"interpreting Words"

Chapter 5 of Images of Mind by Michael Posner, 1994

The researchers first asked subjects to perform a very simple task: looking at a cross on a computer monitor. The tasks became increasingly complex until the authors finally asked the subjects to produce words in response to a prompt. PET scans were taken during every task. The researchers identified the areas of the brain involved in looking at the simplest task; when these areas of the brain were activated during the next task, the researchers subtracted these areas from the second scans to identify the areas of the brain needed for the second task. Eventually, the researchers were able to isolate the areas of the brain used for accessing lexical meaning.

There are 2 models of how humans read; neurological and cognitive. They disagree as to whether or not our visual interpretation of the word goes through the phonetic representation before we comprehend it. The cognitive model says no, that top-down processing will recognize the word. The neurological model (Wernicke first said it) says yes.

Language processing can proceed thru many dif. areas of the brain.

A verb generation task made many different areas of the brain light up, including Broca's area.

Practicing the verb generation task changes the neural pathways required for the exercise.