Cognitive Neuroscience Of Natural Language Use

This book is a collection of essays that explore the cognitive neuroscience of language. The essays cover a range of topics, including discourse comprehension, the study of dialogue, literature comprehension, and the insights gained from looking at natural speech in neuropsychology. The book is written by a range of international experts, and is aimed at providing a state-of-the-art overview of current approaches to making the cognitive neuroscience of language more 'natural' and closer to language use as it occurs in real life.

When we think of everyday language use, the first things that come to mind include colloquial conversations, reading and writing e-mails, sending text messages or reading a book. But can we study the brain basis of language as we use it in our daily lives? As a topic of study, the cognitive neuroscience of language is far removed from these language-in-use examples. However, recent developments in research and technology have made studying the neural underpinnings of naturally occurring language much more feasible. In this book a range of international experts provide a state-of-the-art overview of current approaches to making the cognitive neuroscience of language more 'natural' and closer to language use as it occurs in real life. The chapters explore topics including discourse comprehension, the study of dialogue, literature comprehension and the insights gained from looking at natural speech in neuropsychology. Review: 'Pointing toward a bright, exciting, and socially relevant future for neurolinguistics, this star-studded collection of essays demonstrates that researchers need not confine themselves to rigidly controlled experiments involving sterile stimuli, but can instead employ a wide range of techniques to investigate how our brains subserve the richness of real-world language use.' David Kemmerer, Purdue University