Seminar: Time and again: measuring the temporal aspects of language in the brain

Speaker: Professor Douglas Saddy,

Centre for Integrative Neurosciences and Neurodynamics,

School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences,

University of Reading.

Date/Time: 29th October 2008, 13:00-14:00.

Location: Room G74, Philip Lyle Building.

Map: http://www.info.rdg.ac.uk/maps/maps-display.asp

Abstract:

The production and comprehension of language is the most complex of the human cognitive repertoire. Attempts to understand how this ability is instantiated in the brain formed the basis for the tradition of neuropsychological models of cortical functioning. The recent development of non-invasive brain imaging technologies, such as electroencephalography, magnetic resonance imaging, near infrared spectroscopy and transcortical magnetic stimulation to name a few, allow us to investigate the brain in new ways. In this talk we will look at some recent EEG/ERP experiments on sentence processing which exemplify some of the issues faced in doing brain imaging studies of cognitive processes. In particular, we will see how time and timing in the brain can be seen to play a central role in understanding language.