COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE OF LANGUAGE

Kyrana Tsapkini, Ph.D.

Research Center

Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal

Université de Montréal

Canada

The timecourse of lexical access: Brain and behavioral correlates

The emphasis is on the ways that the psycholinguistic literature on lexical access comes to terms with recent electrophysiological and imaging data in order to construct a holistic picture on the way(s) that words are accessed and represented in the brain. The influence of orthographic, phonological, syntactic, semantic and morphological parameters during the timecourse of lexical access will be discussed with respect to brain activation.

Language and brain connectivity

Theories of cerebral localization of language are discussed in the light of different neuroimaging techniques. The focus is on whether and to what extent neuroimaging techniques such as, PET, fMRI, MEG, and ERPs can provide answers to questions on language (representation? and) organization in the brain, especially in relation to issues of category-, task- and modality-specificity.

Brain plasticity and language: Evidence from normal aging and aphasia

a) Basic concepts, normal and pathological brain

b) Brain plasticity in relation to recovery of function in aphasia: Parallelisms and divergences.

Language in relation to other cognitive domains

The interface between language and other cognitive functions such as attention and working memory: Brain and behavioral correlates

Readings

Feldman, L.B. (2000). Are morphological effects distinguishable from the effects of shared meaning and shared form? JEP: LMC, 26, 1431-44.

Fiebach, C.J., Friederici, A.D., Muller, K., & von Cramon, D.Y. (2002). fMRI Evidence for Dual Routes to the Mental Lexicon in Visual Word Recognition. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14, 11-23.

Friederici, A.D., Steinhauer, K., & Frisch, S. (1999). Lexical integration: sequential effects of syntactic and semantic information. Memory and Cognition, 27, 483-53.

Kandel, E.R., Schwartz, JH, & Jessell, T.M. (eds). (1995). Principles of neural science and behavior. Norwalk, CT: Appleton & Lange. Chapter 54.

Kandel, E.R., Schwartz, JH, & Jessell, T.M. (eds). (1991). Essentials of neural science and behavior. Norwalk, CT: Appleton & Lange. Chapter 54.Chapters 1, 19.

Kolb, B. (1995) Brain plasticity and behavior. Mahwah, NJ: LEA. Chapters 1, 2, 3.

Musso M, Weiller C, Kiebel S, Muller SP, Bulau P, Rijntjes M. (1999). Training-induced brain plasticity in aphasia. Brain, 122, 1781-90.

Posner, M.I., & Raichle, M.E. (1997). Images of mind. Scientific American Library. Chapters 5, 6.

Pulvermuller, F. (1999). Words in the brain's language. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 280-336.

Rapp, B. (Ed). (2001). The Handbook of Cognitive Neuropsychology. Psychology Press. Chapters 8,9,10,11.

Stemmer, B., & Whitaker, H. A. (Eds.). (1998). Handbook of neurolinguistics. New York: Academic Press. Chapters 5, 8, 9, 18, 19, 26, 30, 39, 40.

Toga, A.W., & Mazziotta, J.C. (2000). Brain mapping: The Systems. Chapters 4, 14.