Objetivo
The proposed project investigates how two domains of human cognition, language and action, are linked by studying the cognitive and neural processes underlying gestures used in everyday talk (i.e. cospeech gestures). Recent important theories on human language evolution have postulated that human communication ability evolved out of, and has its roots in, actions. However, there is one important distinction between the domains of language and action. This is that the former is designed for communication, while the latter is not (necessarily). This proposal investigates the design consequences of the communicative versus non-communicative intentions in these two domains by looking at a domain that shows interesting overlapping features with both. This is the domain of co-speech gestures. The proposed project consists of a series of experimental investigations into the perceived communicativeness of actions and cospeech gestures, and their comprehension in the context of spoken language. A combination of behavioural (reaction time based) and neurocognitive (fMRI) studies will be conducted to gain insight into the cognitive and neural architecture that underlies the hypothesised action-communication continuum. In addition to a direct comparison of the perceived communicativeness of gestures and actions, the research investigates the influence of social cues core to language use in social context (gaze and shared knowledge) and the extent to which such cues can modulate perceived communicative intent. The research findings will inform recent new theories on the neural architecture of the human language system and cross-modal integration. Further, it will be of direct relevance to theories postulating the involvement of motor simulations in language comprehension (especially with regard to language about action), as well as to theories on language evolution claiming an important link between action, gesture and language.
Ámbito científico
Tema(s)
Convocatoria de propuestas
FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IEF
Consulte otros proyectos de esta convocatoria
Régimen de financiación
MC-IEF - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF)Coordinador
80539 Munchen
Alemania