Language
Language is a paradigmatic topic for Mind and Brain studies at the crossroads of the cultural and social sciences, structural linguistics, behavioral studies, philosophy, and the neurosciences. Today, the application of neurobiological methods to language research has become a standard practice featuring EEG/ERP/MEG-studies of temporal dynamics as well as high-spatial resolution fMRI studies. However, there is a substantial gap between the fine-grained linguistic theories of complex and diverse language phenomena on the one hand and current neurobiological insights on the other.
The – admittedly challenging – overall aim of the language related studies within the Berlin School of Mind and Brain is to analyze and systematically describe the cognitive and neurobiological correlates of the linguistic subsystems with the objective of reconsidering the concept of modularity in its present form. The integration of philosophers of language will help in conceptualizing fundamental aspects of language research, and will allow students and researchers to interact and consequently learn from venturesome challenges to some of the implicit assumptions of neurobiologically based language research.
Language research in the Berlin/Leipzig/Potsdam region
The Berlin/Leipzig/Potsdam region harbors a substantial collection of research groups and facilities in the fields of both theoretical and experimental linguistics. There are active groups in the fields of reading and language comprehension, information structure, language acquisition and development. The reading and comprehension projects analyze and model the cognitive mechanisms of perception and intake of visual and auditory linguistic signals, the retrieval of information from the mental lexicon, the extraction of syntactic and semantic information, and their development. The cluster of research projects on information structure analyzes and describes the principles governing the linguistic forms that indicate how an utterance is related to the discourse structure and other contextual factors. The initiative on language acquisition investigates the cognitive prerequisites and processes that are specific for the human language faculty.
All projects are staffed with experts in neuroscience, linguistics, and cognitive psychology. These groups work closely together, thus several interdisciplinary and intercity research clusters have been established (e.g. the Interdisciplinary Center for Meaning in Language, the Collaborative Research Center on Information Structure, or the European project on Universal and Specific Properties of a Uniquely Human Competence). In addition, these larger projects are complemented by a plentitude of bilateral collaborations.
Special Newsletter issue on language research
(download in section Newsletter)
Key publications on this topic:
Friederici A.D. (2005)
Neurophysiological markers of early language acquisition: From syllables to sentences. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 9:481-488.
Jacobs A.M., Graf R., Kinder A. (2003)
Receiver Operating Characteristics in the Lexical Decision Task: Evidence for a Single Signal Detection Process Simulated by the Multiple Read-Out Model. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition 29:481-488.
Klein W. (2006)
On Finiteness. In: Van Gussenhoven, V. (ed.) Semantics meets acquisition. Dordrecht: Kluwe,. 147-182.
Kliegl R., Nuthmann A., Engbert R. (2006)
Tracking the mind during reading: The influence of past, present, and future words on fixation durations. Journal of Experimental Psychology General 135:12-35.
Krifka M. (2006)
Approximate interpretation of number words. A case for strategic communication. In: Vogel, I, Zwarts, J.(eds.). Cognitive foundations of communication, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschapen, Amsterdam.
Müller O. (1998)
Does the Quine-Duhem Thesis Prevent us from Defining Analyticity? On Fallacy in Quine. Erkenntnis 48:81-99.
van der Meer E., Beyer R., Heinze B., Badel I. (2002)
Temporal Order in Language Comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, Cognition 28:770-779.
Van Nice K.Y., Dietrich R. (2003)
Task-sensitivity of animacy effects: Evidence from German picture descriptions. Linguistics 41-5:825-849.
Wartenburger I., Heekeren H.R., Abutalebi J., Cappa S.F., Villringer A., Perani D. (2003)
Early Setting of Grammatical Processing in the Bilingual Brain. Neuron 37:159-70.
