Course code: ##32851 (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin), 16857 (Freie Universität Berlin) Time: Summer term 2021, Mondays 12:15-13:45; start: 19 April 2021 Venue: The lectures and tutorials will be offered via videoconference using Webex and Zoom until further notice. Language has been investigated from a range of perspectives. Linguists have described it as a formal system focusing on levels that range from phonology to syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Both linguists and psychologists worked on models focusing on the time course of linguistic processing, so that these psycholinguistic models could be tested in behavioral experiments. Most recently, neuro- and cognitive scientists have attempted to spell out the brain mechanisms of language in terms of neuronal structure and function. These efforts are founded in neuroscience data about the brain loci that activate when specific linguistic operations occur, the time course of their activation and the effects of specific lesions. The lecture series will provide a broad introduction into these linguistic, psycholinguistic and neurolinguistics research streams and highlight a range of cutting-edge behavioral and neuroscience findings addressing a broad range of linguistic issues, including, for example, the recognition of words, the parsing of sentences, the computation of the meaning and of the communicative function of utterances. Language development and language disorders caused by disease of the brain will also be in the focus. To accommodate language processing, psycho- and neurolinguists make use of theoretical and computational models. The modeling approaches discussed range from theoretical models of the language system to language processing to (neuro-)computationally implemented models. The experimental approaches under discussion will range from behavioral (reaction time studies, eye tracking) to neuroimaging methods (EEG, MEG, fMRI, NIRS) and neuropsychological ones (patient studies, TMS, tDCS). Complementing the lecture series, a tutorial will be offered by Isabella Boux and Daniela Palleschi, each PhD students at the Einstein Center for Neurosciences and the Berlin School of Mind and Brain. The tutorial will deepen the lecture contents, in part by discussing specific relevant articles with theoretical and experimental focus. Together with the lectures, the tutorial will familiarize students with current research (questions) in the field of language and the brain. This lecture series is open to students at the Berlin School of Mind and Brain as well as for students of linguistics at both HU and FU Berlin. Readings (course preparation): Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2013). An introduction to language. Wadsworth: Cengage Learning. Hickok, G., & Small, S. L. (Eds.). (2016). Neurobiology of Language. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Pulvermüller, F., & Fadiga, L. (2016). Brain language mechanisms built on action and perception. In G. Hickok & S. L. Small (Eds.), Neurobiology of language (pp. 311-324). Amsterdam: Elsevier. Pulvermuller, F. (2018). Neural reuse of action perception circuits for language, concepts and communication. Progress in Neurobiology, 160, 1-44. doi: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2017.07.001 Lecture Series Language and the Brain Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Summer Term 2021 Please note: References highlighted by an asterisk (*) are required readings and form, together with the content of the lectures, the basis of the final exam. Additional recommendations for readings are given for interested participants. 01. From Brain Structure to Linguistic Function - 19.4 *Pulvermuller, F. (2002). Neuronal Structure and Function. In The neuroscience of language: on brain circuits of words and serial order (pp. 9–32). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511615528.004 *Pulvermuller, F. (2002). From Classic Aphasia Research to Modern Neuroimaging. In The neuroscience of language: on brain circuits of words and serial order (pp. 33–49). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511615528.005 Schomers, M. R., Garagnani, M., & Pulvermüller, F. (2017). Neurocomputational consequences of evolutionary connectivity changes in perisylvian language cortex. Journal of Neuroscience, 2693-16. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2693-16.2017 (in depth: Pulvermüller, F. (2018). Neural reuse of action perception circuits for language, concepts and communication. Progress in Neurobiology, 160, 1-44: Sections 1 & 2.) 02. Phonetics and phonology - 26.4 *Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2013). An introduction to language. Wadsworth: Cengage Learning (pp. 189–223). Galantucci, B., Fowler, C. A., & Turvey, M. T. (2006). The motor theory of speech perception reviewed. Psychonomic bulletin & review, 13(3), 361-377. (in depth: Pulvermüller, F. (2018). Neural reuse of action perception circuits for language, concepts and communication. Progress in Neurobiology, 160, 1-44, Section 3.1.) 03. Lexical and Semantic Word Categories - 03.5 TBA (Näätänen, Marslen-Wilson) (in depth: Pulvermüller, F. (2018). Neural reuse of action perception circuits for language, concepts and communication. Progress in Neurobiology, 160, 1-44, Section 3.2.) 04. Meaning in mind and brain - 10.5. *Pulvermüller, F. (2013). How neurons make meaning: Brain mechanisms for embodied and abstract-symbolic semantics. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 17(9), 458-470. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2013.06.004 Moseley, R. L., & Pulvermüller, F. (2014). Nouns, verbs, objects, actions, and abstractions: Local fMRI activity indexes semantics, not lexical categories. Brain and Language, 132, 28-42. doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2014.03.001 (in depth: Pulvermüller, F. (2018). Neural reuse of action perception circuits for language, concepts and communication. Progress in Neurobiology, 160, 1-44, Section 3.2.) 05. Constructions and Combinations - 17.5 TBA (Goldberg, Cappelle) 06. Q&A Session I - 31.5 Please send your questions until 18.5.2021! 07.Interplay between Prediction and Integration - 07.6 TVA (Pickering, Grisoni) 08. Speech Acts and Communication - 14.6 *Tomasello, R., Kim, C., Dreyer, F. R., Grisoni, L., & Pulvermüller, F. (2019). Neurophysiological evidence for rapid processing of verbal and gestural information in understanding communicative actions. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 16285. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-52158-w Hagoort, P., & Levinson, S. C. (2014). Neuropragmatics. In M. S. Gazzaniga (Ed.), The cognitive neurosciences (pp. 667-674). Boston, MA: MIT Press. 09. Language Breakdown and Therapy - 21.6 *Blumstein, S. E. (2016). Psycholinguistic approaches to the study of syndromes and symptoms of aphasia. In G. Hickok & S. L. Small (Eds.), Neurobiology of language (pp. 923-933). Amsterdam: Elsevier. Pulvermüller, F., Mohr, B., & Taub, E. (2016). Constraint-induced aphasia therapy: A neuroscience-centered translational method. In G. Hickok & S. L. Small (Eds.), Neurobiology of language (pp. 1025-1034). Amsterdam: Elsevier. 10. Brain Constrained Neural Language Modelling - 28.6 TBA IKriegeskorte) 11. Q&A Session II - 05.7 Please send your questions until 29.6.2021! 12. Final exam - 12.7. close