Language processing in the brain

Fri, 09/14/2007 - 21:22 - NLN

The claim that language processing can be carried out by purely "general purpose" information processing mechanisms in the brain -- rather than relying on language-specific module(s) -- may seem contradicted by a slew of recent neuroimaging studies demonstrating what appears to be a visual "word form" area in the left fusiform gyrus of the temporal lobe.

By all appearances, this region is highly specialized for word processing. But this evidence causes a predicament for more than just domain-generalists; those who advocate an evolved language module may also be challenged by these results, since writing emerged too recently (~5400 years ago) for the brain to have already evolved a specialized mechanism to accomodate it.

Only some very powerful evidence could result in such strange theoretical bedfellows.

Read full story in Developing Intelligence