left or right." Those kinds of words are known as egocentric coordinates, whereas giving directions by using North, South, etc. are known as geographic coordinates. The egocentric coordinates system is dominant in our society because it feels significantly easier and more natural, after all we know where in front of us is, and where behind us is, whereas we may not immediately know where north is, or where south is. In other words, we don't need a map to figure that kind of stuff out. As it turns out, there are some languages that do not use egocentric coordinates, and do not use terms that we would consider "natural." As it turns out, a remote Australian aboriginal tongue, Guugu Yimithirr, from north Queensland uses the coordinate system, the article gives a few examples. If they want you to move over on the car seat to make room, they’ll say “move a bit to the east.” To tell you where exactly they left something in your house, they’ll say, “I left it on the southern edge of the western table.” This seems completely astounding to the majority of languages, since it seems so unnatural, but it is commonplace for people in that region of Australia, as well as some other scattered languages, in places such as Polynesia and Mexico. I imagine it would be somewhat difficult to be a speaker of the Guugu Yimithirr language, as you would seemingly have to have a compass in your mind that was operating all day, every day, with no percentage of failing. But I would also imagine that since those people are born into that culture, they have a knack for knowing their orientation within space at all times. That is one fascinating way in which language influences the way that we experience the world. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html?pagewanted=3

Blog Post 5- Feb 14
Over a year ago, an acoustics engineer named John Reid made an amazing discovery that he has been working on for over ten years. Reid claims that he is now able to understand the various clicks and whistles that dolphins uses, and that he is able to translate them into language we humans can understand. Reid and his wife Anneliese have been building a machine called a Cymascope, which he claims will be able to convert sounds that dolphins make into pictures that we can see and interpret. Using audio recordings of dolphins, they are now able to image, for the first time, the imprint that a dolphin sound makes in water (Ford, 2009). What comes out of the Cymascope is being labeled as cymaglyphs, and they are are reproducible patterns that are expected to form the basis of a lexicon of dolphin language, with each pattern representing a dolphin “picture word” (Ford, 2009). We have long suspected that dolphins have some sort of language pattern, but we have been unable to decipher them- until now, perhaps. This brings up very interesting questions. How exactly does this cymascope work, and how reliable is it? If we are able to make this breakthrough with dolphins, then might we be able to do something similar with other animals? Will this lead to humans being able to fully understand what dolphins are saying through their clicks and whistles. In my opinion, humans have shamefully kept dolphins cooped up in what is equivalent to us as a bathtub in venues such as Sea World, where they do childlike tricks. In reality, dolphins are too smart for that, and they need to be out in the open seas, where they are known to swim multiple miles per day. Will this breakthrough perhaps make us aware of how dissatisfied they are with that type of existence. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for dolphins (as I'm sure many others do), so I hope that this discovery makes an impact on animal language, and a nice benefit would be if it helps dolphins have better lives. http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/news/north-east-news/2009/04/12/dolphin-doc-makes-language-breakthrough-79310-23366782/

Blog Post 6- Feb 28
In Friday's lecture, the professor discussed the various connectivities of language and music. I love music and am always fascinated about how it seems to be able to make an impact in almost every field. The professor laid out various similarities and differences between language and music. In language, our minimal sound units are phonemes, and in music they consist of musical notes. They are both devices we use to communicate what we are thinking and feeling, but they come out sounding different, and they also look different on paper. Someone with no musical experience would have absolutely no idea how to read musical notes, and they'd have no idea what it meant. So that is a major difference. There's also a major difference in the production of language vs. the production of music. Whereas we all speak fluently (for the most part), a lot of people do not sing well, and in fact are horrible (me included). The function of language is used for communication and social bonding, and the function of music is used for entertainment and personal expression. There are also similarities in language generativity. In language, we can generate an infinite amount of sentences as well as interpreting sentences that we have never heard before. In music we can generate an infinite amount of melodies according to the rules, and everyone can perceive these melodies as music (regardless of whether or not you think it's any good). Overall, there are many similarities and differences in language and music, they are both ways we express ourselves. PS I know this is late, I just arrived to Halifax after being home from the break, so my apologies.

Blog Post 7- March 7
I've always been interested in the development of newer languages, particularly in the 21st century, and whether they are able to thrive, given how ingrained languages like English and Spanish are in society. You rarely hear about anyone speaking a newer language, or a language that you've never heard of. While it's not an entirely new language, I came across a BBC article written about two years ago about the revival of an old language being developed within the United Kingdom for the Cornish people, which I found very interesting. The Cornish people live in Cornwall, UK, and their language died in the 19th century. It had previously struggled to gain acceptance within the UK and the EU, but a recent breakthrough has led for the Cornish Language Partnership to agree to a Standard Written Form, which will pave the way for the language to be taught more widely in Cornish schools. There are believed to be about 300 Cornish speakers, and there are four different dialects of Cornish, the most popular being Common Cornish. The Cornish people hope this will gain wider acceptance for their community as a whole, and will help bring the Cornish people together. The final step is developing an official Cornish format that will appear on road signs and other public places. This Cornish example brings up the interesting idea of whether other languages that have died will be revived by other people around the world. If this happens, will these languages gain legitimacy? Will it permeate into schools? These are all interesting questions that may be answered in the Cornish example, and could provide insight to people looking to revive other languages around the world. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cornwall/7074487.stm

Blog Post 8- March 14
I recently came across an interesting video in which a noted linguist, Tucker Childs, and his research assistant, Hannah Sarvasy, traveled to the troubled land of Sierra Leone in order to document, transcribe, and study a dying language known as Kim. Kim is now only spoken in Lake Kwako, Sierra Leone, by only a handful of people, about twenty, who are mainly over sixty-years-old. The recordings and transcriptions that the researchers have documented will go into a database at the University of London, as proof that Kim once existed. The younger generations have grown up spoken Mende, which is a language that is easier to speak than Kim. Childs is quoted as saying that when you lose a language, you lose a culture. It must be very painful for the people who have spoken Kim all their lives for it to gradually die like this. However, I suppose that just like life, languages also conform to some sort of circle of existence, birth to death. The people of Sierra Leone have many problems worse than losing a language, such as finding food on a daily basis, and combatting AIDS. They will persevere through the loss of their language just as they are persevering through these incomprehensible and life threatening issues. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMFUBlEylj4

Blog Post 9- March 21
I was recently reading an article in the NY Times about what kind of impact new technology is going to make on language, and the way we teach it to children. Within the article, Mark Liberman, a linguist at the University of Pennsylvania (a member of the Ivy League) was quoted as saying that “the vast and growing archives of digital text and speech, along with new analysis techniques and inexpensive computation, are a modern equivalent of the 17th-century invention of the telescope and microscope.” This new period of innovation, much like the notable 17th century innovations, will open a figurative Pandora's Box in how we can teach and use language. In developing countries, literacy foundations can donate iPads, Kindles, and other similar gadgets that can teach language and reading in ways that we have never seen before. I would suppose that this can significantly boost the literacy rates in countries that are normally very low. Google is also contributing to this wave of innovation. They are building "a monumental collection of texts, known as a corpus, from the 18 million books it has scanned and digitized from major research libraries." This is a revolutionary step in terms of access to language. People from all over the world will have access to almost any piece of literature with just an internet connection. Hopefully with this step, people will be more informed about language and literature in the world. If they aren't, there will be no excuse for it, since easy and ready access is now definitely available. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/magazine/27fob-onlanguage-t.html?ref=onlanguage

Blog Post 10- March 28
Given the excellent guest lecture (I am unfortunately forgetting the lecturer's name at the moment) about the different kinds of aphasia, it has increased my awareness about this very serious and widespread condition. The lecturer pointed out that aphasia is more common in Canada than Parkinson's disease, which is a very widely known disease, partly due to some celebrities who are currently suffering from it. Such celebrities include Michael J. Fox and Muhammad Ali. Fox in particular has become a very public spokesman for Parkinson's, which has increased awareness of the disease around the world. One problem that aphasia sufferers have, and that the lecturer pointed out, is that aphasia sufferers don't have many public spokespeople because by definition, people with aphasia are unable to speak. The lecturer also showed us numerous videos of people suffering with aphasia, with varying degrees of severity. One older gentleman with aphasia could literally not saying anything except "doodoo." Another could not think of certain obvious words. It was obvious the level of distress the aphasia was placing on these men and their families. Before they got aphasia, usually from stroke, they were the main breadwinner of the family, successful lawyers or doctors. After they got aphasia, they could no longer work, or support their family. It is obvious the toll that aphasia takes is very large, and it is a shame that this extremely serious problem is not talked about more frequently in the public arena.

Blog Post 11- April 4
The fact that I am Jewish has led me to do a lot of thinking about the Israeli-Palestine conflict, the history behind it, and what the future may lead. This conflict is one of the most passionate and violent conflicts on earth, and it is thousands of years old. Israel almost destroyed Gaza a few years ago, and there was recently a terrorist bombing in Jerusalem. What is very sad about this issue is how similar the Jewish and Arab cultures are. They basically are the same people, and came from the same places. One of the most similar things about these two cultures is the language. They are both Semitic languages with common roots. There are many similarities in phonetics and grammar. Shalom in Hebrew is Salaam in Arabic. The word "day", which is Yom in Hebrew, is Yawm in Arabic. The word "you", which in Hebrew is "atta" is "anta" in Arabic. The word she, which in Hebrew is "Hee," is "Hiya" in Arabic. There are many other similarities between these cultures but the language aspect is one that stood out. Given that these two cultures are so similar, it is a tragic shame what has happened in terms of the blood shed over the last few thousand years. Maybe through language, some middle ground can be reached, and all people can live in peace.

Blog Post 12- April 11
Our debate today brought up some interesting issues that I would like to delve deeper into. Firstly, I would like to commend both sides for a job well done. I think the issue that we discussed is a very important one that deserves further examination. I firmly believe that it is in the best interest of every child in the United States and in Canada for English to be the dominant language taught. As I mentioned in the debate, if English is not the primary language taught during the child's developing years, there are major consequences to this decision. In America or Canada, it is nearly impossible to find suitable employment if English is not spoken fluently or proficiently. This will lead to many problems, such as a lack of income. A lack of income opens up even more problems, such as a lack of proper housing, and in the case of the USA, a lack of health care. Even if one was able to get proper health care while not speaking suitable English, it would be a challenge to communicate with your doctor to try to explain what the problem is. Such a loss in translation can result in the doctor missing something, and could cause even more health problems. Not knowing proper English will also lead to not being able to meet people and engage in casual conversations. In an English dominated society like the one we have in America and Canada, not speaking English fluently can have many unspoken effects and consequences.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: User:Charliekramer


text:
User:Doaney

= Laura Doane =

Laura Doane is a third year student at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is majoring in psychology and most enjoys the social and developmental approaches in the field. Being interested in the development of children and how language effects their whole world is the reason Laura signed up for this course. Laura has been through many ideas with what she wants to pursue after university ranging from architecture to a clinical psychologist, but as of now her heart remains with her love of children, Laura is planning to take on the career of an elementary school teacher. Laura is hoping that PSYO/NESC 3190 will help her attain the knowledge that she needs to be a great teacher.

= Weekly Blogs =

Blog #1
For my first blog I am going to cover a few different things that I found interesting in the course so far.

The first interesting point I would like to make is about Kanzi the Bonobo chimp and how he seemed to be able to understand language and even play PacMan! But Professor Newman made a very good point when we were discussing this particular point in class. He mentioned that Kanzi could not speak, therefore how would this chimp be capable of getting language across to others. Professor Newman then gave the example of chimps grooming one other, and how humans use language to "groom" a whole group of people all at one time. I found this point interesting because I imagined in my head trying to get a point across but only being able to communicate with one person at a time, that would take too long and people would not have the knowledge that they do today.

I would also like to discuss is my interest in the topic I chose to write my chapter on for this class, the acquisition of more than one language. As I am somewhat bilingual myself (although my french grammar is terrible), it interests me that children at such a young age are able to differentiate between more than one language when they are learning. I joined french immersion when I was in grade 7, so I already had one language that I spoke with confidence. I found that when I was learning french I was able to relate some english words to french words in order to create an understanding. I am looking forward to moving forward in the class to learn more about this topic that peaks my interest.

And to finish off my first blog I would like to mention something small, which is the absolute language and the relative language. When Professor Newman mentioned these and gave the examples I just thought it was very interesting. The fact that there are actually people that relate where another person is in comparison to a fixed bearing, I just cannot picture myself saying that somebody is to the South of me...

Blog #2
The end of last week we discussed American Sign Language (ASL) and many factors that have an impact on the quality of a conversation. Professor Newman was demonstrating how just a simple mix-up in the way the hands are facing or the shape of the sign one is trying to make can take on a whole new meaning and can turn a rather dull conversation into a more exciting one (i.e. hand signal meaning horny). Due to this people using ASL must be aware of the contexts thy are in, along with choosing their signs carefully.

When it comes to sign language and how it works in the brain, researchers have found that the left and right hemispheres of the brain affect signing differently. When there was damage to the Left Hemisphere (LH) signers showed the same problems as speaker with aphasia (Broca's and Wernicke's). When there was damage to the Right Hemisphere (RH) there was no affect on the persons signing ability. Studies suggest that the LH is used for understanding (syntactic) language, and the RH is used to create language (iconically), such as making signs.

Something that I found interesting about sign language is that there are more than one type. I do not know why but I had a thought that there was only one and that it was universal. To my surprise when I was reading abut Bilingual Code-switching (for my chapter project) I came across the fact that code-switching occurs in sign language too (i.e. ASL to cued English)! I suppose it would be similar to learning another spoken language, but I am unable to wrap my head around the fact that signers do not get confused. I hope that when we get to codeswitching in lecture that Professor Newman will address this thought.

Blog #3
This blog may seem a bit scattered because I have missed classes this past week from having my concussion. However, I was present for the class that Professor Newman demonstrated how the two words "pin" and "spin" were not as similar as we first imagined. I am a person who is very interested in the artsy side of things and write poetry. So after doing this activity that showed how different the two words actually were I was surprised because when I write poetry I figure because they rhyme they must be similar, but was I ever mistaken!

Another thing that I was in class to see was the way the voice recognition programs and how they use machines to translate language. I was laughing so hard during the video that Professor Newman showed us a video on how a computer may interpret the way we say things in entirely the wrong way, the video was hilarious and it just goes to show how far technology has come. Something that I always wonder, and always get asked is about my phone, if somebody leaves a message on my phone I get a text message that types out what the message says. Most of the time it is rather correct and I am able to see what they said, however I have noticed that if they are not in a place that is quiet than it works, but if they are in a noisey place (i.e. have the radio on, music playing, or other people talking) the text messages don't make much sense. It is amazing to me that we have the technology to do this.

Also I was intrigued by the fact that we "talk in our heads" when we read, I never really thought about that until my friend and I were talking about it the other day, and now I find that when I'm reading or writing that I can't stop paying attention to the fact that I speak in my head at the same time... I am hoping that this phenomenon will be discussed in class, and I am planning to ask about how people who use sign language "read in their heads", do they see pictures? Or do they see the signs that they would usually be making with their hands? Hmmm...

Blog #4
Last week we had Munro day on the Friday along with a snow day on the Wednesday afternoon, so the lack of class time leaves me with no choice but to discuss morphology which we learned about in class on Monday. Morphology consists of morphemes which are the "building blocks" of words and can easily change the meaning of the word, or can change whether or not a word makes sense. An example would be a simple verb such as "to walk" in order to put this word in the past tense one would need to add an "-ed" to the end, to create "walked". This seems simple enough, so children are able to grasp the concept rather easily, however, what happens when they come across the verb "to run".... They will most likely automatically say "runned". Due to the fact that irregular verbs such as "to run" are not as simple as adding "-ed" to the end, I am sure many children get confused. When it comes to American Sign Language (ASL) do children also get confused with the translation of present tense to past tense? What I gathered was that many signs are similar and have a meaning that can be easily interpreted into what the child is trying to say, similarly to English. As I mentioned in a previous blog a simple direction or placement of a sign can change the entire meaning into something that either does not make sense, or may be inappropriate for the context in which they are communicating.

Something else that I found interesting is how in todays society certain words are becoming verbs that were probably never expected to become verbs in the first place. For example, when someone is not sure of what something means, how something is spelled or how to put something into a sentence you will often hear them say that they "Googled it". When did Google become a verb? And how does something like that evolve? Another example that is more recent is getting in contact with people, nowadays many people will say that they "Facebook'ed the person" or "Twittered" them. I personally use these terms, but that does not change the fact that I find it strange that website names are being used as verbs... Does this mean that they will soon be in the dictionary with a definition such as "Facebook: an networking website that aids in people staying in touch with one another". Who knows...

Blog #5
This blog is going to discuss what I thought about the assignment that was just submitted on Friday. I would first of all like to state that I am appreciative of the fact that we have these due dates that are meant to keep us on track, they are helpful and although many people complain about them, I like them!

My topic for the project is the acquisition of a second language. I had a bit of trouble when it comes to what exactly I am expected to talk about because I feel as though I am supposed to focus on Second Language Acquisition (SLA) in which a person develops a second language at a later age in life when they are already capable of speaking at least one language fluently. However, I have been having a much easier time finding articles, information and other resources on bilingualism in children and how they develop and learn two languages simultaneously. I discuss how children are expected to develop two systems if they are interested in becoming successful in the language that they are expected to learn. An example of when a child only develops a single system is when a child has trouble thinking and differentiating between the two languages that they know. This is common in children when they are learning more than one language, but they usually grow out of this phase after being exposed to the languages enough to grasp the concepts.

Blog #6
Editing another classmates chapter is more work than I thought. I am noticing the different views that people have on topics and how people interpret different aspects of information. What I am finding most difficult is the fact that people seem to have not really finished their chapter and I feel as though a lot of the information is missing, although this is more work for me it will broaden my horizons on the aspects of language that I have not really focused on.

The chapter that I am editing is "Lexical Access". When looking into this there are different effects that will have a say in which lexical part of what we are trying to say will be used. The frequency effect and the word-superiority effect are two examples of ways in which a person is capable of remembering such a thing.

Something I wanted to discuss in this blog, is "word concreteness" and "word imagery". Words such as "trust", "jealousy" and "love" have very broad meanings and many people will explain them differently judging by how they felt in the situation.. whereas concrete words such as "house", "dog" and "chair" will most likely be explained the same way. what boggles my mind is the explanation of feelings, I realize that they are imagery so there is not description that is "carved in stone" but I feel as though there should be a general understanding of the word. I guess what I'm really trying to say is how do people know that what they think is correct, is correct? Someone once told me "People may not remember what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel..." and I feel as though this relates to what I am trying to say, because although people may not be able to describe things such as "justice" and "hope", these words (especially in the case of feelings) are universal. Whether somebody knows how to explain what they are feeling or not, they are feeling the same thing as other people...

Blog #7
There are different approaches to speech production and how people approach language in separate ways. In class this week there was a study discussed in which the participants were asked to read a list of words and then to name a set of pictures. What the experimenters found was that the participants had an easier time reading off the list of words due to the fact that when they saw the pictures they were forced to go back and think of which description fit the picture. This reminded me of one of the topics that interests me very much... Freud stated that people have "speech slips" also known as "Freudian slips" in which the person says something by accident that may be hinting at what they are actually thinking.. Also I relate this to the word association task in which people are given one word, and they are to answer as quickly as possible with the first word they think of. The word association reminds me of the study we discussed because it involves finding a word that relates to the given word, and it also relates to the slips in speech known as "Freudian slips" because the person may say something that is unconsciously what they are thinking (according to Freud). One thing I need to mention though is the priming effect... When doing these studies do the experimenters take into consideration the priming effect? In which the participant is primed from a previous word.. For example: if a person is doing the free association task and they are given the word fire, and are later on given the word "red" they are more likely to say "fire-truck" as a response because they have been primed. So what I am wondering is if the experimenters think about this when evaluating the participants.

Blog #8
I was trying to find something out of the ordinary to write about for my blog, but was having a hard time thinking of something that I wanted to discuss. As I was trying to decide I was listening to my regular playlist which involves rap, rhythm & blues, reggae and hip hop. My best friend is very into indie and rock music and mentioned to me that she could not understand what the artists in my songs were saying half the time. Now, to me this seemed absurd due to the fact that I have grown up surrounded by people who speak this way and I speak very mucht like them myself. I figured that she had the most trouble understanding the reggae because it is almost like a different language sometimes and many people have trouble understanding the accent they have and the terms they use. I am interested in the study of Ebonics, and often get comments saying that although I am white I tend to speak in "Black Speech". The funny thing was that I did not even notice it until someone pointed it out to me. My question is whether or not the reggae speech (Caribbean) is considered to be listed under Ebonics., because the majority of people from the Caribbean are black but the language that they speak is different.

Blog #9
This week in lectures we discussed the development in language and how children learn and adapt to language. What interested me is the fact that if a language or sound is not constantly practiced by the child then eventually their ability to recognize it fades with time. An example of this is children born into monolingual families, due to the fact that they are being taught only one language they are unlikely to be able to recognize certain sounds after a certain amount of time. Professor Newman showed a slide that had a chart showing the diagram of language development, which stated that in the first 6 months of a child's life is when this is the most important. He mentioned that children are born with universal language perception and then around 6 months they begin to have language specific speech perception, which I found very interesting. This point peaked my interest because my topic for my chapter was second language acquisition and I am very interested in the topic. However, one question that always gets my mind wondering is the nature versus nurture debate. Although we have been learning and debating this throughout our whole degree, I am very interested on the innateness of language. When looking at Genie, it seems as though nurture is the reason she does not have much language ability, however in this case her father was abusive and would beat her if she vocalized... So what I am wondering is if her father hadn't punished her for vocalizing, and she didn't have a negative feeling towards it, would she have been more likely to pick up on different words and learned language in an innate sense?

Blog #10
In lectures this week the topic was learning a second language. Now, initially I thought that my blog would be something simple to write because I did do my chapter on acquisition of a second language. But the more I thought about what I wanted to write, the more I realized I did not know which section of bilingualism I wanted to write about. When I wrote my chapter some of the aspects i found most intriguing were Emotional schemas, additive/subtractive bilingualism, and language differentiation. The additive and subtractive bilingual aspects caught my attention because although researchers state that they can be one or the other, my personal opinion is that people learning their second language experience both subtractive and additive bilingualism in the process. When they begin learning the language subtractive bilingualism is present because until they are fluent in both languages they may have difficulties differentiating between the two. However, once they are able to fluently speak in both languages they then develop additive bilingualism.

Emotional schemas were another interesting part of what I learned when I worked on my chapter project, because I find that in movies there are often scenes where a Latino wife/girlfriend loses their temper and automatically starts cursing out the male in their native tongue. I find it extremely interesting that this is due to an individuals native language being their source of emotional output.

And last but not least, language differentiation interests me very much. I find it interesting to picture a person having two different sections in their head for differentiating language... I am a very visual person and I like to picture it as an image.. The way I picture it is, it starts out as one bubble and as the individual begins to learn the two languages in a sense where they can easily tell them apart and there is no confusion between the two the single bubble breaks into two bubbles, which then represent complete language differentiation.

Blog #11
Since classes have ended we have been organizing and watching debates in front of the class. I have really enjoyed them so far and Dr. Newman has it organized in a way to keep the class interested and coming to class. I have never taken a course in which we have had to do a debate, but unlike a regular oral presentation I find that it broadens the peoples perspectives, and increase the amount of learning.

My group went first for the debate and we found that our argument was very secure, we were confident that we would win. Although we did not end up getting the majority of votes I learned a lot from the whole thing. Even though our group did a great amount of research and we all understood the pros and cons of our argument, it was interesting to see how a group of people other than ourselves was going to approach the exact same topic. I signed up for this debate not really knowing too much about the subject of Ebonics, and not being up to date with the controversy of it. But, after doing this debate I know more about it and can say that I am still "for" Ebonics being the primary language taught in Oakland, California.

I am very interested in doing more research on the topic of Ebonics, I find it fascinating. Although I am Caucasian, I mentioned in a previous blog that I have grown up around a lot of black people, and sometimes I catch myself using Ebonics. Something that I have always noticed is that when I use Ebonics (whether knowing it, or not realizing) I am often told that I am using bad grammar and that I am wrong... I quickly switch back to Standard English (SE), but I can imagine how hard that would be for a child who ONLY speaks Ebonics... It would end up being very discouraging and has the potential to hurt the child's self-esteem. This is why I am still "for" Ebonics being taught in Oakland, as long as the school system continues to teach SE as well.

Blog #12
This class was very interesting for me. I have never had a class with a layout of assignments like this and a class that made me actually understand the material to a point where it can actually be useful and remembered in future times. What I loved most about this class was that throughout the semester we were taught the basics and integrate details about the aspects of psycholinguistics, and at the end of the course we were asked to do these debates. Doing the debates caught us up on current events in the world of psycholinguistics. I enjoyed attending the debates.

I am sad that this class is over but I am very glad I took it. I will be recommending it to many people due to the experience I had. Overall I enjoyed my time in this class very much, a great thanks goes out to Dr. Newman for making it interesting for me ! :)

= References = Jay, T.B (2003). The psychology of language. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall

title: User:Doaney


text:
User:Samanthaarseneau

Samantha Arseneau
Samantha Arseneau is a third year student at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is currently completing a double major in Psychology and English, and applying for the combined honours program. Upon completion of her first degree, Samantha would like to enrol in the Speech Language Pathology Master's program. As someone who has always been interested in language and communication, Samantha jumped at the opportunity to study psycholinguistics. The study of language from a psychological perspective peaked her interest, and she hopes that the class will help in broadening her overall understanding of the subject. Along with her classmates in Psyo3190, she is currently developing an online textbook via Wikiversity on the topic of Psycholinguistics. The project is one of great interest for Samantha, as she believes that knowledge should be accessible to all. Stay tuned for more information on the class project, and Samantha's thoughts on the course!

title: User:Samanthaarseneau


text:
Psycholinguistics/Language and Music

Introduction
"Music is the universal language of mankind". ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. At first glance, there are some clear connections between language and music. When we begin to dig even deeper though, adopting the psycholinguistic perspective, we find the two are even more closely-related than we may have initially thought! From the basic components, uses and generativity, to the brain systems and research being conducted, there is a long-standing tie between the psychology of linguistics and music. This page will serve as an overview into the fascinating world of both language and music, and begin to examine why the two are often linked together, as well as where their differences become evident. Also, past and current research into the possible benefits of using music to help with language and memory will be discussed. We will take a look at some of the problems found with neuropsychological processing, and finally present you with an opportunity to perform your own research! Regardless of whether we consider ourselves aspiring musicians, or simply love to listen, music is a huge part of everyone's lives, and is quickly becoming one of the most fascinating aspects of modern psycholinguistics.

Breaking It Down: Comparing the Basics of Language and Music
Similarities and differences between music and language can be seen even when each is broken down into their simplest components. From the basic sounds and meanings, to the overall sentence, story or song, music and language are closely related.

Building on the Basics: Generativity
The term generativity is often used when talking about aspects of language composition. Generativity (similar to the concept of creativity) is defined as an ability to generate, or power to produce something. Using knowledge about the basic units and components that make up language and speech, or music, it is possible to create a vast amount and variety of combinations from these basic building blocks.

Language
Language is made up of phonemes (sounds) and morphemes (smallest units of meaning), which create words that combine using syntax and semantics, giving words order, meaning and grammar. By using these words, the generativity of language is infinite. This means that it is possible to create an endless number of different sentences by simply creating different combinations of these phonemes and morphemes. Some of these sentences are more common, and make sense to us, while others seem absurd, but are still "sentences" as far as language is concerned. This is where knowledge of grammar comes into play. Grammatical rules can be applied across situations, allowing us to identify sentences as correct or incorrect. Using these rules, we are also able to interpret the meanings of sentences that we have never heard before, which is a necessary skill when learning to converse with others. One of the most common examples of generativity in language was created by linguist Noam Chomsky. He put forward the sentence "colourless green ideas sleep furiously" as an example of a grammatically correct sentence, but one that has no understandable meaning. This is a perfect example of a sentence that we have likely never heard before, and know to be semantically incorrect, but are also able to identify as a legitimate sentence, having learned the rules of grammar and language. It is possible to create an infinite number of sentences using our knowledge of how language works.

Music
Music is similar to language in its hierarchical structure. Notes can be combined into chords or sequences, which can create a melody or harmony line of a song. Songs then have affect, which adds emotion and meaning to the music being played. Again, using these notes and musical "rules", the generativity of music is infinite. Endless numbers of melodies can be created using various combinations of these musical notes, and it is possible for everyone to understand and perceive them as music. Like language, some combinations are understood to be correct, while others sound incorrect. Often, this perception of "right" or "wrong" combinations of notes is based on culture and musical upbringing and influence. It has been shown that music and musicality are products of our cultural and social interactions. Though the ability to appreciate and understand music is universal, music IS and DOES different things in different cultures, and the boundaries of "music" may have a very minimal overlap between two different groups. That said, each culture is able to create a diverse collection of melodies, and everyone is able to perceive these as musical or "un-musical" depending on their cultural understandings.

Overall, language seems more universal, whereas music is more culturally-based. Both music and language show evidence of a hierarchical syntactic structure, whether it be the structure of the phrasing of sentences, or the emphasis of the melody lines. As well, both language and music have vast generative powers, as we could create an infinite number of sentences in language, or melodies in music. We will always be coming across new sentences or sound sequences that we have never heard before.

Language
The ability to speak human languages, and process and understand complex sentences has long been considered the distinguishing feature that sets humans above all other species intellectually. What evolutionary advances have allowed for this process in the human brain? ♦ Several specific areas in the brain have been identified as being crucial for language processing. Broca's Area (first identified by Paul Broca in 1861) is located in the left inferior frontal cortex, and was the first "language center" of the brain to be singled out. Broca identified that damage to this area of the brain affected an individual's ability to express verbal or written language, despite any deficits to the person's understanding of language, or any other physical deficits that could have been responsible for the impairment. ♦ Shortly after, a second language center was identified. Carl Wernicke discovered an area in the posterior left temporal lobe, which he named Wernicke's Area. He realized that damage to this area caused incoherent or nonsense speech production from individuals, implying that they had deficits in understanding language as opposed to actual language production. ♦ Viewed most simplistically, the left hemisphere of the brain (in respect to language) can be viewed as a neural loop, with Broca's Area at the frontal end controlling language output, and Wernicke's Area at the posterior end controlling the processing of language input. A large bundle of nerves complete the "loop", and join these two areas. This bundle of nerve fibres is known as the arcuate fasciculus. This configuration is not exclusive to people who rely on verbal communication, as the same set-up and functional distribution is seen in individuals that use sign language. ♦ One other area of the brain that is crucial for language was discovered much more recently. Introduced by Norman Geschwind, the inferior parietal lobule (also known as Geschwind’s territory) is connected to both Broca's and Wernicke's areas by nerve bundles, and is a key addition to understanding the neuroscience of language in the brain. So, not only can information travel between these areas by way of the arcuate fasciculus, but could also be passed through this inferior parietal lobule. It is necessary to note the important location of this lobule, lying at the connection between the auditory, visual and somatosensory cortexes, all of which the lobule itself is also connected to. Hence, the neurons in this region are capable of processing auditory, visual and functional aspects of words; a necessity for understanding language. Though very simple versions of the inferior parietal lobule exist in other species, it seems to have been one of the last evolutionary steps in the human brain, assisting in a possible explanation for why our language abilities are superior to our relative species. Though it seems that the majority of language processing occurs in the left hemisphere for most people, the right hemisphere plays an important role as well. Without the right hemisphere, it is almost impossible to distinguish between the literal (what words are being used) and figurative (how the words are being used) meaning of language. People who have damage to the right hemisphere of their brain are not able to distinguish between denoting and connoting; they can not understand parts of language such as emotional connotation or sarcasm.

Music
There are many different ways of thinking about music, and it can be argued that different methods of music processing require different areas of the brain. ♦ If you were to simply hear music, you would be relying on the auditory cortex of the brain, in which different cells correspond and respond to different frequencies of sound. The core auditory cortex regions are responsible for analysis of pitch and volume, whereas outer surrounding regions analyze timbre, rhythm and melody ♦ If you were to imagine, or think about a song in your head, the areas of the brain used would differ slightly. Again, the auditory cortex would be used, but only in a few isolated areas and to a lesser degree than when you listen to music. As well, imaging a song in your head requires you to first recall the lyrics and melody from long-term memory stores, and then hold the song in your working short-term memory. This means also using the inferior frontal gyrus (memory recall), and dorsolateral frontal cortex (working memory). ♦ One of the most widespread activities, in terms of brain areas used, is playing music. The auditory cortex is needed to hear the music, and different feedback processes occur here to let us know whether we have achieved the correct pitch and melody. The visual cortex is also active, as we read (or even simply imagine) a piece of sheet music. The parietal lobe is needed for several of the complex tasks such as estimating the positioning of our fingers to play a certain note. The motor cortex helps us perfect the fine motor skills needed to play. Our sensory cortex is activated with each touch of the instrument as we play. The frontal lobe is used in the planning and overall coordination of our movements and activities, and the cerebellum works with the motor cortex to allow the production of the smooth, flowing movements often required in playing an instrument. The premotor area is also involved in the timing and sequence of our movements, but the exact role of this area of the brain in processing has still not been concretely defined. ♦ Have you ever had the sensation of getting goosebumps when listening to a piece of music? This emotional reaction to music actually uses other areas of the brain as well! When you get chills or react to a piece of music that you like, this reaction is caused by the structures in the inner brain, such as the ventral tegmental area. These inner structures are responsible for the pleasure of "reward", such as receiving food when we are really hungry. If you hear a song you really like, the amygdala is also inhibited (as it is responsible for negative emotions, like fear). This emotional reaction can vary depending on our feelings about the song. Clearly, all of the various aspects of music production and processing use a large variety of skills and abilities, and therefore, a large number of brain areas and structures. When all of these areas of our brain start working together we are able to develop a full appreciation of all of the aspects of music.

Similar Systems
Music and language are processed using very complex brain systems, but it turns out that the processing of both music and language require many similar areas of the brain. One very interesting similarity is seen in the brain activity of processing language, and that of musicians specifically. Many scientists understand that much of language processing occurs in the left hemisphere of the brain (in the majority of people). Recently, it has been found that musicians use these areas in the left hemisphere for music processing as well, whereas non-musicians typically rely on the right hemisphere. This has led to the belief that musicians may actually process music more analytically (as they engage more of the left hemisphere, similar to the areas used for language processing) than non-musicians. Many areas of the brain that are used in processing language and music are almost identical. Now, with the help of positron emission tomography (PET), it is easy to visualize the active areas of the brain when attempting to process language or music. Some of the areas where we see the most overlap include the motor cortex (primary motor cortex and surrounding areas), Broca's area, both the primary and secondary auditory cortex, the cerebellum, the basal ganglia and thalamus, and the temporal pole. Also, though there is a general belief that language primarily uses the left hemisphere, while music primarily uses the right hemisphere, there were several structures in both hemispheres that were used for both language and music. Again, PET scans were used to record the electrical activity in the brain. When music was played, the front of the brain and the right hemisphere were primarily engaged, though the majority of visible areas showed some activity. When processing language, the front of the brain and the left hemisphere were primarily used, though again there was activation of structures in many different areas. Then, of course, when both language and music were being processed at the same time, there was a concentration of brain activity in the frontal structures and in both hemispheres.

Problems: What Happens When Things Go Wrong?
As with many areas of neuroscience, there is always a question of the possible effects that may be seen when imperfections or abnormalities occur in the brain. Brain damage can occur as a result of injury (damage to the brain, causing alterations), or as a result of congenital effects (abnormalities from birth). It is believed that humans are born musically-inclined, and the damage to related brain areas causes problems in the ability to process music properly. One of the common results of brain damage (as it pertains to music processing) is referred to as Amusia. One of the common names for amusia is "musical deafness", because it affects an individual's ability to properly detect pitch (recognize out-of-tune notes, for example), as well as to recognize familiar songs. In terms of music production, amusia affects an individual's ability to sing, whistle or hum, write music (also known as "agraphia"), or play an instrument (musical apraxia). It is difficult to discriminate between melodies, and songs that may have been well-known before the brain damage occurred may become unfamiliar. It has been thought that individuals with congenital amusia may also experience difficulties discriminating and identifying changes in intonations as well (raising the tone of your voice at the end of a question, for example), which additionally affects their language processing abilities.

Music and Memory: What Have We Learned?
The idea that music may help improve memory has been very well-researched over the years. With new information about the brain, and new techniques for neuroimaging, it has become possible to extend research further and further each year, targeting more specific areas of the brain, and observing different groups of people. For example, we are now able to observe the role of music in the brains of infants through early childhood. Research has shown that if babies actively engage in music education or musical participation, they will show increased brain development. As well, many of these musical abilities (though different across cultures) are essentially innate and universal.

Musical training early in life may also help improve one's memory. MRI scans allow researchers to view specific areas of the brain, and they have shown that, on average, the left temporal regions of the brain are actually larger in musicians than non-musicians. This area of the brain assists in verbal memory tasks, and therefore should allow musicians to perform more successfully on tests of verbal memory. Chan, Ho and Cheung collected evidence showing that individuals who had been musically trained before age 12 actually did perform better on tests of verbal memory than individuals who had not received this early training. It is understood that environmental factors will come into play, but still supports the idea that music could be extremely beneficial to memory and brain development, especially when it occurs early in life.

Try it yourself!
As we have seen, music and language are very closely-related. They use similar areas of the brain in processing, can be paired together to assist in memory formation, and even the structure and generativity of the two are very similar. Clearly, music is an important addition to the study of linguistics and psychology, and enhances the understanding of how these topics have developed. Now, using everything we have learned about language and music, test how much you now know about these topics below!

Interactive Learning Exercises
Apply your knowledge of psycholinguistics, language and music here

title: Psycholinguistics/Language and Music


text:
User:KittHoleman

I am a fourth year Psychology student at Dalhousie University.

title: User:KittHoleman


text:
User:Ectoombs

I'm a third year psychology student at Dalhousie University. Currently enrolled in the honors program, with research in parent adolescent conflict.

From PEI.

title: User:Ectoombs


text:
User:Megsmith

I am a 4th Year Psychology Student, studying at Dalhousie University, Halifax NS, Canada. I am a member of the PSYO 3190, Psycholinguistics, class at Dalhousie University, and this is my homepage for the class. I will be posting weekly blogs about the information obtained in lectures, and about the Psychology of Language in general. Later on in the semester I will be preparing a textbook chapter on Models of Speech Perception.

January 15th, 2011 #1

This past week held two particular areas of interest for me. The discussion in class held on Bonobos learning a symbolic language system, and the origins of aphasias were incredibly interesting. Firstly, with the bonobos, the way the son Kanzi learned to use the symbols through watching his mother being taught the symbols, reminded me of how younger siblings tend to pick up the things being taught to their older siblings. Kanzi learned the symbols better than his mother did, which is also very similar to the way immigrant children tend to learn a new language quicker and more accurately than their parents. Although being a completely different species, the comparisons between the bonobo learning, and human learning I found to be quite similar. It was this similarity which made this lecture of interest to me. Secondly, the lecture on the origins of aphasias was interesting in the sense that it took on the time line of brain localization, and how these regions were discovered. Through looking at the very beginnings of brain localization, and discovery of various regions, to looking at what we recognize now as the human brain, there have been some major changes. The amount of change that has taken place in the past century can only be an indication of the amount of change that will take place in the coming century. It is my belief that the information learned from the past is a glimpse of the information to be obtained in the future. I am excited to find out what this new information will be.

January 24th, 2011 #2

These past lectures have been primarily based on the various aspects of a language. Phonology was one of aspects studied in the class. Professor mentioned how the rules of phonology are a component of a person's implicit knowledge. This means that phonological rules need not be developed by individuals, it is engrained in their genetic make-up. some of the specific phonological rules that are known, are the order in which sounds can be represented and can not be presented. For example, in the english language, the sounds made by C, A, and T are known to go together, however, H, K, S, O can not go together to make a coherent sound. The lecture continued with a discussion on the innateness of phonological awareness, something I have come to be very interested in. I believe it is fascinating how a early speaker, children, can so readily pick up on the sounds of a language, when they also readily make mistakes with language. What I mean by this is that young children make many errors when using language, using the wrong words, or the wrong tense and so on, but they do not make as many errors when it comes to sounds. Another interesting aspect for me, based on some previous courses, is how children, when they are pre-lingual, play with sounds, and string many incoherent sounds together, and then miraculously start speak in intelligible words. I believe that this tendency for children to play with sounds, and then when actually communicating, use sounds appropriately, really demonstrates the innateness of phonological rules.

January 28th, 2011 #3

This week's set of lectures have dealt with the various aspects of understanding language. Auditory information, including phonological awareness, and visual information, reading were examined. With the auditory information, we learned about the various ways language is perceived by a listener. Understanding oral speech can occur via two processes: top-down and bottom-up. With top-down processing, the brain examines the entire word and then breaks it down so that the listener can perceive its meaning. in bottom-up processing, the listener first understands the components of the words, and then builds upon them to understand the entire meaning of the word. Understanding oral language is an important aspect of gaining phonological awareness. In order for an individual to learn how to read, they must have a concrete basis of phonological awareness. When reading text, an individual with a higher level of phonological awareness will be able to understand that the various sounds blend together to form words, and these words make sense. As people are able to hear and speak language before they are able to read it, it is understandable how having a higher level of phonological awareness will benefit the reading outcomes for an individual.The main question that came to mind while participating in lecture this past week is the linkage between language and developmental auditory problems. If phonological awareness, the ability to understand the oral components of language, is a necessary component in learning how to read, how can children who are born death learn how to read?

January 31st, 2011 #4

Today's lecture on Morphology was a beneficial lecture for my chapter on Words, Meanings and Recognition. The section on morphology was of particular interest to me, as morphology is the study of meaning of words. I plan, in my chapter to discuss morphology in great detail, especially for the sections referring to word meaning and word structure. Morphology will also be useful when I explain word recognition, and ways to remember various words. I can recall some previous research that dealt with morphology and word recognition, although I forget the exact source, the main premise of the work dealt with rate of word remembrance based on familiarity with the morpheme. What other research is out there linking morphology to word recognition? Is there a source of research that will help me to understand why words are the way they are, and why they have to meanings that they do? I hope to be able to answer these questions in my chapter on words, not only for myself, but for viewers who are also interested in the topic of my chapter.

February 7th, 2011 #5

Today's class was of particular interest to me, because the main discussion dealt with words and word meanings. This is the topic of my chapter which I will present this coming Friday. Dr. Newman began the discussion with providing examples of the different variations of single words or phrases in different languages. Along with the discussion of words, the topic of registers came up. Professor spoke about how people develop a different register, way of speaking, when they are communicating with different types of people. This immediately made me think of the different registers I use when I communicate with the various groups of people I interact with. I definitely speak much differently with my parents than I do with my friends, or my professors, or my employers. I am going to make it my goal this week to try to observe speakers, and see if they use a different form of speech with different audiences, and if I can in fact detect the differences. This class keeps getting more interesting as we continue. I wonder however, as I tend always to do, what about those people with hearing or vision impairments? A blind person can not see whom they are speaking with, do they still have a different register for different groups of people? What about the Hearing Impaired? Is there a different form of ASL that would be used with different groups?

February 18th, 2011 #6

The topic of lecture today was discourse. Discourse is a type of speech that is longer than a sentence. Discourse can take the form of a story, a narrative, or a conversation. Throughout lecture, the topic of discourse unfolded and after some jokes and mind puzzles, it led to the discussion based on memories and false memories. False memories occur when a memory that is fabricated has been implanted into the mind of someone else, who know believes this is an accurate memory of their own. The example used in lecture was Bugs Bunny giving the speaker a hug while he was in Disneyland, and the speaker asked his company if they remembered Bugs Bunny. Not being a Disney character, Bugs shouldn't be found in Disneyland, yet because of the social context of being engaged in a conversation, most people will agree that yes, they saw Bugs Bunny there. So simply, because of being in conversation, a person can be implanted by a false or fake memory. This makes me wonder about how well a person can be made to believe an incorrect detail, because of engaging in a social context. Can people be persuaded to vote for political parties differently because of what they experienced while conversing with someone else? I wonder in what other ways people's minds or beliefs may be changed based on whom and what they are interacting with, based on causal conservation.

March 7th, 2011, #7

The topics of last week's lectures involved music and language. We discuss the similarities between the two and how they are reflected onto each other. My questions for these topics pertain to the benefits of acquiring a taste and familiarity with music at a young age? If a child, when they learn to speak, also becomes very familiar with melodies, pitch and tunes, will their advancement in language abilities be stronger, or better than their peers who have not had the same musical experiences? Likewise with the case involving fetuses listening to music while in utero? What can be done to find out if these children will acquire language at an earlier and more advanced level than their peers who do not? Also, what type of music would work best for this type of experiment? Classical, with soothing, predictable melodies or would any type of tune work? Research has been shown the infants can tell the difference in pitch and tone changes better than adults can, is this principle something that can be harnessed to enhance language abilities in children?

March 13th, 2011, #8

This past week's lecture were incredibly interesting for me. Some of the lecture material was based around writing, and ways that written language evolved. I found these topics interesting, because written language, along with oral language is such an important aspect of our society, yet it can be so much more difficult to grasp than oral language is. Writing is challenge for quite a few people, and some never gain the ability to write properly. writing requires a high level of fine motor skills, also, the capacity for the learner to remember and understand the rules of written language. But does it really have to be so difficult? As I listened in class I was thinking about the way the elementary students I tutor write, for unfamiliar words, they write them exactly how they sound ("wud" or "cud" for would and could). Why is language, particularly difficult to understand and produce, why can't words be spelt the way they sound? As I understood, this is how the early languages were, based on the way they sounded, instead of today, being based on phonetics. Working with children who are learning to read and write it is obvious that using the phonetic approach to writing is difficult, especially with all of the different ways English has for making the same sound. There should be an easier system to use when teaching written language, maybe not entirely using the phonetic method, but also incorporating some aspects of the early languages. Teach children all the ways to make the sound, and then develop a means to select the correct sound for the proper spelling?

March 17th, 2011, #9

Today's class discussed language throughout development. professor talked about how infants begin to perceive language while in utero. This is possible because an infant's ears are developed before they are born. Infants also can detect and filter familiar voices while they are still in the womb, and various research has shown that infants prefer and can distinguish their mother's voice from other female voices. I wonder about this fact, what if the infant's mother is mute, and could not speak while carrying their child? Will this child orient towards their mother still? The mother can not speak, but I imagine she might be able to make some type of intelligible noise, is this enough for the child to orient towards? Also, the studies were only conducted on the mother's voice; in the case I am wondering about, what if the father was able to speak, and he spoke frequently around the mother's stomach while the infant was in utero, would the infant be able to distinguish the father's voice compared to other male voices? I believe this is an area of research that needs to be examined, many studies have been conducted on the mother's voice through speaking or reading during gestation, but I haven't come across many studies using the father. I wonder what the results would be if the father read to the stomach on a daily basis, and the mother carried on her normal daily life during pregnancy, after birth, would the infant suck harder for the mother or father's voice?

March 25th, 2011, #10

Today we had a guest lecturer present for our class. She presented on aphasias in stroke victims, or people who have experienced head trauma. Although I have previously studied aphasias in other courses, it was still refreshing to sit through a lecture with a new presenter and learn about them again. I was amazed with the level of functioning the individuals with aphasias exhibited in the video clips we were shown. It was my incorrect presumption that individuals with aphasias would not be well functioning in communication with another. As I have only read about the disorder, I have never actually witnessed an interaction between a typical and aphasic individual. I noticed the use of hand gestures, facial expressions, and written language the individuals used to help them recall words when communicating, and these changed my complete opinion about the disorders. I know am now more aware of the disorders and how they exhibit themselves in people. What I was most impressed with this topic, was the amount of patience and cooperation that was displayed between the patients with aphasia, and their caretakers. I can only imagine how frustrating and confusing these disorders can be, and having someone around you who is patient and understands what is going on would make it so much easier to live with aphasia. People likle our guest are an asset to the rehabilation communities because they provide a genuine level of concern and care for the patients, people like this are the reason that cures, and methods of coping are continously being developed for individuals diagnosed with an aphasia.

April 3rd, 2011, #11

This past week was the first week of debates in our class. This session had teams debating for and against the usage of ebonics. Both groups presented their points of view very effectively. Watching the debates of this past week has really helped my group members and myself prepare our debate. We have discussed what it was about each group that we liked or did not like and have incorporated it into our presentation. We will be presenting next week on the case of minority language usage in Canada. Our position is against only having English education in Canada, and we have done lots of hard work on preparing this point for the class. I like the idea of doing debates in the classroom setting. This allows us to practice not only our debating abilities, but also our presenting skills as well.

April 11th, 2011, #12

This is my last blog post for PSYO 3190, Psycholinguistics at Dalhousie University. In our last week of class, my group participated in the debates. I had a fantastic group of 3 incredibly hard working and enthusiastic girls, together, I believe, we did a fantastic job for this debate. Our position was against just majority languages being taught in schools within Canada. To support our position we incorporated many demographics from Canada on the percentage of languages used that are not majority languages, and we also had lots of statistics from where these minority languages were being used. We had found many examples of possible solutions to use in classrooms as a means to incorporate both the majority and minority language, however we presented only an example used in Norway, as it was the most conducive to our argument.We ended our debate with some research on motivation for acquiring and maintaining a first language while learning a second one. In all, preparing and participating in these debates has given me some great practical experience. I believe I am much more comfortable preparing and supporting an argument, performing an oral presentation with strict time lines, and working collectively with a group of individuals. I think that this was a great way to finish this class, as we were able to draw back on everything we had previously learned.

title: User:Megsmith