News

Marijt Witteman defends PhD on February 22

Feb 18, 2013

How do listeners adapt to foreign-accented speech? Our perceptual system is remarkably flexible and able to deal with a speaker with a foreign accent quickly and automatically, Marijt Witteman concludes in her dissertation research. She will defend her thesis 'Lexical processing of foreign-accented speech: Rapid and flexible adaptation' on February 22 at 10:30, in the Radboud University Aula. more >

AVT/Anéla Dissertatieprijs for Mark Dingemanse

Feb 12, 2013

Mark Dingemanse of the MPI's Language and Cognition Department has been awarded the AVT/Anéla Dissertatieprijs. He received the award for the best dissertation in linguistics in the Netherlands in 2011, for his dissertation 'The Meaning and Use of Ideophones in Siwu'. The jury praised the thesis as "an exceptionally thorough piece of work, very well written and accessible to a degree rarely exhibited in dissertations in linguistics". more >

Human Brain Project wins largest science funding in history

Jan 28, 2013

The European Commission has officially announced the selection of the Human Brain Project (HBP) as one of its two FET Flagship projects. The new project will federate European efforts to address one of the greatest challenges of modern science: understanding the human brain. Peter Hagoort, director of the MPI for Psycholinguistics and Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, is among the scientists who contribute to the daring enterprise. more >

2013 Nijmegen Lectures presented by Willem Levelt

Jan 24, 2013

From January 28-30, Willem Levelt, one of the founders of the MPI for Psycholinguistics, will present lectures on his recently-released book: 'On the Pre-Chomskyan History of Psycholinguistics'. more >

Attila Andics defends PhD on January 16

Jan 10, 2013

Identifying someone from his or her voice is a basic social ability. But how do people recognise a person from his speech? Attila Andics (Language Comprehension Department) used brain imaging techniques to investigate the neural mechanisms that make us proficient speaker recognisers. He will defend his thesis 'Who is talking? Behavioural and neural evidence for norm-based coding in voice identity learning' on January 16, 2013 in the aula of the Radboud University Nijmegen at 15:30. more >

Minister awards cheques for Gravity Programme 2012

Dec 20, 2012

On December 14, the Minister of Education, Culture and Science Jet Bussemaker distributed the cheques to representatives of the six consortia of excellence that were awarded funding for their Gravity Programme 2012. The award ceremony took place at the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) in The Hague. more >

Taalcanon: Everything you always wanted to know about language

Nov 26, 2012

Does language hurt? Does it colour your world view? Is there something like a linguistic talent? De Taalcanon is a new book about language and all its facets. The more than fifty chapters -- some of them written by experts from the MPI for Psycholinguistics and the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour -- aim to cover everything you always wanted to know about language. more >

27,6 million euros for Language in Interaction consortium

Nov 15, 2012

The MPI for Psycholinguistics, Radboud University Nijmegen (Donders Institute, Centre for Language Studies) and University of Amsterdam (Institute for Language, Logic and Computation) have been awarded funding of €27,6 million for their joint proposal for fundamental research on language from genetic building blocks all the way to social interaction. The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has awarded consortia of world leading researchers in the Netherlands. These subsidies are intended to help ensure that first-rate proposals bear fruit as world-class research. more >

Peter Hagoort becomes member of Academia Europaea

Nov 15, 2012

Peter Hagoort, director of the MPI for Psycholinguistics and the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, has been invited by the Academia Europaea to become a member of the Academy of Europe. Hagoort's membership will officially start in September 2013, when the Academy meets in Poland. more >

Levelt presents pre-Chomskyan history of language

Nov 08, 2012

'Everything you ever wanted to know about psycholinguistics', but also 'Everything you didn't even know had been done in psycholinguistics', summarizes Dan I. Slobin (University of California) on the cover of Willem Levelt's new book 'A History of Psycholinguistics --The Pre-Chomskyan Era', that has just appeared. The book comprehensively describes the generation of the discipline and its four historical roots. Quoting Steven Pinker (Harvard University): 'Every language scientist should read this book'. more >

Connie de Vos defends PhD on November 6

Oct 26, 2012

In a small village in the north of Bali called Bengkala, relatively many people inherit deafness. The Balinese therefore refer to this village as Desa Kolok, which means 'deaf village'. Connie de Vos studied Kata Kolok, the sign language of this village, and the ways in which the language recruits space to talk about both spatial and non-spatial matters. She will defend her thesis 'Sign-Spatiality in Kata Kolok: how a village sign language of Bali inscribes its signing space' on November 6 at 15:30, in the Radboud University Aula. more >

How your genome helps you speak

Oct 12, 2012

From October 13 to 17, the Society for Neuroscience will have its 42nd annual meeting, this time in New Orleans. More than 30,000 people are expected to attend the world's largest forum for neuroscientists. Simon Fisher, director of MPI's Language and Genetics Department, will give the first Presidential Special Lecture about the human genome and how it helps us speak. more >

Federico Rossano defends PhD on October 5

Oct 04, 2012

How do people use their eyes and their bodies in face-to-face interactions? Federico Rossano of MPI's Language and Cognition Department found that we use our gaze in a systematic way during natural conversations. He will defend his thesis 'Gaze behaviour in face-to-face interaction' on October 5 at 10:30, in the Radboud University Aula. more >

Ig Nobel Prize for Tulio Guadalupe

Sep 27, 2012

Leaning to the left makes the Eiffel Tower seem smaller, psychologists Anita Eerland, Rolf Zwaan (Erasmus University Rotterdam) and Tulio Guadalupe (MPI & Donders Institute) recently discovered. Their study was awarded an 2012 Ig Nobel Prize. The award ceremony took place on September 20th at Sanders Theater, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. more >

Study shows ancient relations between language families

Sep 21, 2012

How do language families evolve over many thousands of years? How stable over time are structural features of languages? MPI researchers Dan Dediu and Stephen Levinson introduced a new method using Bayesian phylogenetic approaches to analyse the evolution of structural features in more than 50 language families. Their paper 'Abstract profiles of structural stability point to universal tendencies, family-specific factors, and ancient connections between languages' was published online on September 20, 2012 in PLOS ONE. more >

Anne Cutler takes her leave from Radboud University

Sep 19, 2012

Anne Cutler (Melbourne, 1945), director of the MPI for Psycholinguistics and Professor at the universities of Nijmegen and Western Sydney, will soon take her leave from Nijmegen, having accomplished a Magnum opus about native language. Cutler will move back to Australia, where she will continue doing psycholinguistic research. "I am moving back home," Cutler says in this week's Radboud Magazine. She will deliver her farewell lecture on September 20 at 15:00, in the Radboud University Aula. more >

"Remarkable book" by Anne Cutler

Sep 14, 2012

Understanding speech in our native tongue seems natural and effortless; listening to speech in a non-native language is a different experience. In 'Native Listening -- Language Experience and the Recognition of Spoken Words' Anne Cutler, MPI director and Professor at the University of Western Sydney, Australia, argues that listening to speech is a process of native listening because so much of it is exquisitely tailored to the requirements of the native language. more >

Nijmegen Cognomics officially launched

Sep 13, 2012

On September 12, 2012, the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, and Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics launched their new initiative, which seeks to bridge the gap between the genes that we inherit and the way our minds work. more >

Majid appointed Professor of Language, Communication, and Cultural Cognition

Sep 04, 2012

As of September 1, 2012, Asifa Majid has been appointed Professor of Language, Communication, and Cultural Cognition at the Center for Language Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen. She will be running her NWO Vici Grant on human olfaction at the intersection of language, culture and biology. Majid is researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour in Nijmegen. more >

Chimpanzees create social traditions

Aug 29, 2012

Researchers have revealed that chimpanzees are not only capable of learning from one another, but also use this social information to form and maintain local traditions. A research collaboration between the Gonzaga University (Spokane, Washington, USA) and the Max Planck Institutes (Nijmegen, Leipzig) shows that the way in which chimpanzees groom each other depends on the community to which they belong. Specifically, it is the unique handclasp grooming behaviour that reveals this local difference. The study was reported in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B on August 29. more >

Indo-European languages originate in Anatolia

Aug 23, 2012

The Indo-European languages belong to one of the widest spread language families of the world. For the last two millenia, many of these languages have been written, and their history is relatively clear. But controversy remains about the time and place of the origins of the family. A large international team, including MPI researcher Michael Dunn, reports the results of an innovative Bayesian phylogeographic analysis of Indo-European linguistic and spatial data. Their paper 'Mapping the Origins and Expansion of the Indo-European Language Family' appeared this week in Science. more >

Young children can predict upcoming words

Aug 15, 2012

Two-year-olds, especially children with large production vocabularies, are able to predict upcoming words in a sentence, Falk Huettig (MPI and RU) and Nivedita Mani (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) recently discovered. Their study 'Prediction during language processing is a piece of cake - But only for skilled producers' was published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. more >

Academy Professor Prize for Peter Hagoort

Jun 28, 2012

On Thursday June 21, MPI director Peter Hagoort and Professor Ewine van Dishoeck (Leiden University) received the Academy Professor Prize from Hans Clevers, president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). Both scientists will receive a sum of one million euros in support of their research. more >

Semantic processing occurs in both hemispheres

Jun 20, 2012

Semantic, lexical and syntactic processes appear to be carried out in partly overlapping and partly distinct brain networks. The classic left-hemispheric dominance for language is present for syntax, but not semantics, MPI researchers Laura Menenti, Katrien Segaert and Peter Hagoort demonstrate in their paper 'The neuronal infrastructure of speaking'. The study was published online in the journal Brain and Language on June 19, 2012. more >

Reyhan Furman defends PhD on June 20

Jun 19, 2012

Reyhan Furman of MPI's Communication before Language Group and the Centre for Language Studies (RU) will defend her thesis 'Caused Motion Events in Turkish: Verbal and Gestural Representation in Adults and Children' on June 20 at 13:30, in the Radboud University aula. One of her key findings is that, from the start, children are tuned into language-specific patterns both in their speech and gesture. more >

Vidi Grants for two MPI researchers

Jun 15, 2012

MPI researchers Dan Dediu and Odette Scharenborg both received Vidi Grants for innovative research from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Dediu will investigate genetic variation and genetic biases in order to explain language diversity, while Scharenborg will study the effect of noise on non-native spoken-word recognition. Both topics have received little attention in research. more >

Workshop: Multimodality and Language Learning

Jun 13, 2012

On June 14, the Nijmegen Gesture Center (NGC) will hold its third workshop: Multimodality and Language Learning. The workshop will bring together international leading researchers who work with hearing and deaf children learning sign languages on topics including the role of body, iconicity, visual context, action perception/understanding, joint attention and multimodal input on language learning. more >

MPI Proudly Presents

Jun 11, 2012

In a special one-day meeting on Tuesday, June 26, three Departments at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics will highlight their recent research. All are welcome and registration is required. more >

IMPRS workshop Relations in Relativity "great success"

Jun 04, 2012

How does language influence the way we think? This question was central at the workshop 'Relations in Relativity: New Perspectives on Language and Thought', held on the Nijmegen campus from May 9-11, 2012. The workshop was the first organised entirely by IMPRS for Language Sciences students. more >

"Study of kinship categories set for revival"

May 25, 2012

Why do humans have the conceptual categories they do, like terms for colours, smells, or kinship? Research into kinship systems once flourished, but then became unfashionable. MPI director Stephen C. Levinson signals a revival of kinship studies, but suggests it needs complementing by recent work in the evolutionary modeling of culture. His Perspective in Science on 'Kinship and Human Thought' was published on May 25. more >

Prestigious Otto Hahn Medal for Matthias Sjerps

May 04, 2012

Since 1978, the Max Planck Society has honoured up to 30 young scientists and researchers each year for outstanding scientific achievements. This year, Matthias Sjerps of MPI's Psychology of Language Department received this prestigious award for his 2011 dissertation at MPI's Language Comprehension Department about the way listeners manage to deal with variation in speech. The official ceremony will be on June 13 in Düsseldorf. more >

Older adults adapting to foreign accents

May 04, 2012

How do older adults adapt to speech with an unfamiliar accent? Can we identify which listener characteristics predict how quickly older adults improve on an accent they have never heard before? Yes we can, Esther Janse (MPI) and Patti Adank (University of Manchester) conclude in a study that was published online on April 25 in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. Adults with better vocabulary knowledge and attentional abilities performed best. more >

Nijmegen Lectures 2011 available online

Apr 26, 2012

The 2011 Nijmegen Lectures were given by Nicholas Evans (Australian National University), on the topic of Coevolutionary Linguistics: Diversity, Culture, Mind and History. Videos of his lectures are now available to view on the MPI website. more >

Crowd-sourcing connects genes, brain volume, and intelligence

Apr 16, 2012

In the largest collaborative study of the brain to date, world-leading experts at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour and the MPI for Psycholinguistics (Peter Hagoort and Martine Hoogman), together with more than 200 international colleagues of the ENIGMA and CHARGE consortia, pooled and analysed brain imaging results from about 21,000 people. "This large-scale study is really unique," says Professor Barbara Franke of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, one of the senior authors. Nature Genetics published the series of papers online on April 15. more >

Young children and chimpanzees copy behaviour of majority

Apr 13, 2012

A recent study by MPI researchers offers some news for parents: even toddlers have a tendency to follow the crowd. That sensitivity isn’t unique to humans either; chimpanzees also appear more likely to pick up habits if "everyone else is doing it." more >

Hagoort awarded prestigious Academy Professor Prize

Apr 04, 2012

Peter Hagoort, director of the MPI for Psycholinguistics and the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour (Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging), is the recipient of this year’s Academy Professor Prize, awarded by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). The prize is worth one million euro in research funds and is intended as a lifetime achievement award for researchers who have demonstrated that they are absolute leaders in their field of expertise. The award ceremony will take place on June 21, 2012. more >

Levelt honoured with 'Bundesverdienstkreuz mit Stern'

Apr 03, 2012

On April 10, Willem Levelt, director emeritus of the MPI for Psycholinguistics, will receive the 'Bundesverdienstkreuz mit Stern' (Order of Merit) of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Order of Merit is awarded to individuals for their political, economic, social or intellectual achievements. more >

Reading ability influences anticipatory eye movements

Mar 28, 2012

Formal literacy seems to be related to anticipatory language-mediated eye movements, MPI researcher Falk Huettig and his Indian colleagues at the University of Allahabad have recently discovered. Their paper 'Spoken language-mediated anticipatory eye-movements are modulated by reading ability - Evidence from Indian low and high literates' was published on March 14 in the Journal of Eye Movement Research. more >

New issue of CNS student journal

Mar 19, 2012

The newest issue of the Proceedings of the Master's Programme Cognitive Neuroscience is released on March 21. This 7th volume will be formally launched with a session of short talks about publishing in neuroscience at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour at 16:30. The event and concluding borrel will be open to everyone. more >

Birgit Knudsen defends PhD on March 20

Mar 14, 2012

Do young infants actively use their sensitivity to other people's beliefs when interacting with them? Yes, they do, as Birgit Knudsen discovered during her dissertation research at MPI's Communication before Language group. She will defend her thesis 'Infants' appreciation of others' mental states in prelinguistic communication: A second-person approach to mind-reading' on March 20 at 13:30, in the Radboud University aula. more >

Frame of reference determines neural activation

Feb 17, 2012

People use different areas in the brain to process ambiguous sentences depending on the frames of reference chosen, Gabriele Janzen (RU), Daniel Haun (MPI) and Stephen Levinson (MPI) show in a recent paper 'Tracking down abstract linguistic meaning: Neural correlates of spatial frame of reference ambiguities in language'. The study was published online in PLoS ONE on February 17, 2012. more >

Katrien Segaert defends PhD on February 20

Feb 16, 2012

Katrien Segaert of MPI's Neurobiology of language department will defend her thesis 'Structuring language: Contributions to the neurocognition of syntax' on February 20 at 13:30, in the Radboud University aula. She found, among other things, that speakers are strongly inclined to re-use syntactic structures in new sentences. more >

Still no evidence for an ancient language expansion from Africa

Feb 10, 2012

On April 15, 2011, Science published a paper by Quentin Atkinson (University of Auckland, New Zealand), in which he proposed that the distribution of modern linguistic diversity shows traces of a single language origin in Africa. If this were true, it would increase the reach of historical linguistic inference by an order of magnitude. However MPI researcher Dan Dediu and his colleagues at Ludwig Maximilian University (Munich) cast doubt on Atkinson’s proposal, showing that with more realistic data and more appropriate methods the effect disappears. On February 10, 2012, their technical comments were published in Science. more >

Right hemisphere influenced by speech context

Feb 03, 2012

Speech perception involves both hemispheres of the human brain, but not in the same way. Speech sounds vary a lot among speakers, depending on a speaker's build, age, and gender, but listeners quite easily understand them. How does the brain achieve this? The right hemisphere is more strongly influenced by speech context (which can contain clues to speaker-specific characteristics), while the left hemisphere trusts more what the ears actually hear, MPI researchers Matthias Sjerps, Holger Mitterer and James McQueen recently discovered. Their paper 'Hemispheric differences in the effects of context on vowel perception' was published last week in the journal Brain and Language. more >

MPI "Language of perception" project featured on Dutch television documentary

Jan 24, 2012

The popular science TV programme Labyrint will feature MPI's research project "The Language of Perception", in an episode that explores the nature of language and the importance of linguistic diversity. Asifa Majid and Mark Dingemanse, researchers at MPI's Language and cognition department, talk about their research on language and perception and their fieldwork in Malaysia and Ghana respectively. The episode will be aired on Wednesday, January 25, 20:55 on Nederland 2. more >

Great apes make sophisticated decisions

Dec 22, 2011

Chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas and bonobos make more sophisticated decisions than was previously thought. Great apes weigh their chances of success, based on what they know and the likelihood to succeed when guessing, according to a study of MPI researcher Daniel Haun, published on December 21 in the online journal PLoS ONE. The findings may provide insight into human decision-making as well. more >

Two MPI researchers receive Vici Grants

Dec 20, 2011

MPI researchers Asifa Majid and Mirjam Ernestus both received Vici Grants of 1.5 million euro for innovative research from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Majid will investigate human olfaction at the intersection of language, culture and biology, while Ernestus will study how people learn pronunciation variants for words in a foreign language. more >

Exploring the Tuma underworld of love

Dec 06, 2011

The Trobriand Islanders of Papua New Guinea have a special relation with the spirits of the dead that 'live' in their underworld paradise, Tuma. Gunter Senft, researcher at MPI's Language and Cognition Department, published a new book about the Tuma underworld of love, the Trobriand Islanders' erotic and other narrative songs, and their spirits of the dead. more >

Language test as a smartphone app

Dec 02, 2011

Researchers from the MPI for Psycholinguistics and colleagues in France, Spain, the US, Belgium, the UK and Singapore have developed an app that enables scientists to collect large volumes of data on language processing in the brain. In just four months, they have collected the volume of data it would normally take them three years to obtain. The study was recently published in PloS ONE. more >

Matthias Sjerps defends PhD on November 28

Nov 25, 2011

How do listeners manage to deal with variation in speech? They rely on cues in the speech context, Matthias Sjerps, PhD at MPI's Language Comprehension Department, concludes. On November 28 at 15:30, in the Radboud University aula he will defend his thesis 'Adjusting to different speakers: Extrinsic normalization in vowel perception'. more >

Remembering our dear colleague Melissa Bowerman

Nov 17, 2011

Researchers and staff at MPI were deeply saddened to learn of the death of Melissa Bowerman, senior scientist emerita of MPI's Language Acquisition Department. Melissa passed away unexpectedly on October 31, after a brief illness. more >

Caroline Junge defends PhD on November 17

Nov 16, 2011

Infants learn their mother tongue remarkably easily and at an incredible speed. But if they cannot recognise words within continuous speech, they will be hindered in building up a vocabulary, according to Caroline Junge of MPI's Neurobiology of Language Department. She will defend her thesis 'The relevance of early word recognition: Insights from the infant brain' on November 17 at 15:30, in the Radboud University aula. more >

Francisco Torreira defends PhD on November 14

Nov 14, 2011

Francisco Torreira will defend his thesis 'Speech reduction in spontaneous French and Spanish' on November 14 at 13:30, in the Radboud University aula. The researcher from MPI's Language and Cognition Department found, among other things, that speech reduction can vary greatly across languages. more >

Marco van de Ven successfully defends PhD

Nov 10, 2011

On November 2, Marco van de Ven successfully defended his thesis 'The role of acoustic detail and context in the comprehension of reduced pronunciation variants'. In his dissertation, he investigated which types of information contribute to the recognition of words in everyday listening situations, and to what extent. more >

Preschool children already subject to peer pressure

Nov 07, 2011

Children are sensitive to the opinion and behaviour of adults from a young age. Researchers from the Max Planck Institutes for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen and Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig have found that four-year-old children are also subject to pressure from their peers. The study, from Daniel Haun and Michael Tomasello, was published in the journal Child Development on October 24. more >

Understanding emotions without language

Oct 28, 2011

Does understanding emotions depend on the language we speak, or is our perception the same regardless of language and culture? According to a new study by researchers from the MPI for Psycholinguistics and the MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology, you don't need to have words for emotions to understand them. The results of the study were published online on October 17 in Emotion, a journal of the American Psychological Association. The study provides new evidence that the perception of emotional signals is not driven by language, supporting the view that emotions constitute a set of biologically evolved mechanisms, says lead researcher Disa Sauter. more >

PhD Defence Mark Dingemanse on October 24

Oct 21, 2011

Ideophones are words like kerplop or hippety-hoppety in English or sinisinisini ‘closely woven’, nyɛnɛnɛ ‘sensation of shivering’, and gelegelegele ‘shiny appearance’ in Siwu. They can be recognised by their marked forms and vivid sensory meanings. While in English they are marginal and low in number, some languages have hundreds or thousands of them, says Mark Dingemanse, MPI researcher at the Language and Cognition department. He studied these sensory words in Siwu, a language spoken in Ghana. On October 24 at 15:30, in the Radboud University aula, Dingemanse will defend his thesis 'The meaning and use of ideophones in Siwu'. more >

Children, but not chimpanzees, choose collaboration

Oct 13, 2011

From a young age, human children prefer to work together in solving a problem rather than on their own. Chimpanzees, however, show no such preference, according to researchers from the MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig) and the MPI for Psycholinguistics (Nijmegen) in a study that was reported in the October 13th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. more >

Official opening of The Language Archive in Berlin

Oct 10, 2011

Languages evolve, change and expire. Due to globalisation, migration and innovation, languages are rapidly disappearing. To prevent the loss of valuable data for linguistic and cultural research, a language archive has been developed, containing 80 Terabytes of data from more than 200 languages across the world. On October 11, a new unit called The Language Archive (TLA) will be officially opened at the Berlin Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (BBAW) to intensify the efforts. more >

PhD Defence Lin Wang on October 11

Oct 05, 2011

How do people make use of information structure to guide their communication? Or, how does information structure influence the depth of semantic and syntactic aspects of language processing? People seem to recruit more attentional resources to the most relevant (focused) information, Lin Wang discovered during her dissertation research at MPI's Neurobiology of Language Department. On October 11 at 15:30, in the Radboud University aula she will defend her thesis 'The influence of information structure on language comprehension: A neurocognitive perspective'. more >

PhD Defence Sonja Gipper on September 23

Sep 22, 2011

Evidentiality is still one of the least understood grammatical categories. MPI researcher Sonja Gipper specialises in the evidential system in Yurakaré, an endangered language spoken in Central Bolivia. On September 23 at 10:30, in the Radboud University aula she will defend her thesis 'Evidentiality and intersubjectivity in Yurakaré: An interactional account'. more >

Symposium to celebrate 100 years Max Planck Society

Sep 21, 2011

On September 15, the MPI for Psycholinguistics organised a symposium at the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (KNAW) to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Max Planck Society. Ten of more than 80 German institutes are currently headed by Dutch directors. They were individually portrayed in short videos, followed by panel discussions about the relations between German and Dutch science, and the ample possibilities of the MPS for young researchers. more >

ERC Starting Grant for Mirjam Ernestus

Sep 09, 2011

How do learners of a foreign language understand spontaneous speech in that language? For years, Mirjam Ernestus (RU and MPI) has been studying the language comprehension process, especially the way people understand the ubiquitous phenomenon known as reduced speech. The European Research Council recently awarded her a Starting Grant of 1,5 million euro for her research. more >

Speaking and listening share brain infrastructure

Sep 07, 2011

The areas of the brain that are involved in the linguistic processes underlying speaking and listening overlap to a large extent, neuroscientists at the MPI for Psycholinguistics and the Donders Institute have recently discovered. They were the first to have succesfully investigated the potential overlap in neuronal infrastructure using fMRI. Pyschological Science online published their striking results in August, 2011. more >

Large overlap in grammatical processing for speaking and comprehending

Aug 31, 2011

Contrary to popular belief, our cognitive system contains only one mechanism for grammatical encoding and decoding, as shown in a MPI/Leiden University study that was recently published in the journal Language and Cognitive Processes. Is it time to revise all theories of language performance that presuppose separate mechanisms for the grammatical aspects of language production and language comprehension? Parmenides of Elea would think so! more >

Foxp2 helps wiring of neurons in developing brain

Jul 07, 2011

Foxp2, a gene involved in speech and language, helps regulate the wiring of neurons in the brain, according to a study led by Sonja C. Vernes and Simon E. Fisher (Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Oxford and MPI, Nijmegen). The study was published on July 7th in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics. The researchers identified this functional link by first uncovering the genetic programmes downstream of Foxp2 in developing brain tissue and then analysing its functional effects in neurons. more >

Levelt honoured as member of Orden Pour le mérite

Jun 16, 2011

The section of the "Orden Pour le mérite" in Berlin has appointed Prof. Dr. Willem Levelt, director (Emer.) and founder of the MPI for Psycholinguistics, as a new member of the "Orden Pour le mérite for Sciences and Arts". The membership of this order is one of the most renowned German awards for artists and scientists who enjoy outstanding respect worldwide for their excellent contributions. Levelt was honoured as a member of the order in a ceremony that took place in Berlin on May 29, 2011, in the presence of Federal President Christian Wulff. more >

Asli Özyürek gives inaugural lecture on May 26

May 24, 2011

Since September 2010, Asli Özyürek (RU Nijmegen and MPI) has been Professor of Gesture, Language and Cognition at the Radboud University Nijmegen. On May 26, 2011 at 15:45, she will give an inaugural lecture in the Aula of the Radboud University. more >

Eva Reinisch receives prestigious Otto Hahn Medal

May 02, 2011

Each year, the Max Planck Society awards up to 30 young scientists and researchers for outstanding scientific achievements. Eva Reinisch of MPI's Adaptive Listening group received this prestigious award for her dissertation in 2010 about listeners' use of temporal information to recognise spoken words in their native language. On June 8, 2011, there will be an official ceremony in Berlin. more >

Melissa Bowerman elected Fellow of American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Apr 26, 2011

Melissa Bowerman, senior scientist emerita of MPI's Language Acquisition Department, has been elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. There will be an induction ceremony for the 2011 Fellows at the Academy's headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts on October 1, 2011. more >

Nijmegen Lectures 2010 available online

Apr 19, 2011

The 2010 Nijmegen Lectures were given by Aniruddh D. Patel (The Neurosciences Institute, California), on the topic of Music, Language, and the Brain. Videos of his lectures 'Rhythm and melody' and 'Syntax and meaning' are now available to view on the MPI website. more >

Weak evidence for word-order universals

Apr 13, 2011

On April 13, 2011, MPI researchers Michael Dunn and Stephen Levinson's paper, 'Evolved structure of language shows lineage-specific trends in word-order universals', has been published online in Nature. Using Bayesian phylogenetic methods, the authors show that the 'rules' governing word order change are different in different language families, casting doubt on universal theories of grammar. more >

Decision made on design for new annex

Apr 07, 2011

On March 27, 2011, a proposal submitted by Heinle, Wischler und Partner, Freie Architekten, Stuttgart was chosen as the winning design for MPI's new annex. more >

PhD Defence Annelie Tuinman on April 6

Apr 06, 2011

How do we perceive casual speech in a second language? Is it easier to perceive casual speech processes in a second language when these processes are familiar from our native language? Yes it is, Annelie Tuinman discovered during her PhD research: Familiarity seems to play a crucial role in the perception of casual speech. On April 6, 2011, she will defend her thesis 'Processing casual speech in native and non-native language' in the aula of the Radboud University Nijmegen at 15:30. more >

PhD Defence Stuart P. Robinson on April 5

Apr 04, 2011

On April 5, 2011, Stuart P. Robinson of MPI's Language and Cognition department will defend his thesis 'Split Intransitivity in Rotokas, a Papuan Language of Bougainville' in the aula of the Radboud University Nijmegen at 15:30. His research provides an in-depth study of the grammar of a relatively undescribed Papuan language. more >

Jerrold J. Katz award for Adriana Hanulikova

Mar 21, 2011

Adriana Hanulikova, affiliated researcher at MPI's Adaptive Listening group, has won the annual Jerrold J. Katz award. The award will be officially announced during CUNY 2011, the annual Conference on Human Language Processing, hosted by Stanford University from March 24 to 26, 2011. more >

Heinz-Billing-Award 2011 for Peter Wittenburg

Mar 18, 2011

The Heinz-Billing-Award 2011 is awarded to Peter Wittenburg. The prize is donated every two years by the Max Planck Society for the advancement of scientific computation. Wittenburg is head of MPI's Language Archive group. more >

Research Report 2009-2010 now available

Mar 16, 2011

The Research Report 2009-2010 is now available. The biennial issue covers highlights of research at the MPI for Psycholinguistics in 2009 and 2010. Managing Director Peter Hagoort states in the preface: 'The institute is a dynamic engine of new research, fully prepared to meet the challenges, scientific and otherwise, of the second decade of the 21st century'. more >

PhD Defence Ian FitzPatrick on March 16

Mar 14, 2011

On March 16, 2011, Ian FitzPatrick will defend his thesis, 'Lexical interactions in non-native speech comprehension: Evidence from electro-encephalography, eye-tracking, and functional magnetic resonance imaging'. The defence will take place in the Aula of the Radboud University Nijmegen at 15:30. more >

A glove on your hand can change your mind

Mar 10, 2011

Unconsciously, right-handers associate good with the right side of space and bad with the left. But this association can be rapidly changed, according to a study published online March 9, 2011 in Psychological Science, by MPI researcher Daniel Casasanto and Evangelia Chrysikou (University of Pennsylvania). Even a few minutes of using the left hand more fluently than the right can reverse right-handers’ judgements of good and bad, making them think that the left is the 'right side' of space. Conceptions of good and bad are rooted in people’s bodily experiences, and can change when patterns of bodily experience change. more >

How do languages encode sensory perception?

Feb 24, 2011

The Senses and Society journal has published a special issue on The Senses in Language and Culture featuring the work of a dozen researchers from MPI's Language & Cognition group. The issue presents some of the first results of the Language of Perception project, an ambitious endeavour that studies how languages encode sensory perception in fieldsites across the world using a combination of standardised elicitation tasks and in-depth linguistic and ethnographic description. more >

New issue of Cognitive Neuroscience

Feb 21, 2011

On February 25, 2011, a new issue of the Proceedings of the Master's Programme Cognitive Neuroscience will be launched. The formal presentation of volume 6 will take place at 4:15 pm in the colloquium room of Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Kapittelweg 29. more >

fMRI signal more complex than assumed

Feb 16, 2011

In a publication in Neuron last week, Marcel Bastiaansen (MPI) and René Scheeringa (Donders Institute) show that the relation between an fMRI signal and brain activity is not as straightforward as was previously assumed. more >

Cultures think differently about space

Jan 31, 2011

How do different cultures think about space? Is there one universal strategy or do spatial language and spatial cognition vary across cultures? The latter seems to be the case, researchers have known for some years. Dutch children talk and think about space in relation to their own bodies, whereas children from a Namibian hunter-gatherer group use compass directions. MPI researchers Daniel Haun and his colleagues recently discovered that these differences persist in more difficult tasks and after training. Last week, their online publication appeared in Cognition. more >

Do chimpanzees mourn their dead infants?

Jan 26, 2011

For the first time, MPI researchers report in detail how a chimpanzee mother responds to the death of her infant. The chimpanzee mother shows behaviours not typically seen directed toward live infants, such as placing her fingers against the neck and laying the infant’s body on the ground to watch it from a distance. The observations of Katherine Cronin and Edwin van Leeuwen provide unique insights into how chimpanzees, one of humans’ closest primate relatives, learn about death. Their commentary appears online this week in the American Journal of Primatology. more >

New book on endangered languages

Jan 13, 2011

Gunter Senft, Professor at MPI for Psycholinguistics and the University of Cologne, has recently published a new anthology about endangered languages, entitled 'Endangered Austronesian and Australian Aboriginal languages: Essays on language documentation, archiving and revitalization'. more >

PhD Defence Miriam Ellert on January 7

Jan 06, 2011

How do native speakers and L2 learners of German and Dutch resolve personal and d-pronouns in ambiguous discourse? On January 7, 2011, Miriam Ellert will defend her thesis on the topic of ambiguous pronoun resolution in the Aula of the Radboud University Nijmegen at 10:30. more >

PhD Defence Susanne Brouwer on December 20

Dec 17, 2010

On December 20, 2010, Susanne Brouwer will defend her thesis, called 'Processing strongly reduced forms in casual speech'. The defence will take place in the Aula of the Radboud University Nijmegen at 10:30. more >

2011 IMPRS for Language Sciences fellowships

Dec 09, 2010

The International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Language Sciences is now looking for excellent students to take up three fellowship positions in September 2011. more >

Levinson awarded prestigious ERC Advanced Grant

Dec 02, 2010

MPI director Stephen Levinson has been awarded a prestigious 2.5 million euro ERC Advanced Grant. The five-year project aims to fast-start an interdisciplinary science of human communicative interaction, focusing on the underlying properties of sequences of contingent actions. more >

Peter Hagoort featured in documentary

Nov 18, 2010

On November 21, 2010, Dutch television will broadcast a 40-minute documentary about Peter Hagoort, director of MPI for Psycholinguistics and Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour. 'De Magie van Wetenschap - Niet voor Bangeriken' ('The Magic of Science - Not for Scaredy cats') was made by Jeroen Berkvens, a well-known director of documentary films. more >

Remembering our colleague Werner Deutsch

Nov 04, 2010

Researchers at MPI were saddened to learn of the death of Werner Deutsch, Professor at the Technical University of Braunschweig. Werner passed away unexpectedly on October 12, 2010. more >

ERC Starting Grant for Niclas Burenhult

Oct 28, 2010

Niclas Burenhult (Lund University and MPI) has recently been awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant of 1.5 million euro. His project is called 'Language, cognition and landscape (LACOLA): understanding cross-cultural and individual variation in geographical ontology.' more >

Vidi Grants for two MPI researchers

Oct 14, 2010

On October 11, 2010, MPI researchers Esther Janse and Aoju Chen received Vidi grants for Innovational Research from NWO, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. Janse will study variability in speech comprehension in young and older adults, while Chen will investigate how children from different language backgrounds acquire the use of prosody to highlight important information. more >

New MPI department: Language & Genetics

Sep 21, 2010

On October 1, 2010, the MPI for Psycholinguistics will be extended with a new department on Language & Genetics, headed by Simon E. Fisher of Oxford University. It will be the first research department in the world entirely devoted to understanding the relationship between language and genes. more >

Exhibition on work of Paul de Swaaf

Sep 20, 2010

The MPI for Psycholinguistics displays several works of art of Paul de Swaaf (1934-2008), a well-known Dutch sculptor who started his artistic career as illustrator at the Radboud University Nijmegen. Most remarkable are his nine busts in the MPI entrance hall, representing the founding 'pioneers' of psycholinguistics. This coming month, art gallery Unita in Beek-Ubbergen will devote a general exhibition on De Swaaf's work, to be opened by MPI director Willem Levelt on Sunday, September 26 at 15:00 pm. more >

New book on language of Trobriand Islanders

Sep 10, 2010

Gunter Senft, Professor at the MPI for Psycholinguistics and the University of Cologne, has recently published a book on Kilivila, the language of the Trobriand Islanders, entitled 'The Trobriand Islanders' Ways of Speaking'. It represents the Trobriand Islanders' indigenous typology of the varieties of Kilivila and their constituting genres. more >

Levelt appointed to Orden Pour le mérite

Sep 08, 2010

The German Embassy in The Hague has recently announced that Willem Levelt, director (Emer.) and founder of the MPI for Psycholinguistics, has been appointed member of the Orden Pour le mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste on May 30, 2010. On September 25, Levelt will be officially introduced to all Orden members. more >

Özyürek appointed Professor of Gesture, Language and Cognition

Sep 08, 2010

Aslι Özyürek (MPI and RU Nijmegen) has been appointed Professor of Gesture, Language and Cognition at the Radboud University Nijmegen. Özyürek was appointed on September 1 and her inauguration will take place in May 2011. more >

Some language aspects change slower than others

Sep 06, 2010

On September 1, 2010, MPI researcher Dan Dediu's paper, 'A Bayesian phylogenetic approach to estimating the stability of linguistic features and the genetic biasing of tone', was published online in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. This research furthers work Dediu has done with D. Robert Ladd of the University of Edinburgh. Three years ago, they claimed that the geographical distribution of tone languages might be linked to two genes involved in brain growth and development. This 'genetic biasing hypothesis' predicts, among other points, that tone tends to be more stable than other language properties. Recent studies, including Dediu's new paper, have supported this prediction. more >

Hagoort elected as member of INS

Sep 03, 2010

Peter Hagoort, director of the MPI for Psycholinguistics and Donders Centre for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, has recently been elected member of the International Neuropsychological Symposium. more >

Casasanto named McDonnell Scholar

Aug 30, 2010

On August 28, the James S. McDonnell Foundation announced the recipients of the 2010 McDonnell Scholar Awards. MPI researcher Daniel Casasanto received 600,000 USD to support his research on language and thought. Casasanto was one of twelve scientists worldwide selected for their potential to advance the understanding of the human brain and mind. more >

Do languages shape the way we think?

Aug 27, 2010

On August 26, 2010, the online magazine of the New York Times has published an extensive story on how languages shape the way people think. It's covering much of the space research done by the Language and Cognition group at the MPI for Psycholinguistics. more >

Baby Research Center celebrates 10th anniversary

Jul 29, 2010

The Baby Research Center (BRC), owned jointly by the MPI for Psycholinguistics and the Radboud University Nijmegen, recently celebrated its 10th anniversary with an afternoon of games and activities for children and information for parents. The festivities took place on Sunday, July 11, at the MPI. more >

Good and bad in the hands of politicians

Jul 29, 2010

Politicians’ gestures can reveal their thoughts, according to a new study published on July 28, 2010, in the open-access journal PLoS ONE. 'In laboratory tests, right- and left-handers associate positive ideas like honesty and intelligence with their dominant side of space and negative ideas with their non-dominant side', says Daniel Casasanto of the MPI for Psycholinguistics. more >

CLARA Summer School in July

Jul 22, 2010

From July 5th to July 16th the first CLARA Summer School on Advanced Resource Creation, Archiving and Usage took place at the MPI for Psycholinguistics. 21 participants from 15 countries participated in this Summer School to learn about methods of state-of-the-art data management in research from the process of data creation until data archiving. more >

PhD Defence Laura Menenti on July 2

Jun 30, 2010

Laura Menenti, PhD student at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour and the MPI for Psycholinguistics, studied the role that regions in the right hemisphere play in language processing. She explored reading, listening, and speaking, using functional MRI to measure brain responses. On July 2, 2010, she will defend her thesis, called 'The Right Language', in the Aula of the Radboud University Nijmegen. more >

Launch of fieldmanuals.mpi.nl

Jun 28, 2010

A newly launched website provides access to many of the field manuals produced over the years by the Language and Cognition Group at the MPI for Psycholinguistics. The site contains a bonanza of material for the field elicitation of semantics and the field collection of verbal behaviour. 'These are unique resources that have been compiled over nearly twenty years of investigation of under-studied languages', says MPI director Stephen C. Levinson. 'During this period, we collectively pioneered the field of semantic typology.' more >

PhD Defence Eva Reinisch on June 29

Jun 17, 2010

How do listeners use and evaluate temporal information to recognise spoken words in their native language? That has been the central question in Eva Reinisch's PhD research at the MPI for Psycholinguistics. On June 29, 2010, she will defend her thesis in the Aula of the Radboud University Nijmegen, entitled: 'Processing the Fine Temporal Structure of Spoken Words'. more >

International workshop on languages of hunter-gatherers

May 20, 2010

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 >

New issue of Nijmegen CNS

Apr 16, 2010

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 >

Language evolution in our hand

Apr 08, 2010

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 >

Children use space to think about time

Mar 31, 2010

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 >

Motor actions can change our memories

Mar 30, 2010

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 >

MPI starts Studium Generale course

Mar 18, 2010

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 >

PhD Defence Laura de Ruiter

Mar 16, 2010

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 >

MPI involved in EU project CLARA

Mar 03, 2010

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 >

LAT newsletter

Feb 17, 2010

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 >

Archiving workshop in India

Feb 08, 2010

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 >

Field work on four continents

Feb 05, 2010

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 >

'Close to scientific paradise'

Jan 26, 2010

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 >

Researchers identify universal emotions

Jan 25, 2010

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 >

MPI opens virtual reality lab

Jan 12, 2010

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 >

Call for applications 2010

Jan 11, 2010

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

New book on functional categories in learner language

Dec 29, 2009

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 >

Gesturing enhances speech comprehension

Dec 18, 2009

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 >

Step to the left, or step to the east?

Dec 14, 2009

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 >

How the body shapes language in the brain

Dec 08, 2009

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 >

Exploring ritual communication

Nov 26, 2009

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 >

Genetic tools shed light on linguistic diversity

Nov 17, 2009

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 >

Foreign subtitles improve speech perception

Nov 11, 2009

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 >

The myth of language universals

Nov 06, 2009

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 >

Traffic lights: like bananas or carrots?

Oct 29, 2009

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 >

Nick Enfield gives inaugural lecture

Oct 28, 2009

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 >

Inaugural lecture Nick Enfield

Oct 26, 2009

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 >

The speaking brain

Oct 16, 2009

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 >

New research group for MPI

Oct 08, 2009

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 >

'Haute cuisine' inaugural lecture of James McQueen

Oct 01, 2009

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 >

John Searle gives outstanding opening lecture

Sep 30, 2009

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 >

Official opening of the IMPRS for Language Sciences

Sep 17, 2009

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 >

ERC Starting Grant for Nick Enfield

Aug 27, 2009

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 >

Good and bad in right- and left-handers

Aug 11, 2009

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 >

Personal values colour sentence comprehension within milliseconds

Jul 27, 2009

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 >

RELISH project received joint DFG/NEH funding

Jul 21, 2009

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 >

RELISH project received joint DFG/NEH funding

Jul 21, 2009

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 >

Turn taking in conversation is universal

Jun 22, 2009

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 >

Özyürek gets ERC Starting Grant

Jun 04, 2009

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 >

Dingemanse finalist in 2008 AAA Photo Contest

Jun 02, 2009

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 >

CLARIN-NL kick-off meeting

May 26, 2009

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 >

fMRI study in twins: genes influence brain activation

Apr 30, 2009

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 >

New Institute website

Apr 20, 2009

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

Research Report 2007-2008 now available

Apr 16, 2009

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 >

Opening Midi-Planck

Mar 17, 2009

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 >

Outstanding paper award for Claus Zinn

Mar 06, 2009

Emerald Literati Network 2009 Awards for Excellence more >

Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour

Jan 20, 2009

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 >

Heymans Award for Peter Hagoort

Jan 01, 2009

The NIP (Dutch professional association of psychologists) has honoured Peter Hagoort with the Heymans award for senior psychologists. The award marks his exceptional contribution to cognitive neuroscience, his international recognition, and his unfailing efforts to connect fundamental and applied research. more >

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