LIN-822 Brain and Language

Course Overview

This seminar will review the literature on the neurological bases for language. Particular attention will be given to the relationship between spatial ability and linguistic ability. Models developed based on spoken-language data will be critiqued in light of data from sign languages, as production and processing of signing requires interaction of linguistic and spatial skills on several levels. Sign language data will be used to evaluate the traditional model of brain hemispheric specialization, where linguistic skills are lateralized on the left and spatial skills on the right.