BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Discrete elements: The essence of language?  Notes on the neural s
 ide of words and rules - Friedemann Pulvermuller\, MRC Cognition and Brain
  Sciences Unit\, Cambridge
DTSTART:20091124T160000Z
DTEND:20091124T173000Z
UID:TALK20595@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Chris Cummins
DESCRIPTION:In linguistics\, language is described as a discrete system of
  lexical elements and recursive rules linking them together in sentences a
 nd larger chunks of text (Jackendoff\, 2002).  The notion of discrete repr
 esentations has\, however\, been questioned on the basis of neural network
 s simulating syntactic and semantic processing (Elman _et al._\, 1996).  F
 ully distributed networks\, which map probabilities and process sentence s
 tructures to a surprising degree\, do not seem to develop discrete represe
 ntations analogous to lexical entries or to combinatorial rules (McClellan
 d & Patterson\, 2002).  This situation creates a trench between linguistic
  and neural approaches to language.  I will examine whether such a trench 
 is necessary or motivated and find a clear answer: No.\n\nWe first ask whe
 ther the absence of discrete representations is a necessary feature of net
 works.  By using networks that are more brain-like than the standard 2-4 l
 ayer networks employed to approach questions of lexical and syntax process
 ing\, we demonstrate that both lexical units and syntactic rules emerge if
  relevant features of brain anatomy and function are mirrored by neuronal 
 networks (Knoblauch & Pulvermuller\, 2005\; Garagnani _et al._\, 2008\; Pu
 lvermuller & Knoblauch\, 2009).  A digression will highlight how rule mech
 anisms may interact with neuronal dynamics and feedback regulation to yiel
 d a neuronal device equivalent to a pushdown memory (Pulvermuller\, 1993\;
  2003).\n\nA second empirical part will ask whether we have evidence for t
 he existence of discrete units at the lexical and syntactic rule level.  T
 his will culminate in a brief review of recent results from the Cambridge 
 lab that provide neurophysiological (EEG\, MEG) support for discrete funct
 ional units in language processing (Pulvermuller & Assadollahi\, 2007\; Pu
 lvermuller _et al._ 2008\; Garagnani _et al._\, 2009).\n\nIn conclusion\, 
 computational and neuroscience results show that the brain's language syst
 em includes an assembly of discrete neuronal lexical representations (word
 s and affixes) plus a set of discrete neuronal combinatorial rules.  Discr
 ete neuronal words and rules may well be the essence of language.  Develop
 ing mechanistic models of these entities may be critical for advancing the
  cognitive neuroscience of language.
LOCATION:GR-06/07\, English Faculty Building
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR