Examines the language processing and acquisition abilities of the right hemisphere. Discusses functions performed by the right hemisphere that could play an important role in second language acquisition. (EKN)

Research on brain hemisphere functions appears to indicate that (1) lateralization occurs from about age five to puberty; (2) both hemispheres are involved in language learning in ways not yet fully understood; (3) after age fifteen, pronunciation learning becomes difficult; (4) older language learners learn more quickly, but younger learners…

Recently, knowledge of the mechanisms of visual-spatial attention has improved due to studies employing single cell recording with alert monkeys and studies using performance analysis of neurological patients. These studies suggest that a complex neural network including parts of the posterior parietal lobe and midbrain are involved in covert…

According to recent neurolinguistic theories and research, language and other analytic functions are located on the left side of the brain, while spatial and configurational abilities are located on the right side. However, there is some evidence that while learning a language requires the use of both hemispheres of the brain, the right hemisphere…

Various communication studies have revealed the existence of a "preverbal" stage of communication consisting of centers within the brain that exists in an innate form or a form preprogrammed for future information acquired from the environment through experience (socialization). Such centers serve to prepare the individual for…

Studies in psychology, language, and foreign language suggest that it is the qualitative nature of the task students perform while learning that is important, because of the creativity factor. Some explanations of creativity are concerned with hemisphericity of the brain. Another explanation is that creativity results from divergent rather than…

This paper assesses certain properties of human mental processes by focusing on the tactics utilized in perceiving speech signals. Topics discussed in the paper include the power spectrum approach to fluctuations and noise, with particular reference to biological structures; "l/f-like" fluctuations in speech and music and the functioning of a…

A study of eight adult chronic aphasic patients' comprehension of sentences and pictures in which comparisons of time and space were crucial was designed to assess A. R. Luria's approach to designing comprehension test tasks. The investigation required patients, with lesions of varying size and location, to determine whether a sentence expressing…

The left hemisphere of the brain is analytic and "particularistic" in orientation--focusing on individual elements within a field and analyzing them sequentially. The right hemisphere of the brain is holistic or relational in processing, and is predisposed to see wholes simultaneously. One of the most prominant features of the EEG is the asymmetry…

Applied linguistic theory is examined in light of neuroscientific knowledge, especially in regard to the structure and function of the cerebral cortex, in order to illuminate the process and methods of teaching or learning language. Wernicke's Area and Broca's Area are parts of the brain that have been associated with language function.…

Since past studies have shown that females as well as left-handers do not demonstrate a right-ear advantage for verbal materials, suggesting that linguistic functions may not be handled in the left hemisphere exclusively, a study was conducted to examine these laterality effects more closely. Subjects, 24 undergraduate students at a small college…

A study of language patterning as an indicator of higher cortical process focused on three matched comparison groups: normal pre-middle-aged, normal elderly, and elderly adults with senile dementia Alzheimer's type. In addition to tests of memory, level of cognitive function, and organic deficit, the formal aspects of language were analyzed in…

A study of the relationship of bilingualism to personality traits focused on two questions: (1) are any language-associated differences between memory systems in bilinguals reflected in similar differences in personality structures?; and (2) if such differences exist, can they be tapped by comparing responses to personality-evoking stimulus in the…

A study was undertaken to learn whether involvement of the brain's right hemisphere in auditory language processing, a phenomenon found in a previous study of Crow-English bilinguals, was language-specific. Alpha blocking response as measured by electroencephalography (EEG) was used as an indicator of brain activity. It was predicted that (1)…

The cognitive aspect of second language learning, specifically by immersion method, is discussed from a biological perspective. The approach taken is that of "connectionism," a recently-developed theoretical and experimental approach to human cognition. It is argued that while general cognitive functioning is unaffected by language immersion,…