Computational Neurolinguistics Lab

How does the brain allow us to rapidly and effortlessly understand something as complex as human language? 

Understanding language appears effortless, but this remarkable ability owes to the finely tuned interactions between a wide range of complex cognitive systems. The mind rapidly identifies what words are being said and the concepts those words refer to, fits those words together  into a grammatical sentence, and computes the complex meanings and implications expressed by that sentence.

We try to understand these mental systems and their interaction by combining computationally explicit models of each cognitive operation with data drawn from a wide range of neuroscience tools, including electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Advancing our understanding of these systems brings us closer to answering how and why neural disorders, such as those found in Autism and other developmental disorders, give rise to communication impairments. Such answers pave the way for better tools for diagnosis and intervention.

Latest News

• 
  Jeonghwa Cho defends dissertation, publishes two new papersAugust 10, 2024
  Dr. Jeonghwa Cho successfully defended her dissertation on April 16th, titled Cross-linguistic Representation and Processing of Words,Grammatical features, and Sentences. The committee was Julie Boland,… Continue reading Jeonghwa Cho defends dissertation, publishes two new papers
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  Paper: Neural decoding + Transformer + minimal pairs = new syntactic probing approach for LLMsMarch 31, 2024
  MA student Linyang He leads a team that advances probing methods for large language models by combining a linear decoder with the BLiMP large-scale benchmark… Continue reading Paper: Neural decoding + Transformer + minimal pairs = new syntactic probing approach for LLMs
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  Dr. Tzu-yun Tung defends dissertation, on to Chicago!December 13, 2023
  Many congratulations to Tzu-yun who has successfully defended her dissertation Prediction and Memory Retrieval during Dependency Resolution. The work combines electroencephalography, syntax, cognitive psychology and… Continue reading Dr. Tzu-yun Tung defends dissertation, on to Chicago!
• Reproducing the Alice analysesNovember 19, 2023
  One of our projects last summer was to go back into the archives and dig out the code used for data analyses in all our… Continue reading Reproducing the Alice analyses
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  Paper: Tung on prediction and memory retrievalSeptember 24, 2023
  Tzu-Yun Tung publishes the first paper from her dissertation! Combining ERPs with an experimental design using NP-ellipsis in Mandarin, this work tests how interference effects… Continue reading Paper: Tung on prediction and memory retrieval