What are the brain bases of our ability to speak and understand language? Are some parts of the brain dedicated to language? What is it like to lose language? This course provides a state-of-the-art survey of the cognitive neuroscience of language, a rapidly developing multidisciplinary field in the intersection of Linguistics, Psycholinguistics and Neuroscience. Lectures cover all aspects of language processing in the healthy brain from early sensory perception to higher level semantic interpretation as well as a range of neurological and development language disorders, including aphasias, dyslexia and genetic language impairment. Functional neuroimaging techniques will be introduced.
- Regular attendance at lectures and recitations.
- Readings. There is no textbook. Instead, all readings are available on this website.
- Papers. You will write 2 short papers, one due before the midterm and the other after. Both will be critical evaluations of an original research article, to be made available on this website.
- Questions. Before every recitation, you should email the TA a question based on that week's lecture or readings. Questions are due every Sun at 3:30pm (email to: suzanne.dikker@nyu.edu)
- A midterm and a final exam. Both exams will be a mixture of multiple choice and short answer questions. the final exam covers primarily, but not exclusively, post-midterm material. There will be no make-up exams. You receive a zero grade for an exam missed without a written, valid excuse acceptable to the instructor (e.g., medical reasons).
- Papers (2): 15%
- Midterm: 35%
- Final: 35%
- Participation (in class and recitation, including sending a question to the TA before each section): 15%
8-Sep INTRO. GOALS AND QUESTIONS
10-Sep GOALS AND QUESTIONS CONT.
15-Sep BRAIN BASICS
17-Sep HISTORY: BROCA AND WERNICKE (SD)
22-Sep FUNCTIONAL NEUROIMAGING AND ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY (SD)
24-Sep MEG LAB VISIT.
- We will meet in the MEG Lab, Meyer Building Room 284, at 11am. Don't be late. Click here for instructions for finding the lab.
29-Sep SPEECH PERCEPTION: DISORDERS, MCGURK
1-Oct SOUNDS AND CATEGORIES
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O'Grady et al. 1997. Contemporary linguistics. Ch 3., pp. 63-73.
- Phillips, C., Pellathy, T., Marantz, A., Yellin, E., Wexler, K., Poeppel, D., McGinnis, M. and Roberts, TPL (2000). Auditory Cortex Accesses Phonological Categories: An MEG Mismatch Study. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 12: 1038-1055.
6-Oct READING
8-Oct DYSLEXIA (SD?)
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Scientific American: 11/01/1996 Dyslexia
13-Oct LEXICAL ACCESS: APHASIA
15-Oct NO CLASS (LP & SD away)
20-Oct LEXICAL ACCESS: ELECTROMAGNETISM
22-Oct REVIEW
27-Oct MIDTERM
29-Oct MORPHOLOGY
3-Nov THE PAST TENSE DEBATE
5-Oct SPECIFIC LANGUAGE IMPAIRMENT
10-Nov SYNTAX, NEUROIMAGING
12-Nov SYNTAX, ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY
17-Nov SYNTAX, APHASIA
19-Nov SEMANTIC PROCESSING: THE N400
24-Nov SEMANTIC PROCESSING CONT.
- Hagoort, P., Hald, L., Bastiaansen, M., Petersson, K.M. (2004) Integration of word meaning and world knowledge in language comprehension. Science, 304, 438-41.
- Pylkkänen, L. & McElree, B. (2007). An MEG Study of Silent Meaning. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19, 1905-1921 [pdf].
26-Nov THANKSGIVING
1-Dec WILLIAMS SYNDROME
3-Dec WILLIAMS SYNDROME, CONT.
8-Dec SIGN LANGUAGE
10-Dec REVIEW
15-Dec FINAL
