What Brain Damage Reveals About Language | Otherwords
Вставка
- Опубліковано 26 лип 2023
- Some of the first discoveries about the relationship between language and the brain were made by studying patients with brain damage. Of course, before modern technology, the only way you could see the brain was by opening it up.
Otherwords is a PBS web series on Storied that digs deep into this quintessential human trait of language and fınds the fascinating, thought-provoking, and funny stories behind the words and sounds we take for granted. Incorporating the fıelds of biology, history, cultural studies, literature, and more, linguistics has something for everyone and offers a unique perspective on what it means to be human.
sources:
drive.google.com/file/d/1B4JO...
drive.google.com/file/d/1qdzH...
drive.google.com/file/d/1Nc57...
drive.google.com/file/d/1kaoZ...
theaacn.org/adult-neuropsycho...
my.clevelandclinic.org/health...
www.stroke.org/en/about-strok...
www.bu.edu/articles/2022/what...
news.cuanschutz.edu/news-stor...
www.frontiersin.org/articles/...
academic.oup.com/jdsde/articl...
Host: Erica Brozovsky, Ph.D.
Creator/Director: Andrew Matthews & Katie Graham
Writer: Erica Brozovsky, Ph.D.
Producer: Katie Graham
Editor/Animation: Andrew Matthews
Executive Producer: Amanda Fox
Fact Checker: Yvonne McGreevy
Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez
Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing
Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: John Campbell
Stock Images from Shutterstock
Music from APM Music
Otherwords is produced by Spotzen for PBS.
© 2023 PBS. All rights reserved.
The fact that our brain basically needs so much energy in large part due to the necessity of processing visual and verbal communication is still so wild to me. Talking must have been really really important to the success of our ancestors.
Just like Stephen Hawking once said: "For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk and we learned to listen. Speech has allowed the communication of ideas, enabling human beings to work together to build the impossible. Mankind's greatest achievements have come about by talking, and its greatest failures by not talking."
SEZ YOU
But most people use language for gossip and discussing the latest episode of their favorite reality TV show.
I read an article a long time ago that basically said it seems like humans evolved to communicate with anything and everything. To be honest my absolute worst fear is becoming unable to speak... Language is how we connect to others, mind to mind, and yeah, it's got to be one of THE most important things about us.
Or other forms of communication.
I had a major left brain stroke when I was 31. I live in Canada so I received awesome care in rehab. Then, the place that I’ve worked at gave me another chance and hired me back. That’s where I really learned English again. Took me 3 years to be able to say what I wanted to say.
Ever intelligent, I found it really disturbing that I could do everything except say the words in English. I became very fluent in gibberish (and swearing!)
My English isn’t that good when I write. But I’m still improving 16 years later.
I could go on and on talking about my stroke. But, all in all, I very happy that I made it back. People don’t recognize that something is altered in me. But, that is ok.
Major TBI at age 15. Now 75. Believe me I understand the 'joys' of invisible injuries.
🧡🧡🧡
Are you healthy again now? I can't imagine not being able to speak, I would've a meltdown. Luv from San Francisco!
Glad you’re better. If you don’t mind me asking, what caused you to have a stroke so young?
(Only asking bc I’m super paranoid about this for myself)
@@darrowoflykos4909 my stroke was caused by an atrial myxoma, a benign tumour that was clogging the inside of my heart (and is present it about 1% of the population). The tumour leaked a part of itself in my heart, the bit when to the brain and caused a stroke. I had heart surgery to remove it and, after learning my English back, I’m good. Your chances of having the same kind of stroke is very, very rare. The biggest hint was, even though I was fit, even as a child, I had very poor long distance running. I would be overcome with trying to catch my breath. Even walking up 2 flights of stairs. It was awful.
But ya, the word stroke is an umbrella term for a whole lot of things and reasons. Anyone can get a stroke. Stay healthy!!
Aphasia is, simply, just awful 😢
Neurodegeneration is one of the things that scares the hell out of me 😱
I’m thankful there’s such people as neuropsychologists ❤
They do such important work!! - Dr. B
At least he's lived a long life.
MS runs in my family. Knowing my brain might melt in my 40s has haunted me since middle school.
me too... I actually had a tumor removed and I am constantly doing whatever I can to keep my brain function sharp. But some days its like fog soup
@@Max_Le_Groomand a very successful and privileged one too 😉 in a good way. Like, he’ll get care most people would dream to be able to afford.
I am autistic and find that I can really relate to the concept of aphasia causing difficulty in expression even when your thinking is still the same. Because of my disorder I often experience a similar thing and have before described it as being like my first language isn't truly "native" to me - I have to translate between my thoughts and my expression. This especially comes out when I am very fatigued and will speak in a very similar way to what was shown for the expressive aphasia example and speaking only in "key concepts". As a child that went undiagnosed I have had a lot of struggle with my way of speaking, it still makes me anxious (especially when my mind gives me a word from an entirely different language I know and then I have to translate again haha) but I love my voice now - mainly because the people I know now love to talk with me even if I speak strangely. My friends love me for it, not in spite of it.
I can 100% relate to this.
It’s weird, when I’m really tired it feels like “fog” between my thoughts and my expression.
I also forget how to talk when I’m under (usually emotional) stress. All the words are in my head but I literally don’t know how to talk. Words just won’t come out.
I also experience the other version, where I don’t unterstand spoken language anymore. It sounds like mumbling in the background and feels really bad, mostly because I have to try to get away from voices which is harder than you’d think. Realising that I’m completely unable to communicate (mostly because people usually don’t believe me) is really irritating.
Both of these conditions gradually go away when I manage to calm down, but it’s still a shocking experience. Imagine suffering from this permanently due to brain injury or damage, that must be so hard to live with…
Recently diagnosed autistic here. Yep, that relates to me as well
I suffered a TBI in 2017 while living overseas, and the combination of general memory/identity loss and random aphasia turned me into a recluse because my linear expression was so disrupted that my mind began trying to use symbols--math, geometric shapes, distances, etc--to explain concepts and relationship patterns between larger thoughts. I'd been a lifelong writer/journaler before that, but having words 'taken away' from me didn't stop my compulsive drive to attempt communication. It just became a lot of music and images--pictures, drawings, algebraic expressions--in those moments where 'words' ceased to happen.
My daughter has what is now a mild expressive speech delay and in going through speech therapy with her I really learned a lot about what it takes to speak words. There are so many movements involved in making words that as normal speaking adults we never think of. Also it takes time to develop the ability to make different sounds. My daughter is about to turn 4 and she went from maybe 5 words at age 2 to more words then I can count now. She is still hard to understand sometimes but watching her go from barely talking to nonstop talking has been an interesting journey. Human language is such and interesting and complicated thing and I loved learning about it in this video.
These videos are always super enlightening and educational.
And off-topic, but for some reason I find it reassuring that Dr. Tan finishes his answers with a nod and a smile to signal that he's ready for the next question. I bet he's a great educator/mentor to someone. Great communicator with a great smile+nod. :)
I don't think that's off topic! He's communicating non-verbally, expressing his eagerness to share his knowledge with anyone who's interested. Very encouraging, very comfortable. Can I imagine that he was on my neurological team after my brain injury?
good doctors are always ready to share their experience and knowledge, to further enrich people's understanding
My mother had a stroke and it affected her ability to talk, she described it as having a word you can't quite grasp right on the tip of your tongue, except for every single word. Oddly, only her native language was affected, her secondary were fine. Today she can talk well again, except for a stutter, which she doesn't mind.
yes, it has happened to people who wake up speaking something else, not even a language they know, very strange
That was me after TBI, I could pull the word in a different language but not my native one!
I had a brain injury and especially in the beginning I had a lot of trouble getting the right words out. One funny example was that I could never manage to say the word "cucumber" and would always say "celery." I work in a restaurant so this came up pretty often. I need to talk about a long green vegetable that starts with C and I guess "celery" is good enough.
This sounds a lot like me. I want the name of a color, my brain gives me a color. Not always the right color, but a color.
Time- I may want Tuesday but say week. I was hit in my head with a metal garage door 16 yrs ago (I was 52 yrs old) that resulted in traumatic brain injury. I started taking voice lessons (singing) and eventually regained my speech, even though the neuropsychologist who tested me at the beginning didn't think it would work.
I have an inflammatory seizure disorder called encephalitis, and my inflammation and seizures were mostly effected in my right temporal lobe and it really effected my memory, I was in a coma for almost 5 days and they took a brain sample and found CNS vasculitis. I've never had this problem because my newer inflammation was on the right front side of my brain, my memory was really badly effected. Thankfully that was about a year and I'm doing waaaay better. I've had all the tests she's mentioned and more.
One thing that fascinates me about language is that we can’t not learn it. As long as we’re exposed to a language (and conditions are right), we will definitely learn it. We have no choice.
Your last question to him is genius and should be included in every interview ever!
My cousin's husband has aphasia due to a stroke, He understood people, but could only make nonsense sounds that sounded like words but weren't. My cousin did say that he could swear with no problem though.
7:32 this reminds of something my mom told me about her high school Spanish teacher. From what I remember, her first language was English and her second was Spanish, and later in life got into a car accident that damaged her language ability for English, but she was still mostly fluent in Spanish. There were some days where she just could not speak English at all, but since she had that backup she was still able to communicate until she was recovered enough to speak English again
yes, there are others who woke up speaking Chinese all of a sudden, we don't know how the brain does this, but it doesn't go away and English comes back after a period of time
I always get so excited when I see a new episode drop,. I am very much a lay person but I love language amd the study thereof so very much. Thank you for always making my day far more interesting
Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS) is another interesting language disorder and really is something that should make for a good episode. Especially, in talking about Broca and Werneke area
Very timely, excellent explanation. Thank you.
I recently had an issue in my brain and now remembering nouns is hard. Especially names. It's fun!
I experienced aphasia and still have it a little once in a while. Like simply saying my name. I had several tbi’s and have post concussive syndrome issues. I'm very lucky to have neuroplasticity and have healed a lot.
At the end, she mentions swearing. Fun fact: many people with dementia swear a lot more than they did before. "My mom would never swear!" "You want to bet on that?" ;D
I wonder what would be learned if they studied people like me with severe dyslexia. I know scientists found a decade or so ago that our Wernicke's and Brocas area, but I also know we use more global brain skills for things like reading and our visual processing is stronger than the neurotically brain. We always look at these things as what went wrong. It would be great if someone asked what went different.
Yeah. Totally. I agree 👍🏿
I know dyslexia is more common in languages where pronunciation is not consistent, like English.
Jan Berry, of Jan and Dean (Vocal Surf Rock duo from the '60's) got in a car accident and suffered brain damage that caused paralysis and aphasia. There's a pretty good biopic about the dou and it deals pretty extensively with Jan's attempts to sing again.
Jan and Dean's song include Surf City (cowritten between Jan and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys), Dead Man's Curve, and The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)
It's interesting that singing is sometimes the way around language issues. Some stutterers have no problems when they sing, and some stroke victims are able to sing their words post stroke. Singing utilizes a good portion of the right brain.
I'm curious whether aphasia affects people using sign language, and if so, does it affect language any differently?
not really different probably
And how does it affect writing
There are at least 3 kinds of aphasia. Surely not all of them effect sign and script the same
@tauntingeveryone7208 is right! The modality of language, whether signed or spoken (or even written) is similarly affected by damage to the left hemisphere. Sign languages really illustrate how aphasia truly is a language impairment, not just affecting verbal communication or speech sounds! - Dr. B
@pbsstoried I have a question. Years ago I learned some sign language. When I got very tired, I would not be able to say words but could sign? Why?
I had an ischemic stroke in my left frontal lobe last year, and for the first hour before I got treatment I was paralyzed on my right side and I had expressive aphasia, although I could understand other people talking. After getting tPA to dissolve the blood clot that caused my stroke, my language ability mostly came back, except for some difficulty reading English (my first language). Oddly, I did not have difficulty reading a second language that I learned as an adult that uses a different script. Over the following days, my language ability completely recovered, and most of my physical abilities recovered.
yes, some people woke up speaking another language that they never learned as well, we still don't know why it is
@@danielzhang1916 I've never heard of someone walking up speaking a language they've never learned. Are there documented cases of this happening?
What a wonderful and important episode. It gives hope along with information and empathy. Aphasia would be devastating for me, and I'm so glad to hear how much potential there is for recovery from it.
I become aphasic during some of my psychogenic seizure episodes, Im loving learning more about how language works in the brain
I get PTSI related spontaneous mutism.
Loose my internal dialogue along with.
Fortunately, singing and sign still works
I love otherwords so much! please keep putting out videos! you guys are great!
Thank you for including signed languages
I love the tapping sound at 8:02. Also, what a cute outtake! "Oh noooooo!" lol
yesss! same
We really need to switch to arm processers at this point. The old system is just too energy hungry.
Legit tho, after an on the job head injury parts of my vocabulary abruptly changed, even including things like my rhythm and cadence. It wasn't an active problem so doctors were never interested in looking into it, but I've always wondered just exactly what changed
farewell x86 helloooo arm
I did not realize the differences in the aphasias, thank you.
Thank you for this very important information.
Excellent video! I learned quite a few new things!
I get migraines and part of the aura (non-pain symptoms) is a period (usually 15-30 minutes) of aphasia and I can tell you it's horrible because you're sitting there and you know you're being talked to and you know you want to say something but your thoughts are jumbled and your speech is even more jumbled and so you can tell that people are concerned but you can't talk to them - it's horrible and I'm truly blessed that it goes away again for me and I really hope the best for anyone experiencing it
You all do such a great job! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
What we found out about how the brain is so hard wired to value language, even above reasoning, motor/visual/spatial skills, and how much a person's development (in this case, language) is so dependent on other people, just fly in the face of those who would preach "social Darwinism" or some bullshit along that line. It simply doesn't even have a biological basis. This proves that in order to produce healthy individuals, we need to build society that allow us to hold on to even the most vulnerable and take care of each other.
It also doesn't go unnoticed to me that you always make an effort to include people who communicate differently (with sign language) and to depict figures of ethnicities that's not always white in your videos. Thank you so much.
Regarding the 7:33 mark... Take that, Hank Green! I remember specifically in one of your sci show episodes you said that there is no good science behind learning a second language as being helpful to the brain, and that its benefits are all way overblown. Also get well soon. Despite my note above, you still are a national treasure.
Such an interesting video! Clear explanation!
I knew somebody recently who apparently had some kind of brain damage. She seemed perfectly capable of understanding what people were telling her, and of conducting her life, but when she would say something, the right words never seemed to come out. I would struggle so much to understand what she was trying to say--it was so difficult and frustrating.
I love the videos that guys make and upload.
Excellent video!
My nephew and his daughter have a neurodivergence that is an auditory issue. They are unable to process how the words they speak sound. They need a speech pathologist to help them know how words feel in their mouths.
I too have Auditory Processing Disorder and it affects things you never think of, like spelling. You may have a dictionary and now spell checker (thank God), but if someone asks you to spell word, you will still do it verbally. If a kid asks you to spell exaggerate, what are the chances you start with 'e-g-g'? And with English some words verbally don't match as written (sarcastic). My diagnosis at 16 said I a college reading level but 6th grade spelling level.
There are many ways it can affect your life. Saying 'conservation' vs 'conversation'; Trying to take notes in class; Trying to learn a new language.
@@jerseygirlinatl7701 didn't realize that it also affects spelling. But nephew also has dyslexia so spelling issues were probably mistakenly tied to that. He insisted that the school get a speech pathologist instead of a speech therapist for his daughter and son. His son doesn't have Auditory Processing Disorder but he's modeled his speech on his older sister. Luckily she's 10 and he's 5, so they are getting the help they needed early.
Yo! I have that! But for me, I hear words all jumbled and fuzzy, sometimes I also stutter heavily despite having the words in my brain.
I love watching videos from this channel ❤
Great video thank You very very much
Your videos are always interesting and informative. It's always a treat when you put out a new video. ❤
This was very educational thank you 👍
when I was a kid I read a Roald Dahl short story called the Vicar of Nibbleswicke about the Reverend Lee who had a fictional form of dyslexia called Back to Front dyslexia but this dyslexia variant in the story to me behaved more like Wernicke's aphasia.
My noggin has hit pavement so many times, I am quite surprised that my language is still as well as it is.
good*
Well is used incorrectly there
I have MDD and personally learning a new language was so rewarding and help me cope with my disability, dopamine is my best friend.
I have Cerebral Palsy and I have to use a communication device. The speech center part of my brain is partly damaged and filled with fluid, so my speech isn't understandable by most people.
Thanks 🙂
As a psychometrist (working under three pediatric neuropsychologists) who also has a background in modern languages (particularly French)... I've never felt like a video was so tailored to me ha ha.
my mum suffered a brain hemorrhage years ago and still struggles with words, I do too but I have different condition
Hello, Dr. Brozovsky. Would you like to do a video about phobias, and how phobias got their names, sometime later? You may invite Dr. Emily Zarka from Monstrum if you like!
Thanks for the great suggestion! I'll keep it in mind :) - Dr. B
Considering the movies WIllis has been MAKING for the last 5 years we might have asked him to retire sooner.
But considering what we know now about how Hollywood pays the people who make the things they sell, he might not have had ENOUGH to retire.
That was sooo interesting! Btw what happened to F&F series?
Knowledge is power!
do other nonverbal languages like signing use the same pathways?
There is also one for those born with it this one is normally a damage or complicated distation in the woum or a hard birth on the baby. I have such a hard time understanding what I hear. I have to take a long time to prosses what is said to me
When I was 25, i tried to unalive myself. I wont go into details but I used pharmaceuticals. I dont remember much but i do remember when i finally woke up in the hospital i couldnt speak. I understood what everyone was saying to me, i knew what i wanted to say but when i went to say it, nothing would come out. It was very scary and i dont wish it on anyone. Fortunately, my attempt was unsuccessful and i finally found my words again.
Nice nail color 💅🏻
I have known some people that were able to talk again after speech therapy. It can work.
80 percent of what we see is created in the brain 20 percent is input from outside
Does aphasia affect ability to comprehend, or is it only difficulty finding words to communicate?
It's incredible that the brain prioritises language over other skills, because you'd imagine that language would be one of the later skills that humans developed in evolutionary terms.
I just took a class in university about Neurolinguistics. It's actually very complicated.
The verbal content was wonderful. The background music hurt my brain.
It would be really interesting to see an episode devoted to at least 2 of the classical figures in language like Saussure and Peirce. The brain is super interesting but language involves a whole lot more in addition to just the brain. Language is ultimately a *social* phenomenon and it is therefore *socially grounded* . No sign in any language can be interpreted in isolation from the language at large; and because of this figures, like Saussure have called into question the seemingly common sense notion of *reference* . The common sense view that words refer directly to things in the world has been challenged by Saussure and others arguing that meaning is not derived directly from things in the world but from the way that each language imposes its relational system on the continuum of thought. A language can be looked upon as a network whereby each "node" or sign/word in the network *SOLELY* gets its value from how it differentiates itself to other nodes/signs/words/ in the network. In other words, language plays a direct role in how we parse reality.
Many scientists today seem to *believe* ... that consciousness is mere illusion. Well, given the kind of language we always seem to use when we talk about our brains (idiomatic habits like):
1. "your brain is always changing"
2. "your brain activates the fight/flight response"
3. "the brain recognizes patterns"
etc... It's always struck me as sort.. of... I dunno... *weird* that we always talk about our brains in the 2nd person point of view. Why? Am I not my brain? Always talking about our brains in the 2nd person makes it sound like as if I, me - that I'm just this empty fleshy marionette, and my brain (separated from me) is in the back controlling me like a puppeteer. And if I'm just an empty marionette with my brain doing all the controlling, there would appear to be no room for consciousness. I think it's not too far-fetched to say that these people think consciousness is an illusion partly as a side effect from how we use language.
Aww....Legend! I'd recognize those unicorns anywhere.
I was born with dysphasia and I don't know what's the difference between that and aphasia?
They are essentially the same thing
i wonder how sign language fits into this. although sign language has grammar and structure just like spoken language, maybe the fact that, generally speaking, one single sign corresponds to a word/concept might make it easier to comunicate
Major car accident at age 15, brain injury (TBI) primarily to left side of brain plus frontal lobe. Having said that, English has always been my favorite 'toy'. Puns, unexpected correlations between words or concepts. Even consider myself an osteosynchrondroitrician. lol Now at age 75 I find that finding the correct word verbally can at times be a trial yet not as difficult to write the thought. In many cases, verbally or written, the correct word will be in the 'stream' of words I am about to use but at the moment of need it will be gone. Frustrating.
I am wondering if the loss of substantial memory function (it has improved over the 60 years) from the TBI can be having an impact on the word find function.
The brain is fascinating and worthy of much more study. It is said that a majority of the sea floor is unknown, I would say that that knowledge is far greater than what we know of the brain and its subtleties.
I have fibromyalgia and when my pain is high I can't remember how to say words. It's incredibly frustrating. I guess it's like a temporary Broca's aphasia. What's up with that?
I wonder how this relates to second language learners as we store our mother tongue in the long term memory and use it in the pre-frontal cortex
Brain so complex that the brain is trying to understand what's going on with itself. We are doing a meta level of introspection at this point.
The brain is amazing. I wish I had one.
My TBI effected words big time 5 years later when I write I have trouble with simple words 4 letter words that start with w. Like what went with I have trouble spelling them. My spelling over all is still broken. Before the injury I could communicate in half a dozen languages now barely one.
Demi Moore the ABC soap opera General Hospital, playing the role of an investigative reporter until 1983. do you know General Hospital uses the characters on the show that has aphasia. She was married too. Bruce Willis. Are you seeing where this is going to?
Uhh...
❤🤍💙 all your videos mam👍
💡
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
You ladies should do a video about Genie Wiley.
I wonder if things like lion's mane and other fungi said to repair and form new neural pathways would be helpful in treating this. Is anyone doing trials on this?
That's a question worth exploring! My mom retired from a research clinic a few years ago, and is still remembered fondly there, so I might be able to get some answers in a few days.
@@wendychavez5348 I'd love to read anything you come back with!
I tend to think the left brain is dominant for things the subconscious thinks through and the right for what consciousness thinks through.
Sounds like my migraines must travel through brocas area
This video makes me wonder if human intelligence is the product of language
Engagement for the engagement god!
I'm trying to learn more and more about this if anyone has a video with a lot of trauma to the head connected to this please send it.
I imagine is fundamental with anthropology
How old is Dr Tan ? 16 ? He looks so young
OK, what came first Zee or Zed? Since when was it ok to spell a consonant with a different consonant? Zed would be the only consonant spelled with a different consonant.
💖💗💞💝💘💓❣️
Oh frick, I didn't know Bruce's condition was the result of dementia. Wonder how long he has left.
so, in *other words*, the brain is really important for language.
8:49
How do people with different kinds of aphasia handle sign language??
I'm so incredibly surprised this wasn't already in the video
I forgot about singing. And how is writing affected?
Pretty much the same, it turns out. The modality of language, whether signed or spoken (or even written) is similarly affected by damage to the left hemisphere. Sign languages really illustrate how aphasia truly is a language impairment, not just affecting verbal communication or speech sounds! - Dr. B
PS: Part of my answer here is taken from a paragraph spelling this out in the script, but it looks like that didn't make it to the final cut!
language is just mixed vocal body language
Can you get long-lasting aphasia from severe sleep chronic sleep deprivation and/or stress/other areas of poor physical healthcare? I didn't have any particular issues with language that I'm aware of when I was younger, but in the last part of my last year of high school I was incredibly stressed and depressed, had no idea how to eat well, didn't exercise, barely slept, and I developed several issues, some of which went away when I started being healthier and some of which got better but never went away. One of those latter effects is that I struggle a lot to remember words, especially nouns. It results is a noticeably stilted speech pattern. My mum has commented on it, that she noticed I was struggling with language all of a sudden in the last weeks of high school, and that I never fully went back to how fluidly I spoke before. Since then I've had other periods of prolonged significant stress and lack of sleep, and I have developed other issues during those periods. Again, some go away once I get enough sleep, some sick around. One of the things I developed (as far as I know it wasn't present when I was younger) is an audio processing disorder. Do these things count as aphasia? I'm very curious to know more.
Hodor.
Hodor.
are you not in the guild?