US-Iceland Workshop: The Neural Basis of Icelandic Language Processing

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

Organized by Alan Beretta of Michigan State University, this workshop on the "Neural Basis of Icelandic Language Processing" aims to catalyze a suite of follow-on research collaborations to enhance our basic understanding of how human brains process language. Held in Reykjavik, the workshop will bring together scholars from U.S. institutions with their counterparts from the University of Iceland and its Institute of Linguistics to study the neural processing of Icelandic sentences. Together, the partners will focus on the relatively rare and complex linguistic constructions found in the Icelandic language with the goal of gaining new insights into the language-brain relationship. Based upon initial progress at the workshop, the U.S. and Icelandic researchers and participating U.S. graduate students plan to begin designing follow-on electrophysiological experiments to examine how the normally functioning brain responds, within milliseconds, to such rare Icelandic language phenomena. A significant body of research related to complex wording has provided us with a solid platform for understanding how brains process language. However, questions remain and these unusual Icelandic structures may allow scientists to go deeper into the remaining fundamental questions. If successful, results from new research also may have long-term implications for understanding language impairment caused by brain damage. By investigating singular aspects of the neural processing of Icelandic, the researchers hope to enhance theoretical understanding of the language-brain relation. Conspicuously unusual constructions used in Icelandic language processing have the potential to reveal more specifically how brains process complex words, for example, noun-noun compounds. New insights are expected to contribute to the design of future experiments with aphasic subjects to determine how processing these language phenomena is affected in damaged brains. Furthermore, deeper theoretical understanding in this domain can have the longer-term benefit of suggesting more focused treatment regimes for people suffering from language impairments following brain damage.