What textbooks get wrong about language and the brain

Video Description

The textbook story about how language is processed in the brain needs a revision! Decades of evidence from the study of aphasia, clinical interventions, and neuroimaging technology has produced a new view of language in the brain—a more nuanced and complex story that goes beyond Broca and Wernicke. A note: this video contains sensitive topics regarding strokes, aphasia, and brain damage, as well as images of human remains and brain surgery. Please view with discretion! Interviews with stroke survivors used in this video came from the Tactus Therapy YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Tactustherapy 0:00 – Intro 1:02 – Broca’s Aphasia 3:00 – Wernicke’s Aphasia 4:00 – The classical model 5:08 – Problems with the classical model 6:37 – A new view 7:21 – Middle Temporal Gyrus 8:02 – Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus 8:59 – Other functions 10:09 – The new model 10:44 – Wrap-up 11:38 – Outtro Sources: Chang, Kurteff & Wilson (2018). Selective interference with syntactic encoding during sentence production by direct electrocortical stimulation of the inferior frontal gyrus. Davis et al. (2008). Speech and language functions that require a functioning Broca’s area. Eling & Whitaker (2022). History of aphasia: A broad overview. Fedorenko, Duncan & Kanwisher (2012). Language-selective and domain-general regions lie side by side within Broca’s area. Friederici et al. (2002). Towards a neural basis of auditory sentence processing. Geschwind (1972). Language and the brain. Hagoort 2005. On Broca, brain, and binding: a new framework. Huth et al. (2016). Natural speech reveals the semantic maps that tile human cerebral cortex. Indefrey et al. (2001). A neural correlate of syntactic encoding during speech production. Kaan & Swaab (2002). The brain circuitry of syntactic comprehension. Lau, Phillips & Poeppel (2008). A cortical network for semantics: (de)constructing the N400. Lipkin et al. (2022). Probabilistic atlas for the language network based on precision fMRI data from 800 individuals. Matchin & Hickok (2020). The cortical organization of syntax. Murphy et al. (2022). Minimal phrase composition revealed by intracranial recordings. Shetreet, Friedmann & Hadar (2010). The neural correlates of linguistic distinctions: Unaccusative and unergative verbs. Stromswold et al. (1996). Localization of syntactic comprehension by positron emission tomography. Tremblay & Dick (2016). Broca and Wernicke are dead, or moving past the classic model of language neurobiology. Zaccarella et al. (2017). Building by syntax: The neural basis of minimal linguistic structures. Brouwer, Crocker, Venhuizen & Hoeks (2017). A neurocomputational model of the N400 and the P600 in language processing.