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12
Introduction
Human language processing can be viewed as human processing
of
information. With the concepts of processing of options, a
program, and
a processing system being necessary for any consideration of
information
processing phenomena, the use of terminology associated with
computer
science should not be understood as an attempt to draw close
an
analogy, as natural language remains a scope of skill unmatched
by
artificial intelligence. Therefore, human neurophysiology shall
be the
primary area of reference for the following discussion of the
role of
feedback in language behavior.
Live organisms have been observed to use DNA-encoded endowment
for
growth and sustention (Young, 1984). This genetic code has
been
compared to a program, where a program may be understood as
a
systematic plan for an automatic solution of a problem
(Webster's
Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language,
1989).
Further, biological organisms can be posited to depend for
activity on
development, renewal, and maintenance of own internal
structures
(Young, 1984). Thus, the term problem as in the hitherto
definition of a
program might be comprehended primarily as the task of
homeostasis
uphold to require substance selection and exchange within an
environment.
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13
The systemic selection and exchange to concern the single cell
as well as
entire complex structures such as human beings, a biological
program
may be exemplified by a DNA pattern for active protein
production.
Importantly, even basic programs of cellular activity can be
claimed to
rely on feedback for execution (Vander et al., 1985), feedback
to be
defined here as returning of part the output of a system to be
reintroduced
as input (Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the
English
Language, 1989).
Positive and negative feedback cycles have been recognized,
where the
former, also known as regenerative feedback, aids the input,
whereas the
latter opposes it, hence the alternate term inverse feedback.
As
elementary cellular functioning accrues into schemata that allow
learned
behaviors, total and integrated patterns of human activity can
be argued
to build on feedback for their formation, effectuation, and
permanence.
The role of feedback in controlling automatic operations was
promoted by
Norbert Wiener, who insisted that the concept of a feedback
process
might be applied in neuroscience. Within the perspective,
feedback
performance can be understood as a closed-loop effectiveness
over open-
loop sequences (Puppel, 1988, 1996). The effectiveness would be
of
relevance to natural language, in the working of the human
nervous
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14
system. Therefore, the system shall be explored for feedback
phenomena
in cellular, intercellular, as well as interschematic
scopes.
For a competent insight into natural language, the inquiry shall
include
human communication as an interplay of aspects of
intra-individual as
well as inter-individual valence. Psycholinguistics to
constitute the
framework for the intended quest, feedback reliance shall be
examined in
language acquisition, use, and deficit. A principled occurrence
to become
affirmed in neurophysiological as well as psychological
dimensions of
human existence, human dependence on feedback functions can
be
acknowledged as approximate to a drive, the relevant instinct
being that
for self-preservation. In this view to human information
processing,
feedback would have the role of an initiating, mediating, and
modeling
factor.
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15
Chapter One
Neurophysiology of feedback
A perspective to human language processing as human processing
of
information requires congruity with regard to the terms of a
processing
system, processing of options, a program, information pool,
signal
specificity, and use of feedback. The human nervous system to be
the
information processing structure, this structure shall be
explored
beginning with the single cell, and ending with the
intricate
connectedness of the human brain. Coherence averred in the
above
terms, regularity in feedback reliance shall be assessed for a
principled
phenomenon.
1. Feedback-mediated phenomena at the cellular level of
human
neural structures
Positive and negative feedback processes have been evidenced in
human
nervous systems already at the level of the single cell during
electric
potential change. As within the ionic hypothesis by A. L.
Hodgkin and A.
F. Huxley, action potential generation exemplifies positive
feedback, in
the depolarizing phase (Vander et al., 1985). Alternately, the
active
transport system to provide for relative intracellular stability
would work
on negative feedback.
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16
The basic level of the nervous system organization, cellular
activity
deserves acknowledgement in functions as advanced as
language.
Individual cells are indispensable to the nervous system as
elemental
components. Higher processing variables, to be inclusive of
speech and
language, need the deterministic manner of neural network
effectuation,
neural networks to build on individually synapsing nerve
cells.
Though an individual signal from a single cell is more than
likely to fall
within the systemic allowance for error, human language
functions can
be viewed as using processing of options, an action potential to
be a
brief, all-or-none reversal in neuron polarity (Vander et al.,
1985).
Perceivable language capacities not to have required action
potentials
never have been averred for humans, saltatory conduction to
belong with
combined synaptic effects.
M. Coles as well as P. Duncan-Jones (in Ciarkowska, 1993)
stipulated for
functional aspects of biological activity to correspond for
lower as well as
higher levels of the human internal hierarchy. In keeping with
the
position, feedback reliance should hold true for the lowest as
well as the
highest biological levels for natural language, that is, for a
single neuron
as well as the language capable network schemata in the
brain.
Feedback phenomena at the cellular level would belong with
biological
effects, the same as active protein DNA programs, for
example.
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17
2. Intercellular communication: the spatio-temporal aspects
of
language processing
A single neuron may link with thousands of synapses. Signals
are
initiated by joined synaptic activity and launched mostly in
series.
Regarding the natural neural diversity and specialization, the
spatial
arrangement of synapses or cell receptors might be stated
essential to
human information processing, neuron particular sites further to
exhibit
varied thresholds. Second messenger extrasynaptic interaction
also is
known to take place in some areas of high-density unmyelinated
brain
processes, spatial adjacency thus affecting neural
conveyance.
Flexibility as already in the single cell permits a multiplicity
of responses,
dependent on neural signal type, as well as occurrence. The
temporal
closure on interneural communication cannot be disregarded,
inhibitory
and excitatory signals summating spatially as well as temporally
(Vander
et al., 1985). The time interval must constitute a predictable
and
henceforth meaningful variable in the neural transmission for
language.
These are the grounds to posit for the actual outcome of
neural
correlativity to represent a biological function of space as
well as time to
an extent greater than that allowed by the theories of extrinsic
timing (in
Puppel, 1988).
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18
The theories approve of the temporal aspect, yet as extrinsic to
the
speech plan, the temporal closure to be set on phonetic segments
in the
speech act implementation phase. A major argument to the
contrary may
come with the property of the nervous system constantly to
show
actuation that is part preparatory in nature, diagnostic
techniques as
PET-scan or MRI to specialize in discernment of the degree of
cellular
engagement, and not detection of activity as such. Continual
actuation
pertains with any live cell.
Neurons not participating in a specific speech plan cannot be
thought
inactive, their resting state to rely on a dynamic balance
between the cell
interior and exterior: even action potentials become generated
during the
preparatory activity. The neural summation necessary for any
speech act
would depend on feedback as a phenomenon to require a specific
time
closure for operativeness.
Psycholinguistics tends to view meaning as a real-time
process
(Burkhanov, 1998). Further rationale to the perspective may be
sought in
derivative transformations of generative phonology (Jassem,
1987). Since
the outcome of excitation as in an isolated cell may be
predicted only in
terms of statistics, these would be indeed the spatial
arrangement of
neurons as well as the temporal closure on neural response to
account
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19
for the necessary reliability of the neural communication to
conciliate
human formulation of meaning.
3. Inner dynamics at the systemic level of human internal
organization
Correlating neural units accrue into schemata and networks.
Schemata
can form speech sound representations, neural networks to be
essential
in speech plans (Puppel, 1992). As already emphasized, the
activity is
part preparatory and is not bound to result in command
execution; the
factor contributes to the difficulty in detecting the exact
relationship
between neural actuation and motor behavior (Vander et al.,
1985). The
neural determinism necessary for speaking and writing requires
dynamic
inner functioning.
Human language capabilities do not rely on unequivocally a
neural
hierarchy. The neocortex is the tissue of the highest intricacy.
However,
it is the brainstem reticular formation to mediate long-distance
neural
connections, in skill elaborating as well as use. The formation
employs
multisynaptic pathways. Reticular projections influence the
nervous
system at all levels. The brainstem has been indicated for
neural
information processing by ten of the twelve cranial nerves; it
coordinates
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20
eye-movement control, cardiovascular and respiratory
performance, the
neural patterns for sleep, as well as wakefulness and focused
behavior
(ibidem).
Along with relevant cranial nerves, the brainstem helps shape
phonation
and visual language processing. On the other hand, cortical
actuation
can alter the heart rate, blood pressure, or skin conductance,
the very
reticular formation to convey a considerable proportion of the
cortical
impulses to the autonomic level of the human internal structure.
With
focus to language, autonomic activity is prominent in the
skeletal and
smooth muscle contribution to breathing, or pupillary
response.
John I. Lacey's experiments on situational stereotypies in
environment
intake or rejection (in Ciarkowska, 1993) were to examine
the
relationship between the higher and lower levels of the human
nervous
system. Lacey observed cortical activity to influence cardiac
output. He
attributed the effect not only to individual assessment of the
concurrent
experimental context, but also to the anticipatory interworking
on the
expected course of events. Implying a pattern of reaction wider
than
direct response, he explained the influence of intellective
faculties over
autonomic lifework with afferent feedback.
Engel, Malmo and Shagass (in Ciarkowska, 1993) proceeded further
with
the notion of psychosomatic variance and proposed the term of
an
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21
individual stereotypy, to connote individual-specific patterns
for human
neurophysiological response. The researchers stated their
unique
variables corresponded with psychological tasks, which would
evidence a
learned factor to autonomic functioning. Autonomic effectiveness
is
supposed mostly reflex. The stereotypy inner dynamics thus
would
require insight into neural path negotiability.
4. Multicellular path functioning: a reflex arc
In the most restricted sense, reflexes are automatic and
undeliberated
behaviors. The typical constituents of a reflex arc are the
receptor, the
afferent pathway, an integrating center, the efferent pathway
and the
effector. Neurophysiological research yet would suggest that
"most
reflexes, no matter how basic they may appear to be, are subject
to
alteration by learning; that is, there is often no clear
distinction between
a basic reflex and one with a learned component" (Vander et al.,
1985).
A sample reflex arc may involve a stimulus to nerve A looped via
the
brain to nerve B. Nerve B may synapse on endocrine gland B1. The
gland
having secreted its hormone, gland C may become stimulated
to
communicate with a muscle by means of a yet another
messenger,
chemical C1, for example. However, it is often difficult to
apply standard
names to arc components. Beside the reflex arc noted
structural
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22
diversity, neurochemicals of reflex productiveness have a
potential for
multiple performance.
Messengers can act as neurotransmitters when released from
neuron
terminals, as hormones or neurohormones when acting via the
bloodstream, and as paracrines or even autocrines. Vasopressin
may
serve for an example of a multifunctional messenger. A
vasoconstrictor in
homeostatic controls, vasopressin may be released upon change
in
peripheral blood vessel resistance. Connoted with response to
stress, it
has been found to influence learning and memory also in contexts
not
accompanied by psychological pressure (ibidem).
This would be the natural neural flexibility to allow the
merging of
autonomic and learned patterns, as of individual and
situational
stereotypy. The question to arise is whether voluntary conduct
might
incorporate reflex actuation.
5. Reflex and voluntary behavior
Exactness in the use of the term voluntary with regard to
live
structures, man included, has been disputed. Esteeming skill
and
quality, most human behavior would belong somewhere in a
continuum
between the voluntary and the involuntary, rather than within
clearly
defined boundaries of consciously actualized intention (Vander
et al.,
1985).
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23
Walking, for example, compels co-exercise of muscle structures
to rely on
networks of interneurons. The networks operate on neural
information
pools by spinal motor neurons at the local level. Interneurons
may work
as signal changers between afferent and efferent terminals
(ibidem).
The same interneurons may operate on descending command and
participate in local reflexes. A motor pattern change to follow
local
information is mostly reflex. Locomotion generally contributes
to
cognitive mapping and language.
The working of the corticospinal and brainstem paths to descend
on local
interneural processing remains mostly outside perception or
conscious
determination. The former connectivity type part manages the
fine
movement in the hand; the latter is essential for positioning
and
movement of the head, especially in response to particular,
individually
relevant phenomena (ibidem). Not only writing, also the fine
motor
behavior of speech acts, though premised to belong with
volition, uses a
substantial amount of established neural patterns.
At the segmental level, both speech production and perception
rely on
language routines not to need much focus to the fine motor
detail, unless
a disturbance should occur. Antagonistic muscle inhibition as
governed
by elementary neural formations supports the premise (Puppel,
1988).
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24
An outline on motor pattern establishment may broaden the view
to
intended movement in human behavior. Relevant motor patterns
require
relevant neural patterns, generally (Vander et al., 1985). A
prospect to
feedback phenomena and speech would even allow the term of
neuro-
motor-articulatory mastery (Puppel, 1992).
6. Establishment of relevant neural patterns
Already at the pattern formative stage, volitional practice
cannot be
labeled as opposed to, or independent of reflex activity. There
is no clear
borderline, on neurophysiological as well as functional grounds,
between
learned and acquired behaviors, that to include speech patterns.
The
operative details of the complex neural loops to mediate motor
behavior
as well as the neural network hidden layers for pattern forming
may
never become uniformly recognized. Some hypotheses concerning
the
mechanisms for motor pattern founding yet have been developed
(Vander
et al., 1985).
First and foremost, frequency of pattern use has been named a
most
important factor to alter the number or effectiveness of
synapses between
relevant neurons (ibidem). Early stages of motor pattern
formation do
heavily depend on sensory feedback for guidance. Repetitiveness
to
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25
encourage the new synaptic use, dependence on feedback
gradually
decreases, to allow greater speed and efficiency. For
multisyllabic words,
for example, skilled movement allows less focus to
articulation.
However much dependence on feedback may diminish with
neuro-motor-
articulatory refinement, the influence never ceases fully. Even
for
established patterns, there remains a comprehensive capacity or
even
demand for multiple inner feedback. Muscles remain under
constant
monitoring, some of the synaptic inputs to be originated not by
the
descending pathways, but by neurons at the same level of the
nervous
system (Puppel, 1992).
Local receptors monitor muscle length and tonus, to model the
muscle
local feedback. The information is transmitted to the basal
ganglia, the
cerebellum, cerebral motor areas, and integrated with the
cortical
processes that allow comparison with the goal or idea forming
function
for the underlying thought. The sustained inner feedback would
have an
error detecting role: the cortex feeds back with the
articulators and may
command change to an ongoing neuro-motor-articulatory
sequence
(Puppel, 1992, 1994).
The sustained inner feedback would serve not only error
detection. It
would also help feedforward, the anticipatory sequencing within
neuro-
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26
motor-articulatory planning (Puppel, 1992). Established neural
patterns
for speech and language may compare with programs, in their
working
as open-loop sequences. The working can be evidenced for the
segmental
level of natural language, and further compare with reflex
behavior. This
would be the feedforward to allow that speech segments become
pre-
planned, mostly in syllabic scopes, for the articulators to
produce smooth
utterances.
Unlike in autonomic neural activity, speech and language motor
patterns
belong with intended muscle movement. Governed by the central
nervous
system, they require goal-oriented behavior. Another role of
the
sustained inner feedback is pattern verification and potential
for change.
Even well established language patterns can change, with
conscious
exercise. The volitional, CNS abilities are naturally integrated
with
neurophysiological compensation, which supplements the
flexibility.
7. Neurophysiological compensation
The number or variety of neural patterns increases with ascent
in
individual hierarchies for refinement, humans to enhance own
processing capacities along the dimensions of own information
flows.
Neural schemata networking augments individual abilities, and
can
contribute to neurophysiological compensation.
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27
Postural control matters in speaking, writing, as well as
listening or
reading. Kinesthetic and proprioceptive inputs form only part
the
information for the central monitoring structures. Whenever the
intra-
modal adjustability, a feedback-mediated prerogative, fails to
compensate
deficit, the feedback faculties elaborate on paralleled inputs.
Distortions
to proprioceptive or kinesthetic modalities thus tend to result
in
promoted reliance on visual inputs, while limitation to the
visual
modality impels increased attention to tactile, auditory,
kinesthetic, and
proprioceptive types of information. Auricular obstruction
encourages
focus to tactile and visual variables. Compensatory phenomena
are not
exclusive of language.
Intra-modal adjustability may show in a persons raising his or
her voice
to speak, even if wearing headphones consciously. The elevated
auditory
feedback is to help verify the spoken performance, though own
speech
patterns belong with established scopes. The compensation is
part
instinctive, yet it allows moderation by the cortical levels:
aware, persons
may learn to keep own voices down. Feedback capacities thus can
work
with the ideational levels for speech and language, though
relatively less
is known about the details of their operation (Puppel, 1994).
Human
nervous systems thus would favor pools of inner feedback to
accompany
most neural activity (Vander et al., 1985). A pool model for
human
internal balance can be considered.
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28
8. The pool model for preservation of internal balance
Homeostasis is the relative inner biochemical equilibrium all
live
organisms tend to protect. The inner condition reflects on the
total
biochemical gain and loss between the organism and the
environment,
inclusive of intra-systemic inputs. In humans, the homeostatic
operating
point is a spectrum of variables to result from the general
outcome and
status of the biochemical interchange, also to be termed the
homeostatic
pool (Vander et al., 1985).
Human homeostasis works mostly on negative feedback. In
thermoregulation for example, both increase and decrease in
body
temperature would result in neurophysiological activity to
counter
change. Homeostatic feedforward would anticipate body
temperature, the
thermo-sensitive nerve ends inside the body to sustain a
discrepancy
with receptors in the skin. Most feedforwad would result from
learning,
humans also to be capable of a degree of climatic
adaptation.
Homeostatic operative values never balance error signals fully.
The
difference is to allow a sustained receptor activity
(ibidem).
Inner biochemical equilibrium can influence perceptual and
cognitive
faculties directly, as showing in distortions caused by illness
or extrinsic
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29
factor presence. Experiments with sensory deprivation (Lindsay
and
Norman, 1991) would advocate a psychological inquiry into the
pool
model for undisturbed persons. Healthy and otherwise
unimpeded
volunteers exhibited perceptual distortions when limited on
own
peripheral inputs, low-level unvaried stimulation to prove even
more
hallucinogenic than deprivation alone. All volunteers withdrew
from the
experiments, despite financial offers (ibidem).
Within the pool model, the distortions resulted from a
difficulty by the
nervous system to sustain the spectrum of the operating point
wide
enough for neural controls to work. Sensory deprivation as well
as
continued unvaried stimulation would result in receptor
reactivity
lowering, which would be interpreted for a response within a
system to
operate a spectrum for a threshold. Feedback capacities would
be
indispensable for a supported threshold reference in the nervous
system
to regenerate homeostasis.
All volunteers having regained balance (ibidem), individual
self-
sustainment would make it imperative for the inner structure to
work on
biological information pools and feed back on spectra of
biological
variables: not even financial offers encouraged further
participation.
Human brainwork and signal specificity come to the foreground,
as
regards inner balance and language.
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30
9. Signal specificity and the human brain
Human brains are capable of managing spectra as well as
individual,
very specific variables. Phylogenetically distinctive in
regions, brains can
form labile neural networks. A distortion to a constituent of a
labile
formation may result in a spectrum for a response. On the other
hand,
cerebral communication has a significant complementary
potential; the
brain can replace or even void individual, defective variables
(Styczek,
1983).
Intracerebral consolidation becomes possible with neural
radiations and
projection fibers. Three basic types of fiber tracts are most
recognized for
the integrative work. Associative connectivities communicate
areas
within the same hemisphere; projection processes link the cortex
with
the brainstem, the basal ganglia, the cerebellum, and the spinal
cord,
while transverse fibers intercommunicate the hemispheres, the
corpus
callosum making the most recognized connective (Akmajian et al.,
1984).
The aforesaid brainstem reticulate structure consolidates an
interplay of
several neural subsystems, allowing convergence of descending,
local,
and ascending pathways. Brainstem paths participate in neural
network
learning generally, the reticular formation to mediate also
the
neuromodulation for states of consciousness. Another prominent
center
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31
for cortical and subcortical inputs coordination is the thalamus
to
produce the wavelike, rhythmical oscillations in brain activity
as
perceived in EEG patterns (Vander et al., 1985). Thalamic
function is
significant in variable isolation and analysis.
The cerebellum feeds back with brainstem nuclei as well as
the
neocortex, integrating vestibular information from the ears,
eyes,
muscles, and skin. Cerebellar memory may provide feedforward
in
movement planning and refinement, as well as assist
comparison
between intended and actualized motor sequences (ibidem).
Timing
signals for the neocortex and spinal generators, cerebellar
inputs are
highly specific.
For areas most widely associated with speech, the Broca is
located in the
frontal lobe, adjacent to the motor strip; it is believed to
work in motor
program choice for speech production. The Wernicke area is
located in
the temporal lobe and participates in the underlying language
structure
formation. The occipital regions to bring sense data from the
primary
visual cortex for the written, and the temporal structures to
provide the
primary auditory data for acoustic forms of language, the
parietal tissue
harmonizes the primary variables, speech potentially to engage
trace
visual representations for lexical items, and written text to
have the
power of invoking trace auditory forms.
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32
Primary receptive areas of the brain neighbor on the gnostic or
secondary
areas to enhance signal interpretation. This is most probably
the
dominant gnostic or secondary auditory area to have the
neural
structures for the acoustic trace forms the Wernicke area can
construe
(Styczek, 1983). The capacity for signal reprocessing would be
the
phonetic buffer as in Puppel (1998), or the echo box as in
Lindsay and
Norman (1991). Managing auditory information pools is vital
in
comprehending spoken discourse.
The frontal lobes as of the forehead, though reasoned not to
have been
phylogenetically differentiated primarily for language, are
vital in goal
and idea formation and thus recognition. Frontal association
areas have
fibers from the parietal and temporal tissues; they also connect
to the
limbic system. The function helps compare sense data from
various
modalities, and contributes to memory, attention, and language
(Vander
et al., 1985).
Neural specificity for speech and goal-oriented behavior is
encouraged by
cranial nerves. The nerves can be classed with concern to
immediacy of
effect on spoken discourse (Styczek, 1983). Seven, namely the
trigeminal,
glossopharyngeal, hypoglossal, facial, auditory or
vestibulocochlear,
accessory, and vagus fibers take part in shaping speech
production
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33
directly. The four other, the optic, oculomotor, trochlear, and
abducens
pairs sustain a less straightforward, yet influence. The
trigeminal, facial,
glossopharyngeal, vagus, abducens, and trochlear nerves consist
of both
motor and sensory fibers, thus qualifying for feedback
connectivities
thoroughly (Vander et al., 1985).
As a closed-loop effectiveness, feedback is part any speech act.
Two basic
types of feedback can be recognized to secure the course,
the
interoceptive and exteroceptive modalities. The interoceptive
loops would
work for tactile, as well as proprioceptive and kinesthetic
information, of
also cognitive mapping valence. The exteroceptive loops would
process
mostly auditory and visual inputs. The monitoring capabilities
are part
reflex and do not become inactive for mental language
processing.
Significantly, language activity constitutes the strongest
single factor to
integrate the functioning of the entire brain.
There is no manner or method strictly to delimit the neural
paths to work
in language production from those to participate in language
perception
or mental processing (Vander et al., 1985). Standard language
use
requires medically unaltered consciousness, as well as
operating
grammatical scopes, simultaneously with variables of cognitive
validity.
Processing of speech and language information thus would involve
inputs
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34
on all available sensory modalities, along with specifics from
the
sophisticated neural network schemata for intellectual
performance. In
the light, a notion of a human language faculty is proposed to
embrace
human neurophysiological capacity for linguistic elaboration.
The term
becomes necessary with regard to the limitations a view to
Wernicke or
Broca areas exclusively would bring.
Interoceptive or exteroceptive feedback are only classes in
which to
organize observations on the senses, palpation to belong
with
exteroception. Also a dual model may represent feedback in
conversational contexts. The feedback loops are not visualized
according
to their interoceptive or exteroceptive nature, but thinking
about their
egocentric or environmental orientation. The egocentric loop
would
represent human self-monitoring capacities, the environmental
loop to
symbolize exchange within an environment.
Figure 1. The generalized dual-loop feedback model for
language
processing in conversational exchange.
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35
Intra-personally as well inter-personally, the notion of a
feedback loop
cannot be comprehended for parallel with that of a closed
circuit or mere
reiteration of instructions. The self-oriented loop in human
speech can
be thought to consist of the articulators, the speech sound
medium, the
ear, the primary auditory cortex, and the secondary areas to
reiterate
signal, yet before its further elaboration by the brain. In a
conversational
context, the environmental loop may stand for linguistic
interaction,
without which contemporaneous verbal behavior would be that
of
monologuing individuals.
Feedback performance in language thus would be a biological
and
psychological factor, rather than a physical process for control
of
automatic workings. Along the inquiry, feedback phenomena have
been
found in the single neuron, as well as language capable
network
schemata in the brain, auditory compensation to evidence
connected
feedback abilities.
10. Conclusions
Natural language is a prerequirement for teaching or learning
any
scholarly skill. Human linguistic, as well as scientific and
logical
competences cannot become of performance in detachment from
the
nervous system. Positioning of natural language within an
information
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36
processing perspective to solicit a processing structure, the
human
nervous system meets the expectation in everyday practice.
Further
important aspects of information processing are those of
processing of
options, an information pool, a program, signal specificity, and
use of
feedback.
The all-or-none cellular actuation is an option. However, the
neural
activity for speech and language is compound, action or graded
potential.
Language as a coordinated nerve, muscle, and cognitive scope
thus uses
options, yet it motivates a pool model for language information,
speech
and language observably not to be option-ridden. The nervous
system
ignores singular action potentials by a biological default;
individual
neurons are not predetermined to produce signals, isolated cell
incitation
to have given inconclusive results (Vander et al., 1985).
In management of information pools, human brains are
genetically
predisposed for language. However, particular language uses are
not
prescribed by DNA programs, humans of various origins to remain
able
to learn languages as well as language structures and styles of
choice.
Closed-loop, feedback phenomena are part every neuro-motor-
articulatory pattern build. The resultant open-loop sequences
can
compare with programs, yet remain limited to the segmental level
of
speech and language.
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37
In a basic sense, signal specificity can be observed in speech
sound or
letter shape forming and perceiving. In a broad sense,
linguistic
specificity can help view feedback as an initially biological
phenomenon
functionally to expand into inner or interpersonal
communication.
Feedback can be found in cellular as well as systemic
functioning by
principle. The present quest along the human internal hierarchy
began
with the single cell and concluded with the brain, as the
highest level for
internal equilibrium. Not only cellular functioning would be
impossible
without a feedback process. A frame for relatively autonomous
organ
subsets in the linguistically variform earthly environment, the
human
bodily makeup uses feedback to build and model neural patterns
for
language generally.
Conformity with regard to the postulations of a processing
system, use of
options, information pools, programs, as well as signal
specificity and
feedback function having been achieved, differences between
humans
and artificial intelligence deserve emphasis, particularly on
the
proportion as well as nature of option or program use. The
subsequent
chapter brings a discussion of the role of feedback in language
learning.