Human connectome project: lessons from genetics
The number of genes separating humans and other primate is fewer than previously thought and in fact very small. See this piece. What this means is that phenotypical differences are not primarily a function of protein coding genes themselves:"The physiological and developmental differences between primates are likely to be caused by gene regulation rather than by differences in the basic functions of the proteins in question." I think this is an important lesson for the massive effort(s) to map the structure of the human brain (e.g., connectome project, BRAIN Initiative, etc.). I support this effort, of co...
Source: Talking Brains - July 4, 2014 Category: Neurologists Authors: Greg Hickok Source Type: blogs
Broca's area: a dessert topping or a floor wax? It may help you decide.
ConclusionsThe present findings suggest that the left IFG plays a role in adjusting response bias across different decision environments. This suggests a potential role for the left IFG in flexible decision-making. (Source: Talking Brains)
Source: Talking Brains - July 3, 2014 Category: Neurologists Authors: Greg Hickok Source Type: blogs
Computational exhaust fumes
I suspect that the many studies now published that show motor effects on perception or motor involvement in conceptual representation amount to the computational equivalent of exhaust fumes. If you direct a fan at the stream of exhaust coming out of car's tailpipe you can reliably manipulate (p<.000001!) the flow of gases. But this reveals nothing about how the machine that generates the exhaust works. I believe the effects. There is no need to do any more experiments until we figure out whether they have any relevance to the computational speech machine. Given that the task that is typically used in t...
Source: Talking Brains - July 2, 2014 Category: Neurologists Authors: Greg Hickok Source Type: blogs
Seeking post-doctoral fellows - neural bases of sound perception - U Penn
We are seeking highly motivated post-doctoral fellows to participate in a research program that tests the neural bases of sound perception. This research will be conducted at the University of Pennsylvania. The goals of these projects are to test the contribution of various regions of the auditory cortex and prefrontal cortex to sound perception in non-human primates.Candidates should have a PhD. Those with an MD will be considered but only if the candidates have a strong scientific background. A strong candidate will have experience in systems and computational neuroscience; recording and analysis of single- and multi-uni...
Source: Talking Brains - June 29, 2014 Category: Neurologists Authors: David Poeppel Source Type: blogs
Call for papers (Deadline August 1 2014): Psychological perspectives on aesthetics
Call for papers (Deadline August 1 2014)Psychological perspectives on aestheticsDecember 11–13 2014, MPI for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt/M., Germany Aesthetics, as a discipline, has evolved to deal primarily with the experience and evaluation of sensory perceptions, especially in relation to artworks. Traditionally a subfield of philosophy and a concern of the different disciplines related to the specific art forms, such as literary studies, musicology, and art history, the latter part of the 19th century witnessed the development of a new, empirical approach to the questions of aesthetics. This empirical appro...
Source: Talking Brains - June 29, 2014 Category: Neurologists Authors: David Poeppel Source Type: blogs
Good quote on "direct matching"/"resonance"/"simulation" as a neural mechanism
The mirror neuron / embodied cognition camp promotes what appears to be a simple mechanism for aspects of neural processing, variously termed simulation, direct matching, direct perception, or resonance. Oztop, Kawato, and & Arbib 2006 have an excellent comment on the use of such terms in the context of non-computationally explicit (i.e., verbal or conceptual) models. Read it twice and let it sink in. It's right on the mark.A general pitfall in conceptual modeling is that an innocent looking phrase thrown in the description may render the model implausible or trivial from a computational perspect...
Source: Talking Brains - June 26, 2014 Category: Neurologists Authors: Greg Hickok Source Type: blogs
Brown University, Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences Visiting Assistant Professor - Linguistics/Language Processing
Brown University, Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological SciencesVisiting Assistant Professor - Linguistics/Language ProcessingLocation: Providence, RI USAThe Brown University Department of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences announces a 2 year Visiting position at the Assistant Professor level in Linguistics/Language Processing at or above the word level, beginning September 1, 2014 or January 1, 2015. This includes syntactic, lexical, semantic, and/or pragmatic (including discourse) processing.QualificationsExpertise at the intersection of theoretical and experimental approaches is expected, and ...
Source: Talking Brains - June 25, 2014 Category: Neurologists Authors: Greg Hickok Source Type: blogs
Two positions available in Stephen Wilson Lab, Univ of Arizona -- Post doc & Lab manager
Postdoctoral position, Language Neuroscience Laboratory, University of ArizonaA Postdoctoral position is available in the Language Neuroscience Laboratory (PI: Stephen M. Wilson) at the University of Arizona. The successful applicant will play a key role on an NIH-funded project investigating the neural correlates of recovery from aphasia after acute stroke.A Ph.D. is required in a relevant field, such as Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Cognitive Neuroscience, or Psychology. The ideal candidate will have (1) experience working with individuals with acquired language impairments, and (2) experience in conducting neu...
Source: Talking Brains - June 23, 2014 Category: Neurologists Authors: Greg Hickok Source Type: blogs
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review - Consider sending your next theory/review or punchy empirical paper here
On 1 January 2014, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review began a slow transition to a new editorial team. It will take a full year to complete the transition and probably longer than that to start noticing differences in the content of the journal. But keep on eye on PBR because we've got some interesting special issues in the works: one that presents a set of critical perspectives on embodied cognition, one on language evolution, another on perceptual interface theory, and lot's more in the planning stages. Also look for a very interesting review paper on animal mind reading by Cecelia Heyes. PBR is already ...
Source: Talking Brains - June 21, 2014 Category: Neurologists Authors: Greg Hickok Source Type: blogs
In honor of Rita Sloan Berndt
Rita Sloan Berndt passed away on Tuesday. Rita was an internationally recognized scholar and researcher, dedicated to the understanding of aphasia and its devastating effects on language communication. She was a true force in the field with a research program that was broad in scope. While she focused particularly on deficits in sentence comprehension and production in aphasia, she also examined impairments in reading, lexico-semantics, and category-specific naming. Although Rita published some of the first papers hypothesizing a general syntactic deficit in agrammatic Broca’s aphasia, she was also among the first to cha...
Source: Talking Brains - June 20, 2014 Category: Neurologists Authors: Greg Hickok Source Type: blogs
Postdoctoral position in Bilingualism in the BCBL
1 Postdoctoral position in Bilingualism in the BCBL to work on the projectLearning to read in two alphabets: typical development and reading disordersThe Basque Center on Cognition Brain and Language (San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain) offers 1 postdoctoral position in Bilingualism to work on the research project “Learning to read in two alphabets: typical development and reading disorders” The position has a term of appointment of 3 years with a possible renewal.This project addresses challenges related to the development of reading skills. One general objective is to understand school failure when children ...
Source: Talking Brains - June 1, 2014 Category: Neurologists Authors: David Poeppel Source Type: blogs
2 Postdoctoral positions in Bilingualism in the BCBL (AThEME collaborative research project)
The Basque Center on Cognition Brain and Language (San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain) offers 2 postdoctoral positions in Bilingualism to work on the collaborative research project AThEME - “Advancing the European Multilingual Experience” funded by the European Commission 7th Framework Programme that comprises 16 Research partners (universities, research centers and SMEs) located in 8 European countries.The positions have a term of appointment of 2 years with a possible renewal.The main objectives of the AThEME research programme are:· to investigate the outstanding cognitive, li...
Source: Talking Brains - June 1, 2014 Category: Neurologists Authors: David Poeppel Source Type: blogs
The real Phineas Gage?
This Slate article is worth a read. Gage may not have been the man we make him out to be. Take home lesson: don't believe what you read in textbooks or review articles, especially if there is strong consensus. Question everything and check original sources for yourself. (Source: Talking Brains)
Source: Talking Brains - May 21, 2014 Category: Neurologists Authors: Greg Hickok Source Type: blogs
All time best historical models of language and brain
If you were going to put together a highlight reel of the best, most influential models of language and brain, what would they be? You gotta start with the single-node model of Broca, then Wernicke's two-node, dual stream "connectionist" model. But what then? Lichtheim I suppose (although I think he ended up doing more harm than good despite his good intentions). Any Freud fans? Not very influential, though. Geschwind for sure. Anything in between? (Source: Talking Brains)
Source: Talking Brains - May 19, 2014 Category: Neurologists Authors: Greg Hickok Source Type: blogs
Talking Brains turns 7!
Today is the 7-year anniversary of the birth of Talking Brains. I thought it would be fun to repost our first blog entry:**********************WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2007The Cortical Organization of Speech ProcessingOur new article, "The Cortical Organization of Speech Processing" has recently been published in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 8, 393-402(May 2007). Although it is an extension of the model we proposed in our 2000 TICS and 2004 Cognition papers, there are several new features in the current proposal. One is the claim that within the ventral stream there are parallel routes from acoustic input to...
Source: Talking Brains - May 16, 2014 Category: Neurologists Authors: Greg Hickok Source Type: blogs
