SUMMARY

Neurolinguistic
Is the study of the brain mechanisms and anatomical structures that underlie linguistic competence and performance.
The brain Is the most complex organ of the body , controlling motor and sensory activities and thought processes . research conducted for More than a Century has shown that diferent parts of the brain control diferent body functions. The nerve cells that form the surface of the brain are called the cortex ,wich serves as the intellectual decisión maker , receiving messages from the sensory órgans and initiating all voluntary actions .
The brain of all higher animals Is divided into two cerebral hemispheres , wich are conected by the corpus callusum , a network that permits the left and right hemispheres to comunícate .
Each hemisphere exhibits contralateral Control of functions . The left hemisphere control the right side of the body , and the right hemisphere controls the left side.
Language Is lateralized yo the hemisphere , and the left hemisphere appears to be the language hemisphere from infancy on much of the early evidence for language lateralization .
A graeat deal of neurolinguistic research Is centered on experimental and behavioral data from people with impaired or atypical language.
Neurolinguistic studies have found that the way the brain Is organized for language and grammar un the adult Is already reflected in the brains of newborns and young infants .
Infants also show evidence of the many of the neural correlates of lingüístic categoríes that we observe in adults.
While the left hemisphere Is innately predisposed to specialize for language, there Is also evidence of considerable plasticity un the sistem during the early stages of language development . children who undergo a left hemispherectomy experiencie antes initial period of aphasia ,but in certain cases , may reacquire a lingüístic system like that of normal children . The plasticity of the brain decreases with agencia and with the increasing specialization of the diferent hemispheres and regions of the brain.
The critical-age hypothesis states that there Is a Window of opportunity between birth and middle childhood for learning a first language after this period supports the hypothesis .
The language faculty is modular . It is dependent of other cognitive systems with wich it interacts. Evidence for modularity Is found in the selective inpairment of language in aphasia ,in children with specific language impairment In lingüístic savants , and in children who learn language past critical period . The genetics basis for and independent language module Is supported by studies of SLI in families and twins and by studies of genetic anormalies associated with language disorders.