Writing Workshop
• Here are some typical writing style issues
which people have trouble with.
Writing Workshop
• Here are some typical writing style issues
which people have trouble with.
• Here are some typical writing style issues with
which people have trouble.
Writing Workshop
• Data is
• Data are
Writing Workshop
• Its a nice day.
• It’s a nice day.
Writing Workshop
• I’m going to try and find area V5.
• I’m going to try to find area V5.
• I propose to identify area V5.
Writing Workshop
• A major stimulant within coffee, caffeine, and its effect
on the nervous system is well documented.
• Caffeine, a stimulant found in coffee, produces welldocumented effects on the nervous system.
• Caffeine is the principal stimulant found in coffee, and its
effects on the nervous system are well documented.
• Coffee contains caffeine, which is a stimulant with welldocumented effects on the nervous system.
Writing Workshop
• A major stimulant within coffee, caffeine, and its effect
on the nervous system is well documented.
• Caffeine, a stimulant found in coffee, produces welldocumented effects on the nervous system.
• Caffeine is the principal stimulant found in coffee, and its
effects on the nervous system are well documented.
• Coffee contains caffeine, which is a stimulant with welldocumented effects on the nervous system.
Writing Workshop
•
My theory is that a similar area of the brain is used for language, more specifically word
recognition, in both healthy and deaf individuals, however not the exact same areas due to
different pathways the stimuli is processed through and alterations to brain development due to
impairment.
•
My theory is that word recognition in healthy and deaf individuals engages similar brain areas,
within limits imposed by developmental alterations and differences in processing constraints.
•
My theory is that word recognition in healthy and deaf individuals engages similar brain areas.
However, I propose that developmental alterations and differences in processing constraints
probably limit this functional overlap.
•
Two factors probably account for differences between deaf and hearing individuals. First, early
development of the sensory systems is known to be influenced by the quality of available sensory
input (e.g. Cynader, 1977). Thus, in the case of congenital deafness, early development of the
auditory pathways is probably compromised. Distortions in subsequent development of languageprocessing areas probably follow. Second, because the sensory representations of spoken and
signed language are entirely different, the initial processing steps required for word recognition
must also be different. I therefore propose that word recognition in deaf and hearing brains shares
only partially overlapping functional anatomy.
Language
Using Language
• What is language for?
Using Language
• What is language for?
– Rapid, efficient communication
• To accomplish this goal, what needs to happen
in the brain?
Understanding Linguistic Input
• To accomplish this goal, what needs to happen in
the brain?
– Encode input (speech, writing, other?)
• Make neural representation(s)
– transform the input (e.g. written word to internal
sound)
• This probably involves many intermediate steps
– Associate input with meaning – access the lexicon
• Lexicon – a mental representation of the meaning of words
– Mental dictionary is a poor but useful analogy
Spoken Input
– Phonology – how the word sounds; acoustic
• Words are comprised of acoustic speech units called phonemes
Spoken Input
– Phonology – how the word sounds; acoustic
• Phonemes are not invariant – different acoustic inputs are
“mapped” onto the same phoneme
Spoken Input
• The Segmentation Problem:
– The stream of acoustic input is not physically segmented into discrete phonemes, words,
phrases, etc.
– Silent gaps don’t always indicate (aren’t perceived as) interruptions in speech
Spoken Input
• The Segmentation Problem:
– The stream of acoustic input is not physically segmented into discrete phonemes, words,
phrases, etc.
– Continuous speech stream is sometimes perceived as having gaps
Spoken Input
• The Segmentation Problem:
– How do we solve the segmentation problem? Overlay
additional information:
• Prosody
– Inflection, syllabic stress, pauses
Spoken Input
• The Segmentation Problem:
– How do we solve the segmentation problem? Overlay
additional information:
• Vision
– Read lips!
– Demonstrated by the McGurk effect
Written Input
• Some terms:
– Orthography – visual form of a word
• Non-trivial problem! Like all objects, words can have
many different instances of the same item
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