brain drops

Ph.D. student position / eye-hand coordination

2012-01-18T21:06:00.002+01:00

The IfADo - Leibniz Institute for Work Environment and Human Factors in Dortmund offers a 3-yrs. position for a

Ph.D. student in human movement science.

The announcement can be found here.

Promotionsprojekt - Kognitive Neurowissenschaften

2012-01-10T14:02:00.006+01:00

Position announcement
---------------------------------

In der Arbeitseinheit Experimentelle Neuropsychologie, Fakultät für Empirische Humanwissenschaften der Universität des Saarlandes ist zum nächstmöglichen Zeit-punkt eine Stelle eines/einer

Wissenschaftlichen Angestellten (65%)
Entgeltgruppe TV-L 13

für die Dauer von drei Jahren zu besetzen. Gesucht wird ein/e Mitarbeiter/in für das DFG-geförderte Forschungsprojekt „Vertrautheitsbasiertes Wiedererkennen von Paarassoziationen“. Die Stelle umfasst insbesondere Aufgaben der Planung, Umsetzung und Auswertung experimenteller EKP- und/oder fMRT-Studien zur Ge-dächtnisbildung für die Kombination unterschiedlicher Informationsarten.

Erwartet werden ein überdurchschnittlicher Abschluss im Fach Psychologie oder ei-ner verwandten Disziplin (zB Biologie, Neurowissenschaften), Interesse an neuro-kognitiven Fragestellungen, sehr gute Methodenkenntnisse insbesondere im Bereich experimenteller Forschung und gute Englischkompetenzen in Wort und Schrift. Pro-grammiererfahrungen mit Experimentalsteuerungsprogrammen (z.B. E-Prime) und praktische Erfahrungen in neuropsychologischen Methoden (z.B. EEG oder fMRT) sind von Vorteil.

Die Ausgestaltung und Durchführung eines eigenen Promotionsvorhabens im Rahmen der Stelle ist ausdrücklich erwünscht und wird entsprechend unterstützt. Hier-für stehen zwei Hochkanal-EEG Labore inklusive Präsentations- und Analysesoftware sowie in Kooperation mit der Universitätsklinik Homburg ein 3-Tesla MR-Forschungsscanner zur Verfügung.

Die Universität des Saarlandes strebt nach Maßgabe des Frauenförderplans eine Erhöhung des Anteils von Frauen in Forschung und Lehre an und bittet deshalb ausdrücklich entsprechend qualifizierte Absolventinnen um ihre Bewerbung. Schwerbehinderte werden bei gleicher Eignung bevorzugt berücksichtigt.

Rückfragen und Bewerbungen mit den üblichen Unterlagen (Lebenslauf, Lichtbild, Zeugniskopien) richten Sie bitte, bevorzugt elektronisch im PDF-Formant an:

PD Dr. Bertram Opitz
Universität des Saarlandes
Arbeitseinheit Experimentelle Neuropsychologie
FR Psychologie,
Campus A2.4
66123 Saarbrücken

Email: b.opitz@mx.uni-saarland.de

Wir bitten, Bewerbungsunterlagen nicht in Mappen oder Hüllen und auch nur als unbeglaubigte Kopie vorzulegen, da die Unterlagen nicht zurückgesandt werden; sie werden nach Abschluss des Aus-wahlverfahrens vernichtet.

---------------------------------

Bielefeld Mixed Models Workshop

2011-12-06T21:21:00.005+01:00

Dear colleagues, we would like to alert you to our upcoming workshop:

*** BiMM 2012: Bielefeld Mixed Models Workshop ***

Mixed-effects models are a powerful tool for the statistical analysis and modelling of psycho-/linguistic data and are increasingly used in experimental and corpus-oriented work. The Bielefeld Mixed Models Workshop (BiMM 2012) offers an opportunity to gain insight into the application of mixed-effects models. Focus will be placed on combining theoretical background with practical data analysis (using R). Participants can look forward to lively discussions with and between experts about how to use, report and interpret these methods.

The workshop is targeted at students and researchers from psycho-/linguistics and related disciplines working or willing to work with mixed-effects models. No prior knowledge of these models is required. However, participants should be familiar with general statistics and R.

Place and dates:

=== Bielefeld University ===

=== 22-24 February 2012 ===

Registration deadline:
=== 21 December 2011 ===

Topics:

-Random effects models

-Hierarchical Models

-ANOVA vs. Mixed models

-Model validation

-Unbalanced designs

-Outliers and data transformation, correlated predictors

-Interpretation, visualisation and reporting

Experts:

-Dale Barr (Glasgow University)

-Holger Mitterer (Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen)

-Hugo Quené (Utrecht University)

-Shravan Vasishth (Potsdam University)

-Marco van de Ven (Radboud Universität)

Registration:

To guarantee a place, please send an email with a short description of your work and a motivation for participating in the workshop to BiMM2012@googlemail.com by December 21, 2011. The mail should include a short description of your work and a motivation for participating in the workshop. The workshop fee (50 EUR) should be paid after receiving a confirmation from the organisers.

For further information please see http://www.spectrum.uni-bielefeld.de/BiMM2012/

With best regards,
the organizers:

Annett Jorschick

Helene Kreysa

Zofia Malisz

Andreas Windmann

Marcin Włodarczak

Die Gedanken erforschen

2011-11-17T18:24:00.004+01:00

Herbstreffen experimenteller Kognitionspsychologie

Wie kann man im Gehen ein Gespräch führen, gleichzeitig im Handy nach einer Telefonnummer suchen und trotzdem Hindernissen ausweichen? Weltweit untersuchen Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler, wie Menschen ihre Handlungen sinnvoll kontrollieren und koordinieren. Vom 18. bis 20. November 2011 widmet sich die Arbeitsgruppe Neurokognition & Bewegung – Biomechanik der Universität Bielefeld in einem Workshop dem Verständnis menschlicher Gedanken.

Zentrales Thema des Workshops „Hexkop“ (Herbstreffen experimenteller Kognitionspsychologie) sind kognitive Prozesse, also Gedanken und deren Funktionen, von der Wahrnehmung über das Gedächtnis bis zur Steuerung menschlicher Handlungen. Das Verständnis solcher Prozesse ist auch für den Exzellenzcluster „Cognitive Interaction Technology“ (Kognitive Interaktionstechnologie, CITEC) der Universität Bielefeld von zentraler Bedeutung, um technische Systeme mit menschenähnlichen kognitiven Fähigkeiten auszustatten.

Das Herbstreffen experimenteller Kognitionspsychologie leistet seit 1970 jährlich einen wichtigen Beitrag zum Austausch von Forschungsarbeiten aus ganz Deutschland und findet bereits zum vierten Mal in Bielefeld statt.

Hier ist der vorläufige Zeitplan!

Zum Singular füge auch den Plural noch

2011-11-07T22:45:00.004+01:00

Mancher fragt, ob Eiersalat auf mehrere Eier, also Plural, verweist, und Apfelsaft auf einen Apfel, also Singular. Die Antwort ist einfach und kurz. Nein, Eier verweist nicht auf Plural und Apfel nicht auf Singular. Dies hat mit den zusammengesetzten Wörtern wie Eiersalat und Apfelsaft zu tun, die wir im Deutschen so lieben, dass man keine Zeitungsseite ohne sie findet. Aber wer will schon kurze Antworten. Wir wollen Argumente, Gegenargumente und vielleicht Gegengegenargumente!

Beim -er- in Eiersalat oder -n- in Karottensaft handelt es sich um sogenannte Fugenelemente, die zwischen den zusammengesetzten Wortteilen eingeschoben werden. Die haben sich tatsächlich aus den Pluralendungen im Frühneuhochdeutschen entwickelt (s. Nübling & Szczepaniak, 2011), haben heutzutage aber nichts mehr mit ihnen zu tun. Sehen kann man dies im Deutschen auch daran, dass nur das letzte Teilwort Numerus, also Plural oder Singular, des gesamten zusammengesetzten Wortes bestimmt. Es heißt eben ein und nicht zwei Liederabend. Übrigens ist in wissenschaftlichen Untersuchungen gezeigt worden, dass unser Gehirn solche Teilwörter wie Eier in Eiersalat und Fisch in Fischkutter nicht als Plural und Singular verarbeitet. Um das zu untersuchen haben wir einfach die Gehirnströme (das EEG) gemessen, während Probanden sich solche zusammengesetzten Wörter anhörten. Vermutlich dienen die Fugenelemente dazu, die Nahtstellen der Wörter hervorzuheben und sie besser aussprechen zu können.

Auf die Antwort kann man auch durch Nachdenken kommen, hält man sich an den Rat des größten Detektivs aller Zeiten, Sherlock Holmes. "Was übrigbleibt, wenn man das Unmögliche ausgeschlossen hat, muss die Wahrheit sein, so unwahrscheinlich sie sich auch ausnehmen mag." Da ein Fischkutter gewöhnlich mehr als einen Fisch transportiert und auch der Sonnenkönig, Ludwig XIV, nur unter einer Sonne regierte, können die ersten Teilwörter zusammengesetzter Wörter nicht Plural oder Singular anzeigen, so unwahrscheinlich es sich auch ausnehmen mag.

Diese Antwort mag entäuschend sein. Kein Rätsel, kein Widerspruch. Jedoch befindet man sich in guter Gesellschaft. Christian Morgensterns Werwolf bat einst den Dorfschullehrer ihn zu beugen - der Werwolf, des Weswolfs, dem Wemwolf, den Wenwolf. Vergeblich ersuchte er den Lehrer jedoch um den Plural, denn zwar gäbs "Wölfe in großer Schar, doch 'Wer' gäbs nur im Singular."

Leistungsfähigkeit und Gehirn: Nutzen neurowissenschaftlicher Methoden für den Sport (Symposium Sportwissenschaftlicher Hochschultag, Halle/S.)

2011-09-21T21:30:00.001+02:00

Baumeister, Jochen (Paderborn) & Koester Dirk (Bielefeld)

Neurowissenschaftliche Methoden stellen eine wichtige methodische Ergänzung zu bestehenden Untersuchungsverfahren dar. Zum Teil ermöglichen sie überhaupt erst einen Zugang zu den neurobiologischen Grundlagen typisch menschlicher Verhaltensweisen oder bieten einen direkteren Zugang zu dieser Datenebene. Insbesondere für die Handlungs- und Bewegungssteuerung und den Bereich Sport gewinnen diese Methoden zunehmend an Bedeutung. Neurowissenschaftliche Methoden sind in der Lage spezifische Aktivität des Gehirns zu detektieren und zu quantifizieren und so bei der Aufklärung zugrunde liegender, neuronaler Mechanismen von kognitiven und motorischen Leistungen einen wichtigen Beitrag zu leisten. Dabei reichen die methodischen Herangehensweisen von bildgebenden Verfahren wie z.B. die (funktionelle) Kernspintomographie oder die Elektroenzephalographie bis hin zur transkraniellen Magnetstimulation, aber auch genotypischen Studien. In den letzten Jahren sind das Interesse an diesen Methoden und auch ihre Anwendungsgebiete in den Sportwissenschaften deutlich gewachsen. In diesem Arbeitskreis versammeln wir sowohl einzelwissenschaftliche Arbeiten, die sich neurowissenschaftliche Methoden zu Nutze machen, aber auch Überblicksarbeiten. Ziel unseres Arbeitskreises ist es, anhand aktueller Forschungsbeispiele methodische Herangehensweisen der Neurowissenschaften darzustellen und den Nutzen für die Sportwissenschaften und den Sport zu verdeutlichen.

Sprecher: Michael Doppelmayr, Stefan Schneider, Karen Zentgraf, Michael Schubert, DK, Claudia Voelcker-Rehage

CITEC Summer School 2011

2011-08-10T22:24:00.008+02:00

CITEC Summer School 2011
Mechanisms of Attention - From Experimental Studies to Technical Systems

CITEC, Bielefeld University, Germany, October 3rd-8th, 2011

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

!Deadline for applications is the 14th August 2011!

Perception and action in biological and technical systems are intimately
coupled by a wealth of attentive mechanisms. These mechanisms operate at
different stages of cognition, allowing salient information to be
flexibly extracted and readily used. How does attention contribute to
understanding of scenes, language processing, social interaction, and
motor control?

To gain insights into these topics, the Graduate School in "Cognitive
Interaction Technology" invites top PhD students to apply for the 2011
Summer School entitled "Mechanisms of attention - From experimental
studies to technical systems". It will take place from 3rd (day of
arrival) to 8th of October 2011 at Bielefeld University.

The vision of CITEC is to create interactive tools that can be operated
easily and intuitively - to fit future technology more seamlessly into
daily human life. In order to accomplish this, such technology needs to
be endowed with cognitive capabilities, and so part of CITEC's mission
is the study of the fundamental principles of cognitive interaction. We
believe this goal can only be realized through intense interdisciplinary
cooperation. The proposed summer school series aims to bring together
researchers from a wide range of fields for discussion and exchange of
ideas.

The CITEC summer school will comprise small-group workshops on practical,
experimental and theoretical topics, plenary lectures held by the
invited speakers, as
well as discussion groups, evening lectures and an activities program.
For the afternoon
courses, you may select one from the following four streams:

Mechanisms Of Active Exploration and Multisensory Integration;
Attentional Mechanisms in Language Processing and Communication: From Humans To Virtual Agents;
Structuring and Coordinating Attention;
Motion and Attention.

Guest speakers:
Ehud Ahissar - Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot
Dana Ballard - University of Texas at Austin
Gustavo Deco - University Pompeu Fabra
Mary Hayhoe - University of Texas at Austin
Gordon Logan - Vanderbilt University
John Tsotsos - York University
Mark Williams - John Moores University Liverpool

We hope to offer a rich curriculum, which will promote discussion across
the boundaries of different areas of science.

Please find details for the online application here:
http://www.cit-ec.de/summerschool/application2011

For more information, please visit: http://www.cit-ec.de/summerschool/

Prof. Dr. Thomas Schack - Head of Graduate School Cognitive Interaction
Technology,
Neurocognition and Action - Biomechanics Group

Prof. Dr. Helge Ritter - Coordinator of the Center of Excellence CITEC,
Neuroinformatics Group

Claudia Muhl - Graduate School Manager
Please address for any questions: summerschool@cit-ec.uni-bielefeld.de

Workshop „Neurobiology of Embodied Language“ (NOEL 2011)

2011-08-10T21:46:00.004+02:00

Workshop announcement

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 6-7, 2011
Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZIF)
Bielefeld University
https://www.cit-ec.de/noel2011

CONTENTS

This workshop brings together language researchers from distinct scientific disciplines such as linguistics, psychology, neuroscience, cognitive science and philosophy to share their perspectives on the functional relation between brain organization, cognition and language.

Currently, attempts are being made to integrate neurobiological reality with linguistic models, and to develop theories inspired by empirical findings about language processing. In particular, the embodied language theory seems to be compatible with current neuroscientific knowledge on language processing. This workshop should contribute to the highly topical issue of the integration of neuroscientific theories and results with models from Cognitive Linguistics.

TOPICS OF INTEREST

Which units of both language and the brain can be mapped onto one another?
Which qualitative, quantitative and/or simulative methods can we use to enhance our knowledge about language and the brain?
What do we know about the neuronal substrate underlying alignment and hierarchical binding in language processing?
How do neurobiological findings relate to embodied theories on language?
How are abstract linguistic concepts processed in the brain?

PROGRAMME

Invited speakers will give talks and have the opportunity to discuss the latest developments and results with an invited discussion panel (see below).

Participation in the talks is open to all and free of charge. A detailed program will be available in September.

INVITED SPEAKERS

Arthur Glenberg (Laboratory for Embodied Cognition, Arizona State University, USA)
Carol Madden-Lombardi (Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute, Bron, France)
Friedemann Pulvermueller (MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Cambridge, Great Britain)
Helmut Schnelle (University of Bochum, Berlin, Germany)
Jan de Ruiter (Psycholinguistics, Bielefeld University, Germany)
Jerome A. Feldman (Computer Sciences, UC Berkeley, USA)
Marco Tettamanti (San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy)
Markus Kiefer (Cognitive Electrophysiology, University of Ulm, Germany)
Markus Werning (Philosophy of Language and Cognition, University of Bochum, Germany)
Peter Indefrey (General Linguistics, University of Düsseldorf, Germany and Donders Institute Nijmegen, Netherlands)
Sabine Weiss (Neurolinguistics, Bielefeld University, Germany)
Shirley-Ann Rueschemeyer (Action and Neurocognition Group, Donders Institute, Nijmegen, Netherlands)

DISCUSSION BOARD

Byoung-Tak Zhang (Biointelligence Laboratory, Seoul National University, Korea)
Grzegorz Dogil (Experimental phonetics, University of Stuttgart, Germany)
Hans-Jürgen Eikmeyer (Computerlinguistics, Bielefeld University, Germany)
Horst M. Müller (Experimental Neurolinguistics Group, Bielefeld University, Germany)
Martina Hielscher- Fastabend (University of Education, PH Ludwigsburg, Germany)
Monika Schwarz-Friesel (General Linguistics, Technical University of Berlin, Germany)
Pia Knoeferle (Language and Cognition Group, CITEC, Bielefeld University, Germany)
Uwe Mönnich (Theoretical Computerlinguistics, University of Tübingen, Germany)
Walter Huber (Neurolinguistics, University Hospital Aachen, Germany)

We hope to see you at the ZIF!

Kind regards,
Sabine Weiss
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Embodied and Situated Language Processing Workshop (ESLP) in Bielefeld

2011-03-05T19:20:00.017+01:00

As announced by Pia Knoeferle the Embodied and Situated Language Processing Workshop 2011 (ESLP) will take place in Bielefeld, Germany at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZIF), Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany August 25-27, 2011.

The conference home page can be found under

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/pknoeferle/ESLP2011/home.html

Announcement
----------------------------------------------

Keynote Speakers:
Anna Borghi, University of Bologna, Italy
Seana Coulson, UC San Diego, USA
Beatrice de Gelder, Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Peter Hagoort, MPI for Psycholinguistics, The Netherlands
Olaf Hauk, MRC Cambridge, UK
Marta Kutas, UC San Diego, USA
Julia Simner, Edinburgh University, UK
Michael Spivey, UC Merced, USA

Submissions:
We welcome submissions of abstracts for oral or poster presentations on topics related to embodied and situated language processing. Successful submissions will address theoretically important issues using appropriate empirical methods, such as computational modeling, behavioral experimentation, electrophysiology, and brain imaging. Abstract submission opens on March 1, 2011, and abstracts are due April 30, 2011. They will be reviewed anonymously by expert reviewers, and authors will be notified with decisions in early June 2011. Details on abstract submission will be posted on the submissions page: http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/pknoeferle/ESLP2011/submissions.html

Schedule:
Research presentations will start on August 25 and run through August 27 in a single-session format. In addition to the keynote speakers, there will be competitive slots for 20-minute oral presentations as well as posters.

About the meeting:
ESLP 2011 is the fourth event in a workshop series that started in 2007. A key goal of the workshop series has been to bring together researchers working on the interaction of language and visual/motor processing in embodied, situated, and language-for-action research traditions. A further focus is on uniting converging and complementary evidence from three different methods (behavioral, neuropsychological, and computational). The first meeting led to the publication of a special issue on embodied language processing in Brain and Language (March 2010). ESLP took place again in June, 2009 in Rotterdam, in association with the meeting of the Cognitive Science Society in Amsterdam. The third meeting took place together with the meeting of the International Cognitive Linguistics Association in 2010 at UC San Diego (see http://embodiedlanguage.org/).

The ESLP community (psycholinguists, cognitive psychologists, neuroscientists and computational modelers) typically uses experimental and computational methods to ask questions about the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying linguistic embodiment as well as underlying the processing of language in its grounded physical and social contexts.

Sponsors:
The 2011 meeting is supported by the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZIF), the Cognitive Interaction Technology Excellence Center, and the SFB 673 on "Alignment in Communication" at Bielefeld University, Germany.

Information and contact:
For more information, please consult the meeting website: http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/pknoeferle/ESLP2011/home.html
If you have further questions, please feel free to contact the workshop organizers, Michele Burigo, Maria Nella Carminati, Helene Kreysa, and Pia Knoeferle (chair) at: eslp 2011 AT googlemail DOT com

HExKoP 2011 in Bielefeld

2011-02-16T22:35:00.007+01:00

We managed to attract this year's traditional German workshop HExKoP (Herbsttreffen Experimentelle Kognitionspsycholgie) to Bielefeld University! It will take place Fr 18 - Sun 20 November 2011. Together with Iris Güldenpenning and Thomas Schack (Neurocognition and Action Research Group) I'm happy to organise this workshop on experimental and cognitive psychology. We appreciate the support by CITEC.

We're still looking for a nice workshop picture.

What about this one?
O.K., the picture suggestion is not serious...

Compound word symposium / Academy of Aphasia

2010-11-04T22:37:00.019+01:00

This year's annual meeting of the Academy of Aphasia was held in Athens, Greece (24-26 Oct) featuring a hot symposium on the processing of compounds words togehter with Robert Fiorentino, Marco Marelli and Giorgio Arcara.

(Ancient Egypt Papyrus, from Academy of Aphasia web page: "He is speechless and cannot speak... an ailment not to be treated.")

Carlo Semenza (Trieste) and Claudio Luzzatti, who organised this symposium, were kind enough to invite us. The conference was a full success and many internationally renowed researchers attended. Overall, I hope, we could raise neuropsychologists' and (psycho)linguists' attention to compound processing as an important means of word formation and also to advantages of cognitive neuroscience methods.

My favorite verbal blunder (speech error) at the conference was - when it came to discussing brain activation pattern (fMRI data) - the talk about whole-world analyses instead of "whole-brain analyses." Cheerful; maybe talking about the lexicon and lexical processes for a while, activated word (semantic error) which then helped world to win the competition for being uttered. Or, maybe, it was a deeply hidden Trieb of the Es (Freud) of scientist to explain everything and all (with a single experiment).

And, no. The conference did not take place in the Partheon. This was just the view from the hotel restaurant during breakfast. But this was about the best in my hotel...

Von der Kognition zur Artikulation: Neue Arbeiten zur Sprachproduktion (TeaP-Symposium 2010, Saarbrücken)

2010-03-25T15:20:00.004+01:00

Dirk Koester

In diesem Symposium werden aktuelle Studien zur Sprachproduktion vorgestellt. Auf diesem Gebiet stellen sich Fragen, z.B. nach den Mechanismen der Aktivierungsausbreitung im Produktionssystem, der Verarbeitung morphologisch komplexer Wörter, nach der Rolle von Prosodie und Artikulation als auch nach den neuronalen Grundlagen der Sprach- und Sprechleistung. Die vorzustellenden Arbeiten untersuchten solche Fragestellungen mittels verschiedener Methoden, u.a. der funktionellen Kernspintomographie, dem Bild-Wort-Interferenz-Paradigma, dem Blocking-Paradigma sowie Patientenstudien. Die Ergebnisse werden mit Bezug auf verbreitete Modelle der Sprachproduktion diskutiert. Es wird weiterhin erörtert, inwieweit verschiedene Modellannahmen adäquat sind bzw. ob und wie die Modelle ergänzt werden sollten. Dabei werden (psycho)linguistische, (neuro)kognitive, neurologische und psychologische Aspekte berüht. Das Symposium soll zu einem tieferen Verständnis der Sprachproduktion beitragen und damit zu einem Wissenszuwachs für eine zentrale menschliche (Kommunikations-)Fähigkeit führen.

Sprecher: Andreas Mädebach, Eva Belke, Jens Bölte, Stefan Heim, Indgrid Aichert, Natalie Lewandowski

Time to speak (out loud)

2010-01-01T21:13:00.016+01:00

I'll start off this year with an article from last year. Sahin, Pinker et al. reported in Science on intra cranial recordings from Broca's area in three patients during a language task. The main finding was that three components in the local field potentials (LFP) showed a charactersitic time course and sensitivity to the respective manipulations of three processing stages in language production (models). Putative lexical, grammatical and phonological processing stages were associated with peak latencies of 200, 320 and 450 ms which should related to a production latency of about 600 ms according to the Levelt, Roelofs, Meyer model (see Indefrey & Levelt, 2004). (Response latencies were not obtained.) These linguistic processes were manipulated by word frequency, inflection of the target word and the phonological form of the inflectional morpheme (overt vs null morpheme). These manipulations are well-used in the battles of the Past-tense Debate.

Besides the usual issues with patient studies of potential neural re-organisation and spatial under sampling (due to the patients' aetiology and theoretical assumptions about relevant brain areas), the question remains what process is targeted by "grammar." For inflectional morphology, as the authors correctly call it, it is somewhat foggy as to whether it refers to syntax as in number agreement or to morphology similar to word formation (conjoining morphemes). Regarding syntax, the Levelt, Roelofs, Meyer model is explicit but when it comes to morphology, especially which brain areas are involved (Indefrey & Levelt, 2004), it is less so. One could almost say morphology drops out in the 2004 meta analysis. One wonders if the Past-tense Manipulation will ever be overcome by "real" morphological manipulations as in derivations or compounding, for example.

Another surplus of intra cranial recordings is the superb temporal resolution and one of the main points of the Sahin et al. paper is the time course of the three LFP components. No doubt, this is an accomplishment. However, it doesn't mean that such precise temporal measurements are very hard or even impossible with "traditional" event-related potentials (ERPs) just because they "sum over centimeters." In 2008, we (Koester & Schiller, NeuroImage) described how we used morphological priming to estimate processes of morphological encoding à la Levelt, Roelofs, Meyer with old fashioned ERPs. Actually, these were obtained during non delayed overt speech whereas Sahin et al. presented written language material and asked for "silent speaking." (Is this pure speaking?) So, what we showed is basically that you can test a bigger sample of participants and don't need to worry about potential processes of functional re-organisation of brain circuits.

After all, as noted by the Talking Brains, a key issue is still why the same brain area or neural circuits should be relevant for distinct processing stages in language processing (ie "functionally critical"). And if it is, what is the general concept of functional localisation (even within networks)? It would suggest that a neural circuit's function is temporally very flexible... I guess we don't want to end up in an equipotentiality account of brain functions.

Post doc or Ph.D. post in language, motor control and cognitive psychology; Bielefeld University, Germany

2009-12-30T22:42:00.008+01:00

The Center of Excellence “Cognitive Interaction Technology” (CITEC) and the “Neurocognition and Action” research group offers a 3 year

Research position for a Post doc or Ph.D. student in motor control research and cognitive psychology focused on:

Perception, language, action using EEG
Motion intelligence using Virtual Reality set-ups

The Center of Excellence (CITEC) at Bielefeld University has been established in the framework of the Excellence Initiative as a research center for intelligent systems and cognitive interaction between humans and technical systems. The CITEC agenda comprises the central topics of motion intelligence, attentive systems, situated communication, and memory and learning. The “Neurocognition and Action” research group in CITEC has developed different psychological methods to analyse action representation in human long-term memory and chunking processes in working memory, as well as biomechanical methods to capture the execution of complex movements in real-time. Here, we combine these approaches to study the expertise-dependent relationship between knowledge and performance in human action.

The position that is associated with the Graduate School of CITEC and the "Neurocognition and Action” research group provides an exciting and stimulating environment for an enthusiastic Ph.D. student or creative Post doc, allowing him/her to pursue research in an international team. We invite applications from students and researchers who hold an academic degree (MSc/Diploma/Ph.D.) and meet the qualifications listed below.

Project description

The position is grounded in a cooperation project with the industry. The research will focus on the link between neurophysiological activation, movement production and cognition. The scholarship will focus on the use of cognitive measurements, EEG, VR set-ups and other techniques to investigate mechanisms of movement control, implicit and explicit learning or perception of biological motion. It is of interest to learn about the relationship between cognitive representation in memory and the performance in complex movements. The successful candidate will be supervised by Prof. Thomas Schack and work in close collaboration with members of the research group. A cooperation with partners in CITEC and the Research Institute of Cognition and Robotics (CoR-Lab) is also offered.

Requirements

A degree in the field of cognitive science, sport science, psychology, movement sciences, biology or related disciplines,
Further research interests in interdisciplinary questions in the area of cognitive movement science,
Hands-on experience with EEG is advantageous but no necessary,
Fluent English is required.

Applications are invited immediately and will be considered until the post is filled. For guaranteed consideration submit your application before 30 January 2010.

Complete applications should include certificates and transcripts of records of the completed course of studies, a CV, a cover letter providing information about the qualification and the motivation to do research in the Graduate School, as well as a short description of the research interests.

As the Bielefeld University intends to increase the proportion of female employees in science, women are particularly encouraged to apply.

In case of equal personal aptitudes and qualification disabled persons will be given priority.

For informal enquiries please contact
Dr. Dirk Koester or Prof. Dr. Thomas Schack
Phone: 0049-(0)521-106-67292
E-Mail: dkoester "at" cit-ec.uni-bielefeld.de ;

Send your complete application (preferably by e-mail) to:

Dr. Dirk Koester
Neurocognition and Action - Biomechanics
Faculty of Psychology and Sport Sciences
Bielefeld University
Postfach 100 131
33501 Bielefeld, Germany

For further information please visit www.neurocognition.de and www.cit-ec.de

Post doc or Ph.D. position in motor control and cognitive psychology; Bielefeld University, Germany

2009-12-30T22:22:00.008+01:00

The Center of Excellence “Cognitive Interaction Technology” (CITEC) and the “Neurocognition and Action” Research Group offer a 3 year

Research Position for a Post doc or Ph.D.-student in motor control research and cognitive psychology focused on:

Representation, perception, action
Cognitive systems and motion intelligence

The Center of Excellence (CITEC) at Bielefeld University has been established in the framework of the Excellence Initiative as a research center for intelligent systems and cognitive interaction between humans and technical systems. The CITEC agenda comprises the central topics of motion intelligence, attentive systems, situated communication, and memory and learning. The “Neurocognition and Action” research group in CITEC has developed different psychological methods to analyse action representation in human long-term memory and chunking processes in working memory, as well as biomechanical methods to capture the execution of complex movements in real-time. Here, we combine these approaches to study the expertise-dependent relationship between knowledge and performance in human action.

The position that is associated with the Graduate School of CITEC and the "Neurocognition and Action” research group provides an exciting and stimulating environment for an enthusiastic Ph.D. student or creative Post doc, allowing him/her to pursue research in an international team. We invite applications from students and researchers who hold an academic degree (MSc/Diploma/Ph.D.) and meet the qualifications listed below.

Project description

The position is grounded in the CITEC-project “From cognitive representation to technical synthesis of manual action”. The research will focus on the link between complex action and cognition. The production of manual actions is affected by a number of factors, such as biomechanical constraints, and the current project addresses the question of how structures of sensory-motor representations are established and stepwise changed under the consideration of task constraints. It is of interest how action errors lead to changes in the relationship between cognitive representation in memory and the performance in manual actions. The candidate will be working with Prof. Thomas Schack and in close collaboration with members of the research group. A cooperation with partners in CITEC and the Research Institute of Cognition and Robotics (CoR-Lab) is also offered.

Requirements

A degree in the field of cognitive science, sport science, psychology, movement sciences, biology or related disciplines,
Further research interests in interdisciplinary questions in the area of cognitive movement science,
Hands-on experience with Virtual Reality set-ups is advantageous but no necessary,
Fluent English is required.

Applications are invited immediately and will be considered until the post is filled. For guaranteed consideration submit your application before 30 January 2010.

Complete applications should include certificates and transcripts of records of the completed course of studies, a CV, a cover letter providing information about the qualification and Bielefeld, den 21.12.2009 the motivation to do research in the Graduate School, as well as a short description of the research interests.

As the Bielefeld University intends to increase the proportion of female employees in science, women are particularly encouraged to apply.

In case of equal personal aptitudes and qualification disabled persons will be given priority.

For informal enquiries please contact

Dr. Dirk Koester or Prof. Dr. Thomas Schack
Phone: 0049-(0)521-106-67292
E-Mail: dkoester "at" cit-ec.uni-bielefeld.de ;

Send your complete application (preferably by e-mail) to:

Dr. Dirk Koester
Neurocognition and Action - Biomechanics
Faculty of Psychology and Sport Sciences
Bielefeld University
Postfach 100 131
33501 Bielefeld, Germany

For further information please visit www.neurocognition.de and www.cit-ec.de

Personal Genetics

2009-09-02T23:35:00.004+02:00

Interested in language and psychology? Then you have to know this guy, Mr. A-C-T-G-C-A-T! No idea? Here's another hint. Statistically speaking, he's bald.

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Steven Pinker

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Protests

Twinkletoes - Out now!

2009-05-06T21:17:00.004+02:00

The semantic processing of compounds seems to be incremental after all!

Believe it or not, the claim was that if you listen to a (German) compound word, you'd postpone semantic access of the initial constituent until you have accessed the head constituent (which is the last; Isel et al, 2003).

We were not convinced and thought there is a nice way to test this claim making use of a powerful method, namely event-related potentials (ERPs). We thought, if we use compounds with three constituent, something like wild goose chase, we could manipulate how plausible the second constituent is given the first. Hence, comparing plausible with less plausible second constituents one may see whether there is semantic integration going on during the presentation of the second constituent. (The stimuli were of course matched regarding their properties relevant for lexical access.) Importantly, this should not be the case if semantic access of the initial constituent is indeed postponed until the head constituent is accessed (which was the third in our experiment).

Now, what did we find? Nothing? As would be predicted if semantic access is postponed? Or something weird which would be hard to explain? Well, no. We found an N400 effect in the ERP during the second constituents. That is, less plausible second constituents are harder to integrate with the first constituent before the head constituent was presented let alone detected by the listener. So, we were happy and sent if off to Neuropsychologia where it is out now!

Here's a little treat. The real Twinkletoes by A. A. Milne.

Twinkletoes

When the sun
Shines through the leaves of the apple-tree,
When the sun
Makes shadows of the leaves of the apple-tree,
Then I pass
On the grass
From one leaf to another,
From one leaf to its brother,
Tip-toe, tip-toe!
Here I go!

Speaking one language or another: Ein- und Mehrsprachigkeit (TeaP-Symposium 2009, Jena)

2009-04-02T11:33:00.003+02:00

Dirk Koester

In einer zunehmend globalisierten Welt wird immer häufiger Kommunikation über Sprachgrenzen hinaus notwendig. Für natürliche Sprachen bedeutet dies, dass sich die Prozesse der Sprachproduktion und des Sprachverstehens zwischen einsprachigen und mehrsprachigen Sprechern sowie zwischen der Muttersprache und einer Zweitsprache unterscheiden können. In diesem Symposium sollen Studien vorgestellt werden, die mit verschiedenen Methoden und Maßen Sprachprozesse der Ein- und Mehrsprachigkeit untersuchen. Lexikalische Effekte werden ebenso beleuchtet wie Effekte des Kontexts in der Sprachproduktion. Weiterhin wird der Einfluss der Muttersprache beim Sprechen in einer Zweitsprache untersucht. In anderen Studien wurden die neurophysiologischen Korrelate des Erwerbs von morphosyntaktischem Wissen in einer Zweitsprache sowie die Verarbeitung von gemischter Erst- und Zweitsprache untersucht. Abschließend soll über orthographische Effekte bei der Interaktion von Erst- und Zweitsprache, d.h. beim Übersetzen berichtet werden. Die gemeinsame Diskussion kann zu einem besseren Verständnis des Zusammenwirkens von Sprachproduktions- und verstehenskomponenten in verschiedenen Situationen beitragen.

Sprecher: Heidi Lüttmann, Frauke Görges, Katharina Spalek, Doug Davidson, Ian FitzPatrick, DK

Post-doc and Ph.D. positions in Bielefeld, Germany

2009-02-19T15:30:00.005+01:00

The Graduate School Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC) at Bielefeld University, Germany offers research grants for Ph.D. students and Postdoc researchers. Deadline for applications is 22 March 2009. Please find the official announcement at CITEC’s webpage ("open positions" tab).

Interdisciplinary research topics in the Graduate School cover a wide range of psychological domains, e.g. memory, learning, action control, language and communication, attention, and motion intelligence.

Several labs and methodologies are available within the Cluster of Excellence such as an embodied agent lab and a biomechanics lab (real-time full-body tracking; cyber glove for manual action recording). An eye tracker and an EEG/ERP lab is also available next to an augmented and a virtual reality environment.

For more information, please visit our webpage (http://www.cit-ec.uni-bielefeld.de/). For further informal discussions, contact Dirk Koester (Neurocognition and Action group; dirk.koester’at’uni-bielefeld.de or researchers within CITEC).

Applications should be sent in PDF Format via email to:

Prof. Thomas Schack
Head of Graduate School
Email: gradschool’at’cit-ec.uni-bielefeld.de

Voodoo news for neuroscience

2009-01-30T16:57:00.004+01:00

Ed Vul and colleagues just attacked the social neuroscience community (and there is more, see The Neurocritic: Voodoo Gurus) and attracted quite some attention in the media. They criticise that researchers select voxels (in brain imaging) based on their correlation with some behavioural measure and then report the averaged correaltions of these voxels. Beside the fact that this is pretty much of a textbook mistake (and indeed reviewers and editors should have spotted it [more often?]), I think, the Vul et al. paper is overrated. One just should be patient - the media should note this mechanism - and wait for some replications of those to-high-to-be-true correlations. May I quote Cohen (1994) here [pdf]?
Also, although Vul et al. mention it in passing, it seems important that people do not average random voxels that pass a (correlation) threshold. It is, of course, relevant whether the averaged voxels are connected or clustered. At least it seems to make a difference whether one would average randomly distributed voxels are averaged or a cluster in a well-defined or plausible anatomical structure. After all, if reviewers and editors alike missed a crucial mistake in the analyses of these paper, maybe they have simply been seduced by the fancy neuroscience data, tables, figures...

Neurocognition of Multilingualism (ENP-symposium 2008, Doorwerth)

2008-08-13T00:00:00.004+02:00

Dirk Koester & Niels O. Schiller

Knowledge of a second language is essential for many people nowadays. Beyond fundamental knowledge about cognitive functions in language production and comprehension, there is no agreement on the exact functions in multilingualism and their neural basis. Learning a second language (L2) involves not only the acquisition of new word forms but can also require a different setting of syntactic parameters and a different intonation. Is a new L2 word form associated with its corresponding L1 word form or directly with the lexical entry? What mechanisms prevent knowledge from the unintended language to be uttered when speaking? Several neurocognitive methods with high temporal (ERP) and spatial resolution (fMRI) are in use to seek an answer to these and similar questions. This symposium will bring together researchers to present recent neuroimaging data and discuss competing conceptions in the domain of multilingualism. The hope for effective interventions for language learning in the future requires an accurate understanding of the functional architecture of multilingualism. [6 June 2008]

Hearing voices?

2008-07-15T22:27:00.009+02:00

Do you hear sometimes voices? Don't worry. Most probably this means that you're not deaf. But, do you sometimes hear a voice even if no-one is around? Still no need to worry - it could be your own voice. In a recent review Martin Pickering and Simon Garrod suggested that we use our language production system during the comprehension of language. Basically, predicting what our conversational partner is trying to say makes us faster, ie more efficient in understanding what she wants to say. (Also, comprehension would become more robust with regard to noise in the speech signal.)

There are (at least) two questions: Why, then, don't we all get paranoid because we hear some-one (ie us) talking even if there's no-one around? That is, how can we distinguish our own from other people's voice? And, do we really try to predict all the words others try to say? (What do we do in the pub with a bunch of folks talking at the same time...?)

Ingrid Christoffels et al. provided some evidence as an answer to the first question. Using intriguing manipulations of participants' own speech, they found that the auditory cortex is sensitive to participants' speech. Christoffels et al. concluded that a re-afference copy is used to distinguish one's own voice from the babble of others.

However, the second question remains. Is the language production system really continuously active as Pickering and Garrod suggest? Can't we stop predicting all the blather around us? Not even if we don't care, say about the chitchat of strangers on the bus? One might argue that language production or using the production system for predictions is consuming cognitive resources. Hence, such predictions should in fact depend on situational demands.

How long can a compound word be?

2008-04-25T22:50:00.004+02:00

It probably depends on how long your tongue is. The longer, the more knots you can get in it...

This is wild!

A Dutch version is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jflWQA3kknw

Sprachproduktion (TeaP-Symposium 2008, Marburg)

2008-03-05T21:38:00.003+01:00

Dirk Koester

Sprache ist eine zentrale Fähigkeit des Menschen. Auch nach Jahrzehnten psycholinguistischer Forschung ist die expressive Verwendung von Sprache, also vorwiegend das Sprechen, nicht ausreichend verstanden. In diesem Symposium wird über die empirische Überprüfung zentraler Mechanismen und grundlegender Annahmen von Sprachproduktionsmodellen berichtet. Priming und Bildbenennungsexperimente widmen sich der Untersuchung der phonologischen Verarbeitungsphase in verschiedenen Sprachen. Weiterhin wird die Größe von Planungseinheiten sprachlicher Äußerungen bzw. deren Flexibilität mittels des Bild-Wort-Interferenzparadigmas untersucht. Ebenso werden Ergebnisse zum Repräsentationsformat motorischer Verben berichtet und deren neuronale Grundlage diskutiert. Abschließend wird über die Untersuchung der neuronalen Korrelate in Bezug auf morphologische und syntaktische Prozesse der artikulierten Sprachproduktion berichtet wobei diese ansatzweise als Test der neurobiologischen Realität der Sprachproduktionsmodelle gesehen werden können.

Words that don't exist, e.g. " " or " ."

2007-08-24T23:22:00.000+02:00

Akademie.de is something like a guidebook for all kinds of everyday question you may have. For example, about the German Gebühreneinzugszentrale (GEZ) that, among other things, collects fees (most often called GEZ-gebühren) for television and radio governed by public law. But what a surprise the word "GEZ-gebühren" does NOT exist! For clarity, the word thus reads " ." The GEZ accused www.akademie.de to use such non-existing words! By the same token the GEZ may accuse them (or anyone else) for the car accident that did NOT happen and, of course, claim big compensation. That's soooo ridiculous...

It's a little ironic, that the first hit is www.gez.de if look for "GEZ-gebühren" with google!

Talking of Genes

2007-06-24T22:07:00.000+02:00

Some genes talk, others don't. Lately, Dediu & Ladd claimed in PNAS (www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0610848104) that two genes would talk or speak — speak to the question of why tone languages (like Chinese) are more common in some parts of the world than others. They obeserved a correlation between the population frequency of the genes ASPM & Microcephalin and the frequency of tone language within the world's languages. Although Dediu & Ladd are aware of the fact that correlations don't imply causal relations, they argue that their observed correlations do suggest a causal impact of the respective genes onto the distribution of tone languages.

Dediu & Ladd argue that it can't be a spurious correlation (a third source causally affecting genes and the language distribution with genes and language distribution being causally unrelated), and they base their argument on the fact that their observed correlation remains if the authors correct for geographical and historical effects. However, excluding two prominent factors doesn't rule out a spurious correlation. For example, another truly language related gene (maybe FOXP2) may affect the variation in ASPM & Microcephalin and types of languages observed.

Assuming that there is NO third source that can explain the correlation, it's still not clear why the causal direction would be only from genes to language. It is conceivable that the random occurence of tone (variation) gives a (small) selctional advantage to people with (slightly) better discrimination abilities for pitch which might correlate with the expression of ASPM & Microcephalin. Thus, the genetic variant might be selected over evolutionary times. That is, an influence in the opposite direction cannot be ruled out. To say the least, the causal relation doesn't have to be unidirectional; it can equally be bidirectional.

Finally, Dediu & Ladd propose that the genetic variation is neutral, i.e. it has neither an advantage nor a disadvantage. It has no selectional power. At the same time, their interpretation of a causal relation is clearly meant in terms of natural selction mechanisms. Crucially, the mechanisms of natural selection (survival of the fittest) include by definition the concept of a selectional (dis)advantage because it's the advantageous feature that increases the likelihood of survival and thus the chance of a larger offsping. In that respect, it is not consistent to claim that the coevolution of genes and language involves a causal relation between the two and that the genetic variation doesn't result in a selctional advantage for that matter.

Leaving all criticism behind, any contribution to our understanding of the genetic basis of language is welcome and highly needed. It can potentially inform us about the inheritable aspects of language, i.e. the proposed universal grammar. However, given our sparse knowledge of the genetic mechanisms, all result incl. correlations need to be interpreted most carefully.

Sprachproduktion (TeaP-Symposium 2007, Trier)

2007-03-24T13:59:00.000+01:00

Dirk Koester

Sprechen, also die Produktion von Sprache, ist kein isolierter kognitiver Prozess. Beispielsweise fungieren generelle kognitive Überwachungsprozesses zur Vermeidung von Fehlern und Missverständnissen bei der Sprachproduktion (Monitoring). In diesem Symposium werden Daten vorgestellt, die auf Zusammenhänge solcher generellen kognitiven Funktionen mit Sprachproduktionsprozessen hinweisen. So wird berichtet, ob und wie eine konzeptuelle Situationseinschätzung die lexikalische Verarbeitung modulieren kann. Weiterhin wird der Einfluss phonologischer Information auf die Stimulusverarbeitung in frühen visuellen kortikalen Arealen, dass heißt auf der phonologischen Verarbeitung vorangehende Verarbeitungsschritte via Feedbackmechanismen diskutiert. Außerdem soll der Einfluss semantischer Information auf das Monitoring von Sprechfehlern untersucht werden. Weitere Studien widmen sich der Interaktion zwischen einzelnen Sprachproduktionsprozessen. So soll eine neuroanatomische Verbindung der syntaktischen Genusverarbeitung und der Wortformverarbeitung erörtert werden. Schließlich werden morphologische Aspekte der Produktion von Komposita -also zusammengesetzter Wörter- beleuchtet, wobei für eine morphologische Repräsentations- bzw. Verarbeitungsebene plädiert wird.

To Wear or Not to Wear a Helmet

2006-09-14T18:14:00.000+02:00

Until last year I used to ride a bicycle a lot. Admittedly, I never wore a cycle helmet and, thank God, never had a collision except with a construction site barrier once (which wasn’t lit at night time - ouch!). Now you may think lucky guy but recent research by Ian Walker suggests it was systematic! He rode his bike a lot and measured how close cars overtake when he was or wasn’t wearing a helmet. Believe it or not, cars got close when he did wear a helmet! (Car drivers may think you’re more experienced and predictable when you wear a helmet…) Anyway, much more funny, as I think, is that car drivers give you more space if they think you are female. (Who knows what car drivers think in this case!) Walker mimicked this by sticking a plait to the helmet! So, if you want to be on the safe side, i.e. if you wear a helmet, at least stick a plait to it!!!

Bayes' theorem

2006-09-11T22:07:00.000+02:00

Alright, this didn’t happen today and again it's not directly related to the brain. Last week, when I was on my way to the uni, they broadcasted another discussion on what can be done against terrorism? And, an expert joint the discussion round. One suggestion that’s coming up time and again is that of an antiterror record shard by police and secret service. Now, the expert explained why it’s important to include amount of travelling and religious orientation in that file:

It's very important to know how often someone travels into certain countries to join terrorist camps. ... Another most important indication is people's religious belief... It needs to be said that most Muslims love and favour peace but it's also true that all terrorists are Muslims.

Now, you start wondering what he is an expert for! Probably not stats. Clearly, you can't record what people do when they go abroad. So, all you can do is register how often they go to specific countries, say Afghanistan. But by doing so, I reckon, you'll get mostly Red Cross staff on your suspect list because that's where they go often to provide help. And, if you are really wondering how precise and therefore important religious belief is as an indication of terrorists, i.e. what does it tell you if a person known to be a muslim given the fact that all terrorists are Muslims (but almost all Muslims are peaceful), if you really wonder, then you may want to check out Bayes' theorem. (If I remember correctly, that was 2nd year stats for psychologists.)

Lost in Space

2006-08-25T22:07:00.000+02:00

When we get older we tend to forget or loose things. Today (or was it yesterday, I can’t remember…), we lost a planet. Good old Pluto – good bye and take care! But how can this be?

This event reminds me on my favourite thesis that our ways of observation, ie our technologies determine in parts the entities of our world. Not just figures of thought and abstract objects but solid things like good old Pluto.

And yes, it’s not directly related to the brain. I know!

Prozesse des Sprachverstehens (TeaP-Symposium 2006, Mainz)

2006-03-28T16:31:00.000+02:00

Dirk Koester & Claudia K. Friedrich

Das Verständnis von Prozessen des Sprachverstehens stellt nicht nur eine grundlegende wissenschaftliche Herausforderung dar, es schafft auch die Basis für eine theoretisch fundierte intervention bei Sprach- und Kommunikationsstörungen. Forschungsergebnisse aus Studien, die Prozesse des Sprachverstehens mit Hilfe von Verhaltensdaten, ereigniskorrelierten Potenzialen und funktioneller Kernspintomographie untersuchen, werden vorgestellt. Beginnend mit dem lexikalischen Zugriff soll das Repräsentationsformat von Wortformen diskutiert werden. Die lexikalische Ebene betreffend, wird über den Zeitverlauf der semantischen Komposition sowie über neuronale Korrelate der Verarbeitung semantischer Verbinformation berichtet. Abschließend wird eine Möglichkeit der Kompensation von Hör-Sprach-Behinderung durch eine theoriebasierte Reformulierung von Aufgaben vorgestellt. [posted Nov 2006]

Neurokognitive Untersuchungen zum mentalen Lexikon (TeaP-Symposium 2005, Regensburg)

2005-04-06T16:38:00.000+02:00

Dirk Koester & Claudia K. Friedrich

Sprache ist das zentrale Kommunikationsmittel des Menschen. Allerdings sind die psycholinguistischen Verarbeitungsprozesse und deren neuronale Korrelate nicht vollständig bekannt. Im Falle des Verstehens müssen aus einem relativ variablen Signal (z.B. verschiedene Sprecher in verschiedenen akustischen Umgebungen) invariable Wörter extrahiert werden, welche möglichst schnell in einen größeren sprachlichen Zusammenhang (z.B. einen Satz) integriert werden müssen. Für die Produktion von Sprache findet ein umgekehrter Informationsfluss von der konzeptuellen Repräsentation bis zur motorischen Planung und Ausführung einzelner Sprachsignale statt. Die zugrunde liegenden Prozesse sollen mittels neurokognitiver Methoden näher untersucht werden. Im Fokus der Vorträge zum Sprachverstehen stehen neurophysiologische Korrelate die den Zugriff auf das mentale Lexikon abbilden. Einen notwendigen Verarbeitungsschritt bildet die Kategorisierung der Sprachlaute (Phoneme), deren neuronale Repräsentationen mittels funktioneller Bildgebung untersucht wurden. Ereignis-korrelierte Hirnpotentiale aus Mismatch- und Primingparadigmen liefern Hinweise über zeitliche Verläufe und relevante Informationen die das Mapping der Sprachlaute mit lexikalischen Einträgen charakterisieren. Die Kopplungsanalyse des EEGs erlaubt die neuroanatomische Direktionalität des Informationsflusses beim lexikalischen Zugriff zu untersuchen. Weiterhin soll über den Einfluss der Prosodie auf die Wortbildung (Komposition) berichtet werden sowie über den Einfluss der Negation eines Satzes auf den lexikalischen Zugriff. In Hinblick auf die Sprachproduktion werden neuronale Korrelate phonologischer Auswahlprozesse näher beschrieben. Anschließend wird auf die zeitlichen Aspekte der Überwachung (monitoring) verschiedener sprachlicher Informationen und die lexikalische Auswahl bei der Sprachproduktion eingegangen. So kann zu einem besseren Verständnis des wichtigsten menschlichen Kommunikationsmittels beigetragen werden. [posted Nov 2006]

Neurokognition von Sprache (TeaP-Symposium 2004, Gießen)

2004-04-06T16:41:00.000+02:00

Claudia Friedrich & Dirk Koester

Das Verstehen gesprochener Sprache wird durch zahlreiche, dem Hörer meist nicht bewusste, kognitive Operationen gewährleistet. Aktuelle neurophysiologische Untersuchungen geben zeitgenaue Einblicke in die zu Grunde liegenden Mechanismen. Die Vortragenden werden Ergebnisse zum Verstehen gesprochener Sprache berichten, wobei die Verarbeitungsprozesse vorwiegend mit den zeitlich sehr hochauflösenden Methoden der Elektro- und Magnetoencephalographie untersucht wurden. Die unterschiedliche Ebenen der Sprachverarbeitung stehen dabei im Mittelpunkt. Beginnend mit der Eingangsanalyse des gesprochenen Signals wird die Extraktion phonologischer Merkmale und die Representation dieser Merkmale im entalen Lexikon besprochen. Daran anschließend werden neurophysiologische Korrelate des Zugriffs auf lexikalisches Wissen und die Verarbeitung von zusammengesetzten Wörtern diskutiert. Den Abschluss soll die Verarbeitung von Sprache auf Satz- und Diskursebene bilden. [posted Nov 2006]