Project Details
Projekt
Understanding structures of different complexity in language and action: Parallels in development and neurocognitive processing across domains
Subject Area
General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Term
from 2015 to 2024
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 258522519
There is a long tradition in linguistics to describe language structures at different levels of complexity. Such descriptions have recently also been applied to the action domain. In particular, it has been argued that the ability to process hierarchical structures constitutes a core feature of both language and action understanding and that structure processing relies on a domain-general capacity. Yet, the parallels, differences and interdependencies between the processing of action and language structures are so far largely unexplored. The proposed project comprises a series of experiments that trace the development of both action and language processing at different levels of structural complexity across the pre-school period and in adults. Relying on action production and act-out tasks, we will assess whether the development of hierarchical structures in action and language relates to each other. Using fNIRS and EEG, we will assess brain responses to structures of different complexity to describe the neurocognitive correlates subserving structure processing in the language and action domain. Results will provide empirical evidence to the so far unsettled question whether the processing of structural complexity is comparable across domains and whether similar neurocognitive mechanisms subserve structure processing in language and action.
DFG Programme
Research Units
Subproject of
FOR 2253:
Crossing the Borders: The Interplay of Language, Cognition, and the Brain in Early Human Development
Co-Investigator
Professorin Dr. Angela Friederici
