News — Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics

Mar 31, 2010

Children use space to think about time

Space and time are intertwined in our thoughts, as they are in the physical world. For centuries, philosophers have debated exactly how these dimensions are related in the human mind. According to a paper to appear in the April, 2010 issue of Cognitive Science, children’s ability to understand time is inseparable from their understanding of space. more >

Mar 25, 2010

Language evolution in our hand

How did our language capacity evolve? What did the first humans communicate to each other? And how does a new language emerge? These challenging questions, which recently have become very popular, are still facing language scientists today. On April 19th, the Nijmegen Gesture Centre of the Radboud University Nijmegen will organise a Spring Workshop at the MPI for Psycholinguistics which will focus on the role of gesture and sign in language evolution and look at the human language capacity from a new perspective. more >

Mar 25, 2010

New issue of Nijmegen CNS

Volume 5 of the Nijmegen CNS journal, composed by master students of Cognitive Neuroscience (CNS), will appear on April 23, 2010. The journal contains the latest studies in the interdisciplinary field of Cognitive Neuroscience conducted by research master students at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, the MPI for Psycholinguistics, the Centre for Language Studies, and the Centre for Molecular Life Sciences. It covers topics related to brain, cognitive and behavioural research. more >

Mar 18, 2010

MPI starts Studium Generale course

On Wednesday March 24, the MPI for Psycholinguistics will start a Studium Generale series of lectures about selected topics within the fields of philosophy, history and culture. The series is open to anyone, but especially intended for PhD students of the MPI, the IMPRS for Language Sciences, the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour and master students of Cognitive Neuroscience. An intellectual trip along the highways of history. more >

Mar 15, 2010

PhD Defence Laura de Ruiter

How do German children and adults use intonation to structure their speech? Is there a difference in the patterns they use? Yes and no, Laura de Ruiter (Berlin, 1980) explains in her comprehensive dissertation studies. On March 5, she successfully defended her thesis in the Aula of the Radboud University Nijmegen. more >

Mar 03, 2010

International workshop on languages of hunter-gatherers

How does a way of life influence the way we think about our environment? Do hunter-gatherers categorise their physical and social world differently from other groups? To explore such questions and to promote collaborative research on endangered languages, the MPI for Psycholinguistics will co-organise an international workshop on hunter-gatherers and semantic categories. It is funded by the Volkswagen Foundation and will take place in Neuwied, Germany, from May 30 to June 4. more >

Feb 25, 2010

MPI involved in EU project CLARA

Since December 2009, the MPI for Psycholinguistics has been involved in the EU project CLARA – Common Language Resources and their Applications, which is a Marie Curie Initial Training Network. The CLARA network offers an intensive research exchange programme between 16 participating institutions. more >

Feb 17, 2010

LAT newsletter

At the beginning of February the Technical Group of the MPI has started a new web site where it will report all news regarding its LAT software, the MPI linguistic archive, language documentation, and related topics. more >

Feb 08, 2010

Archiving workshop in India

From February 5 to February 8, there was a workshop on documentation and archiving in Guwahati, Assam (India). 22 participants were trained in the recording of audio and video, handling of audio and video files, and use of the LAT software. Jacquelijn Ringersma and Paul Trilsbeek of MPI's technical group were among the workshop trainers. more >

Jan 28, 2010

Motor actions can change our memories

Simple motor actions, like moving marbles upward or downward between two cardboard boxes, may not seem meaningful. But a study published in the April, 2010 issue of Cognition shows that motor actions can partly determine people's emotional memories. Moving marbles upward caused participants to remember more positive life experiences, and moving them downward to remember more negative experiences, according to Daniel Casasanto (MPI Nijmegen) and Katinka Dijkstra (Erasmus University). ‘Meaningless’ motor actions can make people remember the good times or the bad. more >

Jan 21, 2010

Researchers identify universal emotions

Laughter is a universal language, according to a new study of MPI researcher Disa Sauter and others. The study suggests that basic emotions such as amusement, anger, fear and sadness are shared by all humans. It was funded by the Wellcome Trust, Economic and Social Research Council, UCL (University College London), and the University of London Central Research fund. The article has appeared in the Early Edition of this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. more >

Jan 15, 2010

'Close to scientific paradise'

The Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics is 30 years old this very month! During three turbulent decades, the MPI has set the research agenda for the whole world in the psychology of language. Time to look back - and forth - with the institute's founders: Pim Levelt and Wolfgang Klein. One statement might summarise the interview: 'This place comes close to scientific paradise…' more >

Jan 14, 2010

Field work on four continents

Since November 2009, the MPI has a new research group on information structure, headed by Max Planck Fellow Robert Van Valin. The group consists of four enthusiastic researchers doing field work on four different continents - from Oceania to America, from West-Africa to Siberia. 'We can add a couple of dots on the institute's map of MPI field sites.' more >

Jan 11, 2010

Call for applications 2010

Applications are now being accepted for three IMPRS for Language Sciences 2010 PhD Fellowships. Closing date is 5 February 2010. more >

Jan 11, 2010

MPI opens virtual reality lab

From now on, researchers at the MPI for Psycholinguistics can study language in more complex settings, that is, in a virtual reality world. On January 11, 2010, the institute gathered for the official opening of the first virtual reality lab in the world of psycholinguistics. MPI's Technical Group, especially Gerd Klaas and Albert Russel, spent over a year developing the groundbreaking experimental facility that has cost almost half a million euros. more >

Dec 17, 2009

Gesturing enhances speech comprehension

If you need to be understood, let your words and your hands do the talking. Gesturing while speaking helps people to understand your message quickly and clearly. In an international research collaboration, Spencer Kelly (Colgate University, Hamilton, USA), Asli Özyürek (MPI for Psycholinguistics and Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen) and Eric Maris (Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour) showed that gesture and speech mutually and obligatorily interact to enhance language comprehension. Their study will appear in the next issue of Psychological Science. more >

Dec 10, 2009

New book on functional categories in learner language

Research on the spontaneous processes of both children learning their mother tongue and adults learning a second language has shown that early learner languages are based on lexical structures. At some point in acquisition this lexical-semantic system is given up in favor of a target-like functional category system. MPI researcher Christine Dimroth and Peter Jordens (VU Amsterdam) have just published a book on functional categories in learner language in November, 2009. more >

Dec 10, 2009

Step to the left, or step to the east?

Even the way people remember dance moves seems to depend on the culture they come from. While a German or other Westerner might think in terms of 'step to the left, step to the right', a nomadic hunter-gatherer from Namibia will think more in terms of 'step to the east, step to the west'. A new study by a cross-disciplinary team from the MPI's for Psycholinguistics and Evolutionary Anthropology shows that remembering movements of one's own body varies dramatically between cultures. The study will be published in the December 14th issue of Current Biology. more >

Dec 03, 2009

How the body shapes language in the brain

Do people with different kinds of bodies understand language differently? Theories of embodied cognition suggest we understand action language by simulating actions in our minds. Understanding a verb like ‘throw’ involves unconsciously preparing for throwing, using brain areas that allow us to plan and execute this action. Researchers at the MPI for Psycholinguistics and the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour (Radboud University Nijmegen) have discovered that right- and left-handers, who perform actions differently, also use different areas of the brain for representing the meanings of action verbs. Their results will be published in Psychological Science in January 2010. more >

Nov 17, 2009

Exploring ritual communication

Gunter Senft (MPI for Psycholinguistics and University of Cologne) and Ellen Basso (University of Arizona) have recently published an anthology on ritual communication. The volume examines how people create and express meaning through verbal and non-verbal ritual. 'A benchmark work in the exploration of ritual communication', according to Professor Emeritus Richard Bauman (Indiana University). more >

Nov 12, 2009

Genetic tools shed light on linguistic diversity

150 years after Charles Darwin used language genealogies to explain the family tree model in biology, now the tables are being turned: researchers apply modern bioinformatic techniques to illuminate the history of languages. In a study published this week in the open-access journal PLoS Biology, MPI researchers Ger Reesink and Michael Dunn describe the promising possibilities of these genetic analysis tools for linguistic research. more >

Nov 05, 2009

The myth of language universals

There are about 7,000 languages around the world. Cognitive scientists often assume that languages are all built to a common pattern. This widespread assumption seems to be a myth: Not language universals, but diversity can be found on almost every level of linguistic organisation, Stephen Levinson (codirector MPI for Psycholinguistics) and Nicholas Evans (Australian National University) argue in a comprehensive article in October's issue of Behavioral and Brain Sciences. It's entitled: The myth of language universals: Language diversity and its importance for cognitive science. more >

Oct 29, 2009

Traffic lights: like bananas or carrots?

When we see a colour that is somewhere between yellow and orange, we call it 'yellow' if it is on a banana, but 'orange' on a carrot. Our memory for what colours things are can help deal with the inherent ambiguity in the world, caused, for instance, by different lighting conditions. MPI researchers recently discovered that verbal labels influence our colour perception. Their results will be published in the November issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. more >

Oct 28, 2009

Inaugural lecture Nick Enfield

On July 15, 2009, MPI researcher Nicholas (Nick) Enfield (1966, Australia) was appointed Professor in Ethnolinguistics, with special reference to South-East Asia at the Radboud University Nijmegen. His inaugural lecture, entitled 'Human Sociality at the Heart of Language', will be on November 4 in the Aula of the Radboud University at 15:45. more >

Oct 22, 2009

Foreign subtitles improve speech perception

Do you speak English as a second language well, but still have trouble understanding movies with unfamiliar accents, such as Brad Pitt's southern accent in Quentin Tarantino's 'Inglorious Bastards'? In a new study, published in PLoS ONE on November 11, 2009, Holger Mitterer (MPI for Psycholinguistics) and James McQueen (MPI and Radboud University Nijmegen) show how you can improve your second-language listening ability by watching the movie with subtitles. That is, if these subtitles are in the film's language! Subtitles in one's native language, the default in some European countries, are harmful to learning to understand foreign speech. more >

Oct 08, 2009

New research group for MPI

Since October 1, 2009, the MPI for Psycholinguistics has a new research group, headed by the new director Antje Meyer. The group will investigate the origins of individual differences in the way people speak and understand spoken language. Are these differences based on variations in language-specific or general cognitive abilities and skills? more >

Oct 08, 2009

The speaking brain

On October 16, 2009, Peter Hagoort and Willem Levelt, have published a perspective on neuroscience in Science. In this short publication, entitled 'The Speaking Brain', the director and emeritus director of the MPI for Psycholinguistics argue that human speech is a fine-tuned, step-wise neuronal process, in which Broca's area plays a crucial role. more >

Oct 05, 2009

John Searle gives outstanding opening lecture

On 30 September, Professor John Searle of the University of California, Berkeley, held his audience spellbound as he spoke on 'The Nature of Language'. The eminent American language philosopher, averse to polished PowerPoint presentations, just used a paper, pencil and overhead projector to illustrate his latest contributions to the wellknown speech act theory, using his dog Gilbert as a faithful 'figurant'. more >

Sep 24, 2009

Nick Enfield gives inaugural lecture

On July 15, 2009, MPI researcher Nicholas (Nick) Enfield (1966, Australia) was appointed Professor in Ethnolinguistics, with special reference to South-East Asia at the Radboud University Nijmegen. His entertaining inaugural lecture, entitled 'Human Sociality at the Heart of Language', has been on November 4 in the Aula of the Radboud University at 15:45. more >

Sep 24, 2009

'Haute cuisine' inaugural lecture of James McQueen

On January 1, 2009, James McQueen (1965, Scotland) was appointed Professor in 'Learning and Plasticity' at the Radboud University Nijmegen. On October 1, he gave a witty inaugural lecture in the Radboud University Aula, which made an indelible impression on everyone witnessing this 'culinary' speech processing event. more >

Aug 27, 2009

ERC Starting Grant for Nick Enfield

MPI staff member Nick Enfield has been awarded two million euros from the European Research Council (ERC) to set up a 5-year research group under the ERC’s ‘Starting Independent Researcher Grant’ programme. more >

Aug 10, 2009

Good and bad in right- and left-handers

Why is the correct answer called the 'right' answer and not the 'left' answer? Why did the Latin word for right (dexter) give rise to an English word meaning skillful, but the word for left (sinister) to a word meaning evil? A new study by MPI researcher Daniel Casasanto sheds light on the association of good with right and bad with left across languages and cultures. It was published in the August 1, 2009 issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. more >

Jul 16, 2009

Personal values colour sentence comprehension within milliseconds

Moral-ethical and political beliefs colour the way people read survey questions. This ‘colouring’ process takes place well before people become aware of their answers to such questions. This phenomenon was recently discovered through brain measurements conducted by Jos van Berkum from the MPI for Psycholinguistics and researchers from the universities of Amsterdam and Utrecht. The findings are reported in Psychological Science. more >

Jul 08, 2009

RELISH project received joint DFG/NEH funding

The German Research Foundation (DFG) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) have recently approved a German-American project in which MPI's technical group will participate. The RELISH project - rendering endangered languages lexicons interoperable through standards harmonisation - will match key European and American digital standards for lexicons. Until now, the divergence of these lexicons has impeded international collaboration on language technology for resource creation and analysis, as well as web services for archive access. more >

Jul 08, 2009

RELISH project received joint DFG/NEH funding

The German Research Foundation (DFG) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) have recently approved a German-American project in which MPI's technical group will participate. The RELISH project - rendering endangered languages lexicons interoperable through standards harmonisation - will match key European and American digital standards for lexicons. Until now, the divergence of these lexicons has impeded international collaboration on language technology for resource creation and analysis, as well as web services for archive access. more >

Jun 11, 2009

Turn taking in conversation is universal

Do people take turns in natural conversation in the same basic way in all languages, or does the turn-taking system vary in each language? Many anthropologists have suggested the latter, but MPI-researchers have found empirical evidence for robust universals in human conversation. Their study appears in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. more >

Jun 04, 2009

Özyürek gets ERC Starting Grant

Asli Özyürek, member of the Center for Language Studies of the Radboud University Nijmegen and an affiliated MPI researcher recently received a European Research Council Starting Grant of 1.2 million euro, entitled 'Language in our hands: Acquisition of spatial language in deaf and hearing children'. The project will be executed as part of the Center for Language Studies of the Radboud University Nijmegen and located at the MPI for Psycholinguistics from 2010 to 2015. more >

May 29, 2009

Dingemanse finalist in 2008 AAA Photo Contest

Mark Dingemanse, PhD student of the MPI Language and Cognition group, was recently selected as a finalist in the 2008 AAA Photo Contest - an annual photo competition of the American Anthropological Association. more >

May 26, 2009

CLARIN-NL kick-off meeting

On May 27, humanities researchers and technical specialists from the Netherlands gathered in Utrecht to give the green light to the CLARIN-NL project. As the national counterpart of the European CLARIN project, CLARIN-NL aims to make the vast amount of existing linguistic data and software on the internet available to a broad community of scholars. more >

Apr 17, 2009

New Institute website

A brand-new website for the MPI for Psycholinguistics -- the one you're currently looking at -- was launched on April 20, 2009. more >

Apr 17, 2009

fMRI study in twins: genes influence brain activation

Genes may contribute to individual differences in cognitive functions. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) twin study, published in Science, Jan Willem Koten, Jr., Guilherme Wood, Peter Hagoort, Rainer Goebel, Peter Propping, Klaus Willmes and Dorret I. Boomsma found a significant genetic influence on brain activation in neural networks supporting digit working memory tasks. more >

Apr 16, 2009

Opening Midi-Planck

The addition of new research groups at the institute has made extra temporary accomodation necessary. We now have two prefabricated container buildings next to our main building. On March 17 2009, the new accomodation was officially opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony. more >

Apr 16, 2009

Research Report 2007-2008 now available

The Research Report 2007-2008 is now available! This issue covers 2007 and 2008 and focusses on highlights, while telling you where to look for more. more >

Apr 16, 2009

Official opening of the IMPRS for Language Sciences

On September 30, 2009, the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and the Radboud University Nijmegen will officially open the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Language Sciences. This new research school, funded by the Max Planck Society, will offer excellent PhD students an international training and research programme in the broad field of language sciences. Prof. John Searle from the University of California, Berkeley, will lecture on 'The Nature of Language' in the Radboud University Aula at 17.15. more >

Mar 06, 2009

Outstanding paper award for Claus Zinn

Emerald Literati Network 2009 Awards for Excellence more >

Jan 20, 2009

Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour

MPI for Psycholinguistics partner in the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour. September 1 is the starting date of the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour. more >

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