It just happened to me the other day: I was watching Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and there was a new guest star; I turned to my husband and said – “Oh I remember her – she was in ‘Angel’ and the new ‘Much Ado About Nothing’…Amy something or other….” And then I drove myself crazy […]
We are all amateur voice actors, whether we know it or not. Even if you cannot make yourself sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger or beatbox like a pro, chances are, you regularly alter and tailor your voice to speak to different audiences, tell a story, or convey a range of emotions. Now, scientists are studying what […]
Language plays a critical role in the development of the brain. As Patricia Kuhl demonstrated during Monday morning’s keynote session at CNS 2013, early childhood exposure to multiple languages not only enhances the ability to learn languages later in life, but also improves mental flexibility and creative thinking. But what can the way the brain […]
Early language exposure plays a critical role in shaping the young brain. Even babies can discriminate the sounds of various languages, using computational statistics to make sense of what they hear. Patricia Kuhl, co-director of the Institute for Brain & Learning Sciences at the University of Washington, has been pioneering these studies over the past […]
CNS recently had the chance to catch up with Steven Pinker, Harvard College Professor and Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University, who was a keynote speaker at the first CNS annual meeting in San Francisco. In that 1994 talk, he gave an overview of the science of language from a […]
When an Indirect Statement Becomes a Request for Action We all know that context matters when it comes to language. What we do not know as well, however, is exactly how our brains tell us when to take actions based on words. New research suggests several mechanisms by which, even in the absence of action […]
