Dr. Brendan Weekes
Abstract Our understanding of differences in lexical processing between languages has been limited to behavioural and cognitive neuropsychological investigations of word recognition and word retrieval. I will argue that recent advances in brain imaging methods allow a more fine grained appreciation of how the language environment can shape the lexical processing system. In this presentation I will describe evidence from a number of experiments with Chinese speakers showing that lexical retrieval involves different neural systems to those engaged in lexical processing of languages with an alphabetic script. This evidence will include brain imaging studies of Chinese-English bilingual speakers including data showing effects of orthographic knowledge on name retrieval in Chinese. I will discuss the implications of my findings for computational models of language processing used in cognitive science. I will conclude that there are important differences in lexical processing and brain function across languages.
Visit our website: http://www.cogsci.jhu.edu (menu header: Events)
| 
