Language, mind and brain

Angela D Friederici¹, Noam Chomsky², Robert C Berwick³, Andrea Moro⁴, Johan J Bolhuis^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103, Leipzig, Germany. friederici@cbs.mpg.de.
² Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
³ Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
⁴ University School for Advanced Studies IUSS - Pavia, I-27100, Pavia, Italy.
⁵ Helmholtz Institute and Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
⁶ Department of Zoology and St. Catharine's College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EH, UK.

PMID: 31024099
DOI: 10.1038/s41562-017-0184-4

Review

Language, mind and brain

Angela D Friederici et al. Nat Hum Behav. 2017 Oct.

. 2017 Oct;1(10):713-722.

doi: 10.1038/s41562-017-0184-4. Epub 2017 Sep 18.

Authors

Angela D Friederici¹, Noam Chomsky², Robert C Berwick³, Andrea Moro⁴, Johan J Bolhuis^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103, Leipzig, Germany. friederici@cbs.mpg.de.
² Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
³ Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
⁴ University School for Advanced Studies IUSS - Pavia, I-27100, Pavia, Italy.
⁵ Helmholtz Institute and Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
⁶ Department of Zoology and St. Catharine's College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EH, UK.

PMID: 31024099
DOI: 10.1038/s41562-017-0184-4

Abstract

Language serves as a cornerstone of human cognition. However, our knowledge about its neural basis is still a matter of debate, partly because 'language' is often ill-defined. Rather than equating language with 'speech' or 'communication', we propose that language is best described as a biologically determined computational cognitive mechanism that yields an unbounded array of hierarchically structured expressions. The results of recent brain imaging studies are consistent with this view of language as an autonomous cognitive mechanism, leading to a view of its neural organization, whereby language involves dynamic interactions of syntactic and semantic aspects represented in neural networks that connect the inferior frontal and superior temporal cortices functionally and structurally.

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Language, mind and brain

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Language, mind and brain

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