Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Insights on Language and the Brain Through TMS
J. T. Devlin and K. E. Watkins were published in the Oxford Journals, writing about the importance of TMS as a tool for brain research, particularly with language and speech. Though language research with TMS is still very young, they point out how clearly beneficial it is in studying both cognition and neurobiology. Findings include that susceptibility to unilateral lesions is related to pre-morbid language organization, and that left hemisphere activation is more critical for performance in aphasic people than right hemisphere activation. Also, use of TMS has demonstrated a link between action words and motor programs, as well as a possible evolutionary link between hand gestures and language. They found that speech perception signals the motor system to produce correlate movements. So applying the tools of TMS may help trace neural circuitry underlying human language processing. It seems like there is a lot of potential in this area of TMS and language and that discoveries are only accelerating. The implications of diagnosing, aiding in, or understanding development or speech problems are quite exciting.
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This is really intriguing. That's really interesting that there is a link between action words and motor programs. It would be interesting to use this research method to explore bilingual people, since they have primary action words from their native language, and then the other words that they learned at other points in their lives. Is the process the same when a foreign language that is understood, but not totally familiar with is heard when processing information and performing an action? It would be fascinating and enlightening to find out more about this using TMS.
ReplyDeleteSo does that mean that when we heard certain actions words, there is slight activation in the corresponding motor area in the brain? That is a very interesting finding, and I think it speaks volumes on the powerful link between language and neural response, because think about it: a vast majority of our neural responses are in fact responding to language. To learning, to hearing, to communicating, to generating a response. If TMS can tell us more about the power of this connection, I would love to read some follow-up articles on that.
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