Customer Reviews

The Neurocognition of Language

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I have had this book for several years now and find myself opening its pages a couple of times a year. I especially enjoy the modest and humble introduction stating that we know a lot, but have a lot more to learn regarding the brain and cognition. There is a interdisciplinary plea here to merge the cognitive neurosciences and linguistics and I believe for the most part a plea that is still unanswered till this day. Now with funding being cut for research I wonder when the neurosciences and linguistics/education proper will ever merge.

The book discusses how language is currently mapped in the brain and what this can inform. Techniques such as the fMRI is discussed linking its values as a research tool. You will learn about the basic principles of Haemodynamic imaging methods and the how/why they work based on observations made rooted in blood supply; and differences between PET and fMRI imaging. For a linguist representational structures of the language faculty are presented in light of interactions based on Chomskyan theories. I appreciated the discussion pertaining to the dimensions (short-term) and kinds (explicit/implicit) of memory.

The main sections, briefly, are as follows:

1.Introduction

Cognitive Neuroscience of Language
Neuro Imaging
Language Faculty

2.Cognitive Architecture of Languages

Spoken Language
Listening to Language
Written Language

3.Neurocognitive architecture of Language

Neural architecture of words
Clues to the functioning of words (neural architecture)
Neurocognition of syntactic processing

4.Language from a Neurobiological Perspective

Broca's Area
Imaging
Current Approaches to Mapping

This book is a gem and a well informed, well researched, volume addressing these sections as outlined above. For any serious linguist interested in cognition and/or the neurology of cognition based on what we knew in 2000. This book is highly relevant. Of course you will need to be updated with current academic literature via journals, but I think the age on this book is not relevant considering the breadth of fundamental time honored considerations it addresses. Excellent academic reference.