Lunch Lecture - Alice Blumenthal-Dramé

Models and Modelling in Linguistics: The role of functional neuroimaging

Many popular models of language purport to represent the workings of the mind in at least some indirect sense. Interestingly, many of the models which strive for such “cognitive realism” have put forward claims which are mutually incompatible. This talk will explore the extent to which functional imaging research can help us adjudicate between competing models of language in the mind. Against this background, it will discuss what the notion of “cognitive realism” actually means and will also warn against exaggerated expectations and blind confidence in (what is often considered to be) “hard facts”.