On the Biological Foundations of Language: Recent Advances in Language Acquisition, Deterioration, and Neuroscience Begin to Converge

Biolinguistics

Barbara Lust¹  Charles R. Henderson, Jr.¹  Marc Harrison¹  Leah Shabo¹  James Gair¹  Janet Cohen Sherman²  Suzanne Flynn³ 

[1] Cornell University;Massachusetts General Hospital;Massachusetts Institute of Technology;

关键词: language acquisition;    language loss;    brain;    maturation;    Prodromal Alzheimer’s Disease;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

In this paper, experimental results on the study of language loss in pro- dromal Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in the elderly are linked to experimen- tal results from the study of language acquisition in the child, via a tran- sitional stage of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Recent brain imag- ing results from a pilot study comparing prodromal AD and normal ag- ing are reported. Both, behavioral results and their underlying neural underpinnings, identify the source of language deficits in MCI as break- down in syntax–semantics integration. These results are linked to inde- pendent discoveries regarding the ontogeny of language in the child and their neural foundations. It is suggested that these convergent results ad- vance our understanding of the true nature of maturational processes in language, allowing us to reconsider a “regression hypothesis” (e.g., Ribot 1881), wherein later acquisition predicts earliest dissolution.

【 授权许可】

Unknown