TRAINING IN NEUROSCIENCE OF LANGUAGE AND ITS DISORDERS

University Of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore MD

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Abstract

The goal of the Training Program is to provide an environment that will encourage the pursuit of research that applies emerging methods for the study of brain/behavior relationships to the topic of language and language disorders Theoretical and technical advances in the last decade have encouraged the development of the field of Cognitive Neuroscience- the study of how cognitive processes are carried out in the development of the field of Cognitive Neuroscience-the study of how cognitive processes are carried out in the brain. This program is conceived as a part of that general effort, with special emphasis on the cognitive processes that are related to language. The faculty members contributing to this proposal represent the academic disciplines of Cognitive Psychology and Neuropsychology, Computer Science, Physiology, Linguistics, Neurology and Neuroanatomy, yet all of them are engaged in research investigating language/brain relationships. These faculty members will serve as mentors for post-doctoral trainees from clinical fields such as Speech/Language Pathology or Clinical Neuropsychology, or from basic science disciplines such as Computer Science, Neuroscience, Linguistics or Psychology. The training program emphasizes hands/on research training with a primary mentor, supplemented by measures that assure a breadth of contact with other faculty and experience in related disciplines. Available training facilities support techniques employing computational (neural network) modeling, cognitive neuropsychological investigation of normal subjects and aphasic patients, functional neuroimaging of language activities using fMRI, study of Event Related Potentials recorded from scalp during cognitive tasks, and neuroanatomical study of the effects of brain lesions. Tow first-year and second-year Fellows will be supported after the first year of the program, and trainees will typically complete the program within two years. The long-term goal of training is to produce independent investigators who will pursue a career of scientific research on topics related to language and language disorders using techniques available from the field of cognitive neuroscience.