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Max Planck Institute
About MPI

 

The Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics is an institute of the German Max Planck Society. Our mission is to undertake basic research into the psychological,social and biological foundations of language. The goal is to understand how our minds and brains process language, how language interacts with other aspects of mind, and how we can learn languages of quite different types.

The institute is situated on the campus of the Radboud University. We participate in the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, and have particularly close ties to that institute's Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging. We also participate in the Centre for Language Studies. A joint graduate school, the IMPRS in Language Sciences, links the Donders Institute, the CLS and the MPI.

 

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Nijmegen Cognomics officially launched

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.

Nijmegen Cognomics officially launched

September 13, 2012

Cognition Genomics, or Cognomics, is an innovative new research field which traces the connections between genes, brains and cognition, in ways that have never before been possible. The Nijmegen Cognomics Initiative brings together leading scientists from a range of disciplines to understand how variations in the human genome affect brain structure and function, to impact on memory, language, social behaviour and other crucial aspects of cognition. This work promises to reveal how and why genetic variation can influence these important human traits in health and disease.

Deciphering our genome

"With Cognomics we couple the advent of personalised genomics to the state-of-the-art in brain imaging, and to other cutting-edge techniques of modern neuroscience, in studies that include thousands of people," says Simon Fisher, director of the MPI for Psycholinguistics and one of the initiators of the Cognomics programme. "The ambition is to go beyond simply reading our genome, to eventually decipher what it means for neurons, for the brain and for human cognition and behaviour; how the different words and phrases of the book that is our genome translate into a thinking, remembering, talking, feeling person."

At the official opening event the audience were treated to an outstanding keynote lecture from international bestselling science author Dr. Matt Ridley. "When it comes to communicating the complexities of human biology in an accessible and inspirational way, with all the shades of grey intact, there are few who can match Matt Ridley," says Fisher "His lecture was a very fitting launch for the Cognomics Initiative."

For more information please see the Cognomics website.

Last checked 2012-11-08 by Myrna Tinbergen

Max Planck Institute
for Psycholinguistics


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The Netherlands


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The Netherlands

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