Past events: Alexis Hervais-Adelman. Language in Motion – comprehension, control and reading in action

What: Language in Motion – comprehension, control and reading in action

Where:  BCBL zoom room 2. (If you would like to attend to this meeting reserve at info@bcbl.eu)

Who: Alexis Hervais-Adelman, PhD, head of the Neurolinguistics Division at the Psychology Institute of the University of Zurich, Switzerland

When:  Wednesday,  September 7th at 2:30 PM.

As the ultimate effector of all action, the motor system plays a crucial role in all human behaviour. Despite this, its role as a component of the human language system is frequently neglected, even though neuroimaging evidence indicates that the motor system, broadly defined, is significantly implicated in diverse language functions beyond production.

I will present an overview of my research on the neural basis of degraded speech perception, multilingualism and reading, which converges in highlighting a functional contribution for motor areas and action control areas in language functions. I will propose that these findings can be productively considered from an evolutionary perspective and can lead to novel views on language networks in the brain and the origins of language.