Discusses recent brain research as it pertains to reading instruction. (DD)

Connectionist (parallel distributed processing) modeling provides a new way to approach the neurological study of language. This method focuses on the interplay between a computational model and the appropriate neurological, neuropsychological, and speech and language data, couched in connectionist mechanisms that map naturally to what is known of…

Although interest in the language sciences was previously focused on newly created sentences, more recently much attention has turned to the importance of formulaic expressions in normal and disordered communication. Also referred to as formulaic expressions and made up of speech formulas, idioms, expletives, serial and memorized speech, slang,…

Reviews cases which support the view that parts of the left hemisphere control languages, no matter how it is expressed, while right-side regions are involved only in skilled nonlinguistic movements and perceptions. Compares recent findings with previously held theories. (ML)