Grammar – ESC Research

Effects of metric hierarchy and rhyme predictability on word duration in The Cat in the Hat

Published in: Cognition, Volume 174, May 2018, 71-81 Abstract “Word durations convey many types of linguistic information, including intrinsic lexical features like length and frequency and contextual features like syntactic and semantic structure. The current study was designed to investigate whether hierarchical metric structure and rhyme predictability account for durational variation over and above other features in productions […]

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Alternative Solutions to a Language Design Problem: The Role of Adjectives and Gender Marking in Efficient Communication

Topics in Cognitive Science

Published in: Topics in Cognitive Science, Volume 10, Issue 1, 209-224 Abstract “A central goal of typological research is to characterize linguistic features in terms of both their functional role and their fit to social and cognitive systems. One long‐standing puzzle concerns why certain languages employ grammatical gender. In an information theoretic analysis of German noun

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What can autism teach us about the role of sensorimotor systems in higher cognition? New clues from studies on language, action semantics, and abstract emotional concept processing

Cortex - Journal

Published in: Cortex, Volume 100, March 2018, 149-190 Abstract “Within the neurocognitive literature there is much debate about the role of the motor system in language, social communication and conceptual processing. We suggest, here, that autism spectrum conditions (ASC) may afford an excellent test case for investigating and evaluating contemporary neurocognitive models, most notably a neurobiological theory of

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When syntax meets action: Brain potential evidence of overlapping between language and motor sequencing

Cortex - Journal

Published in: Cortex, Volume 100, March 2018, 40-51 Abstract “This study aims to extend the embodied cognition approach to syntactic processing. The hypothesis is that the brain resources to plan and perform motor sequences are also involved in syntactic processing. To test this hypothesis, Event-Related brain Potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants read sentences with embedded relative clauses,

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Improved statistical learning abilities in adult bilinguals

Bilingualism: Language and Cognition

Published in: Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, Volume 21, Issue 2, 427-433 Abstract “Using multiple languages may confer distinct advantages in cognitive control, yet it is unclear whether bilingualism is associated with better implicit statistical learning, a core cognitive ability underlying language. We tested bilingual adults on a challenging task requiring simultaneous learning of two miniature grammars

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From meaning to categorization: The hierarchical recruitment of brain circuits selective for action verbs

Cortex - Journal

Published in: Cortex, Volume 100, March 2018, 95-100 Abstract “Sensorimotor and affective brain systems are known to be involved in language processing. However, to date it is still debated whether this involvement is a crucial step of semantic processing or, on the contrary, it is dependent on the specific context or strategy adopted to solve a

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The neural exploitation hypothesis and its implications for an embodied approach to language and cognition: Insights from the study of action verbs processing and motor disorders in Parkinson’s disease

Cortex - Journal

Published in: Cortex, Volume 100, March 2018, 215-225 Abstract “As it is widely known, Parkinson’s disease is clinically characterized by motor disorders such as the loss of voluntary movement control, including resting tremor, postural instability, and bradykinesia (Bocanegra et al., 2015; Helmich, Hallett, Deuschl, Toni, & Bloem, 2012; Liu et al., 2006; Rosin, Topka, & Dichgans, 1997). In the last years, many empirical

The neural exploitation hypothesis and its implications for an embodied approach to language and cognition: Insights from the study of action verbs processing and motor disorders in Parkinson’s disease Read Post »

Production of verbs related to body movement in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson’s Disease (PD)

Cortex - Journal

Published in: Cortex, Volume 100, March 2018, 127-139 Abstract “Theories of grounded cognition propose that action verb knowledge relies in part on motor processing regions, including premotor cortex. Accordingly, impaired action verb knowledge in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is thought to be due to motor system degeneration. Upper motor neuron disease in ALS degrades the motor cortex and related pyramidal

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A systematic linguistic profile of spontaneous narrative speech in pre-symptomatic and early stage Huntington’s disease

Cortex - Journal

Published in: Cortex, Volume 100, March 2018, 71-83 Abstract “Cognitive decline accompanying the clinically more salient motor symptoms of Huntington’s disease (HD) has been widely noted and can precede motor symptoms onset. Less clear is how such decline bears on language functions in everyday life, though a small number of experimental studies have revealed difficulties with the application

A systematic linguistic profile of spontaneous narrative speech in pre-symptomatic and early stage Huntington’s disease Read Post »

Word selection processing in Parkinson’s disease: When nouns are more difficult than verbs

Cortex - Journal

Published in: Cortex, Volume 100, March 2018, 8-20 Abstract “Patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) are impaired in verb production. Interpretations range from grammatical deficits to semantic-conceptual decay of action representation. The verb production deficit in PD can also be considered a dysexecutive disorder, specifically, a deficit of selection processing during word production, due to corticostriatal damage. Producing verbs is “more difficult” than

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