Conference: Brain activity measures in phonological research

This conference presents research on language users' knowledge of speech sounds and rules, known as phonology, and how phonology is put to use by brain mechanisms during speaking and listening - with a focus on measures of electrical activity in the brain related to these cognitive functions. The research presentations contribute to a deeper understanding of how the brain supports the use of language. By holding the conference at the Linguistics Society of America (LSA) Summer Institute, the project effectively supports attendance by students who are already participating in the summer institute and helps to make such research accessible to a broad audience of both undergraduate and graduate students. Electroencephalography (EEG) measures the electrical currents and oscillations generated by cognitive and sensory processes during language processing. Experimental paradigms such as Mismatch Negativity have elucidated which aspects of linguistic representations must be put into a brain-language model of how the sensory and cognitive system detects linguistically relevant information in the acoustic signal and translates it into discrete mental representations of linguistic units. This conference synthesizes EEG research with work in phonological theory, creating new avenues for linguistic research. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.