Neurolinguistics is closely related to the field of psycholinguistics, which seeks to elucidate the cognitive mechanisms of language by employing the traditional techniques of experimental psychology. The N400 was the first language-relevant event-related potential to be identified, and since its discovery EEG and MEG have become increasingly widely used for conducting language research. Electrophysiological techniques, in particular, emerged as a viable method for the study of language in 1980 with the discovery of the N400, a brain response shown to be sensitive to semantic issues in language comprehension. Īlthough aphasiology is the historical core of neurolinguistics, in recent years the field has broadened considerably, thanks in part to the emergence of new brain imaging technologies (such as PET and fMRI) and time-sensitive electrophysiological techniques ( EEG and MEG), which can highlight patterns of brain activation as people engage in various language tasks. Harry Whitaker popularized neurolinguistics in the United States in the 1970s, founding the journal "Brain and Language" in 1974. Luria's 1976 book "Basic Problems of Neurolinguistics" is likely the first book with "neurolinguistics" in the title. The coining of the term neurolinguistics in the late 1940s and 1950s is attributed to Edith Crowell Trager, Henri Hecaen and Alexandr Luria. Early work in aphasiology also benefited from the early twentieth-century work of Korbinian Brodmann, who "mapped" the surface of the brain, dividing it up into numbered areas based on each area's cytoarchitecture (cell structure) and function these areas, known as Brodmann areas, are still widely used in neuroscience today. The work of Broca and Wernicke established the field of aphasiology and the idea that language can be studied through examining physical characteristics of the brain. Later, Carl Wernicke, after whom Wernicke's area is named, proposed that different areas of the brain were specialized for different linguistic tasks, with Broca's area handling the motor production of speech, and Wernicke's area handling auditory speech comprehension. Phrenologists had made the claim in the early 19th century that different brain regions carried out different functions and that language was mostly controlled by the frontal regions of the brain, but Broca's research was possibly the first to offer empirical evidence for such a relationship, and has been described as "epoch-making" and "pivotal" to the fields of neurolinguistics and cognitive science. One of the first people to draw a connection between a particular brain area and language processing was Paul Broca, a French surgeon who conducted autopsies on numerous individuals who had speaking deficiencies, and found that most of them had brain damage (or lesions) on the left frontal lobe, in an area now known as Broca's area. Aphasiology attempts to correlate structure to function by analyzing the effect of brain injuries on language processing. Neurolinguistics is historically rooted in the development in the 19th century of aphasiology, the study of linguistic deficits ( aphasias) occurring as the result of brain damage. įurther information: History of the brain, Neuroscience § History, History of neuroimaging, and Cognitive science § History Neurolinguists study the physiological mechanisms by which the brain processes information related to language, and evaluate linguistic and psycholinguistic theories, using aphasiology, brain imaging, electrophysiology, and computer modeling. Much work in neurolinguistics is informed by models in psycholinguistics and theoretical linguistics, and is focused on investigating how the brain can implement the processes that theoretical and psycholinguistics propose are necessary in producing and comprehending language. Researchers are drawn to the field from a variety of backgrounds, bringing along a variety of experimental techniques as well as widely varying theoretical perspectives. As an interdisciplinary field, neurolinguistics draws methods and theories from fields such as neuroscience, linguistics, cognitive science, communication disorders and neuropsychology. Neurolinguistics is the study of neural mechanisms in the human brain that control the comprehension, production, and acquisition of language. Surface of the human brain, with Brodmann areas numbered An image of neural pathways in the brain taken using diffusion tensor imaging Not to be confused with Cognitive linguistics.
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