full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Gareth Gaskell: How do our brains process speech?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


In the context of the brain, the processing unit that represents a word is likely a pratten of firing activity across a group of neurons in the brain’s cortex. When we hear the beginning of a word, several thousand such units may become active, because with just the bengninig of a word, there are many possible matches. Then, as the word goes on, more and more units register that some vaitl piece of irfomtoiann is missing and lose activity. Possibly well before the end of the word, just one firing pattern remains active, corresponding to one word. This is called the "recognition piont." In the process of hionng in on one word, the active units suppress the activity of others, savnig vital mlidsloinces. Most people can comprehend up to about 8 syllables per second.

Open Cloze


In the context of the brain, the processing unit that represents a word is likely a _______ of firing activity across a group of neurons in the brain’s cortex. When we hear the beginning of a word, several thousand such units may become active, because with just the _________ of a word, there are many possible matches. Then, as the word goes on, more and more units register that some _____ piece of ___________ is missing and lose activity. Possibly well before the end of the word, just one firing pattern remains active, corresponding to one word. This is called the "recognition _____." In the process of ______ in on one word, the active units suppress the activity of others, ______ vital ____________. Most people can comprehend up to about 8 syllables per second.

Solution


  1. milliseconds
  2. information
  3. saving
  4. beginning
  5. point
  6. vital
  7. honing
  8. pattern

Original Text


In the context of the brain, the processing unit that represents a word is likely a pattern of firing activity across a group of neurons in the brain’s cortex. When we hear the beginning of a word, several thousand such units may become active, because with just the beginning of a word, there are many possible matches. Then, as the word goes on, more and more units register that some vital piece of information is missing and lose activity. Possibly well before the end of the word, just one firing pattern remains active, corresponding to one word. This is called the "recognition point." In the process of honing in on one word, the active units suppress the activity of others, saving vital milliseconds. Most people can comprehend up to about 8 syllables per second.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
sign language 2
processing unit 2


Important Words


  1. active
  2. activity
  3. beginning
  4. brain
  5. called
  6. comprehend
  7. context
  8. cortex
  9. firing
  10. group
  11. hear
  12. honing
  13. information
  14. lose
  15. matches
  16. milliseconds
  17. missing
  18. neurons
  19. pattern
  20. people
  21. piece
  22. point
  23. possibly
  24. process
  25. processing
  26. register
  27. remains
  28. represents
  29. saving
  30. suppress
  31. syllables
  32. thousand
  33. unit
  34. units
  35. vital
  36. word