Research Seminar - June 14, 2000

Seminar Announcement

Abstract

Many different brain regions have been related to different aspects of language. But what sort of view of "computation in the brain" can properly ground our attempt to make sense of these data? To what extent do these data reflect the brain's genetic prespecification and to what extent do they express the results of the self-organization of the infant brain when the infant develops within a particular language community? What can other studies of brain evolution tell us about this issue of "nature versus nurture"? This talk will argue for a cooperative computation view of the brain, sample data on aphasia and on brain evolution, and argue that much of the brain's capacity for language is the fruit of self-organization. We will also review Deacon's approach to language evolution, accepting much of his argument but calling part of his approach into question.