A new study on the brain is shedding light on how humans process language. The research, being carried out in San Diego, Boston and New York is helping scientists understand a part of the brain known as Broca's area. The study shows that the brain is more complex than scientists had realized.
This is an X-ray showing electrodes that surgeons use to find and remove the source of seizures (to cure epilepsy), while sparing the source of mental functions like language. In this study, recordings when patients spoke words revealed that one small part of the brain computes the meanings, structure, and sounds of words, separately and in a quick sequence. It is important to note that electrodes are only implanted in people's brains as part of existing and accepted surgical practice. We then get patients' consent to also record from these electrodes for research purposes. Electrodes are never implanted just for research. This image relates to an article that appeared in the October 16, 2009, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The study, by Dr. N.T. Sahin of the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, Calif., and colleagues, was titled, "Sequential Processing of Lexical, Grammatical, and Phonological Information within Broca's Area."
The medical center at New York University is one of the clinical sites for the study.
Denise Harris, 39, is helping researchers gain a better understanding of the brain. She suffers from epilepsy, and doctors are monitoring her seizures in the hope of performing an operation to minimize them. Her head is bandaged. Wires protruding from the side are attached to electrodes implanted in her brain. Harris says doctors are monitoring her to see whether she is a good candidate for surgery.
"I've been on many medications throughout my life and after a while, they don't work," she said. "I still get seizures. So now, when they remove the part that the seizure is triggered from, it's supposed to stop."
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