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From Understanding to Generating Meaningful Language: Unravelling the Origins of Our Words

Objective

WordOrigins will establish an understanding of language generation by integrating ecological neuroscience and computational models. Language is central to human experience, enabling communication and thought expression. However, the brain mechanisms that generate meaningful language, convey coherent thoughts and elicit responses still need to be understood. I will address this gap by leveraging advances in electrophysiology (iEEG) and artificial intelligence, particularly Large Language Models (LLMs). These technologies offer the opportunity to explore unconstrained language generation and uncover the cognitive processes underlying it. The research combines two key elements: Ecological Electrophysiological Measurements: iEEG data from participants engaged in natural conversations provide insights into how the brain processes language in real-life situations; and Modeling Cognitive Processes with LLMs: LLMs offer a computational framework for modeling and interpreting language generation, generating testable predictions about how language is processed. This proposal focuses on several fundamental endeavours: Planning Multiple Words in Language Generation studies how the brain plans speech by predicting multiple future words. Modeling the Cognitive Effort of Generating Meaningful Words investigates how the brain produces more effortful, meaningful words. Multilingual Neural Encoding and Language Representation focuses on bilingual patients to understand whether early language processing is abstract or language-specific. Eliciting Meaningful Interaction Through Neural Synchronization examines whether LLM-based agents can enhance neural synchronization and trust during interaction. Disentangling Synchronization from Shared Input explores how cognitive mechanisms beyond shared stimuli affect synchronization. Together these elements promises us concrete foundations for the challenge of understanding how our ideas are formed and communicated.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) ERC-2025-STG

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Host institution

THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 500 000,00
Address
EDMOND J SAFRA CAMPUS GIVAT RAM
91904 JERUSALEM
Israel

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Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 500 000,00

Beneficiaries (1)

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