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"Understanding the Brain", The Birth of a Learning Science, 2007, page 85
Language and Developmental Sensitivities (1)
Language’s Areas
Language’s Areas
The brain is biologically primed to acquire language. Chomsky (1959) proposed that the brain is equipped with a recipe for making sequences of sound into representations of meaning that is analogous to the system for translating sensory information into representations of objects.
That is, the brain is designed through evolution to process certain stimuli according to universal language rules. There are indeed brain structures specialised for language: research has stablished the role played by the left inferior frontal gyrus and the left posterior middle gyrus (Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area, respectively).
Broca’s area, long understood as implicated in language production, is now associated with a broader range of linguistic functions (Bookheimer, 2002). Wernicke’s area is involved in semantics (Bookheimer et al., 1998; Thompson-Schill et al., 1999).
Critically, these structures are for higher levels of processing, and therefore are not restricted to the simpler processing of incoming auditory stimuli – hearing per se. Visual information can also be processed linguistically, as in the case of sign language.
Though certain brain structures are biologically primed for language, the process of language acquisition needs the catalyst of experience.
That is, the brain is designed through evolution to process certain stimuli according to universal language rules. There are indeed brain structures specialised for language: research has stablished the role played by the left inferior frontal gyrus and the left posterior middle gyrus (Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area, respectively).
Broca’s area, long understood as implicated in language production, is now associated with a broader range of linguistic functions (Bookheimer, 2002). Wernicke’s area is involved in semantics (Bookheimer et al., 1998; Thompson-Schill et al., 1999).
Critically, these structures are for higher levels of processing, and therefore are not restricted to the simpler processing of incoming auditory stimuli – hearing per se. Visual information can also be processed linguistically, as in the case of sign language.
Though certain brain structures are biologically primed for language, the process of language acquisition needs the catalyst of experience.
"Understanding the Brain", The Birth of a Learning Science, 2007, page 85
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