Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
Former Department of Neuropsychology
The former Department of Neuropsychology was dedicated to explore the functional architecture of language and its neuroanatomical foundations in both the adult and developing brain. The department’s goal was to comprehensively describe the neural mechanisms underlying language processing and language acquisition, and to specify their functional and structural organization.
The department’s research approach was interdisciplinary, combining behavioral methods with modern neurophysiological and neuroimaging techniques. In particular, electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) were used to examine the temporal dynamics of language-related brain activity. By combining these methods with the spatially high-resolution technique of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the researchers obtained a comprehensive picture of the functional neuroanatomy of language processing. In addition, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) methods were employed to analyze the structural connections within the neural language network.
In the field of the neurocognition of language acquisition, the department investigated the neurophysiological foundations of phonological, lexical, and syntactic processes, as well as their development and maturation. The research demonstrated that the maturation of specific fiber pathways in the brain is crucial for complex syntactic processes. Furthermore, the department explored the neural foundations of natural grammar acquisition in adults and analyzed functional and structural brain changes during intensive second-language acquisition.
Building on these findings, the department developed a neurocognitive model of auditory language comprehension that describes the temporal organization and functional neuroanatomy of syntactic, semantic, and lexical processes. The model proposes that different linguistic processes rely on specialized neural networks, particularly in the left hemisphere, whereas prosodic processing predominantly takes place in the right hemisphere.
The department also addressed the question of how the neural language network evolved over the course of evolution. Neuroanatomical comparisons between the human brain and those of non-human primates suggest that language-specific regions and their fiber connections emerged through the expansion of structures that were already present earlier during evolution. Through this work, the Department of Neuropsychology made a significant contribution to our understanding of the neural basis of language, as well as its development and evolution.
Angela D. Friederici, from the Max-Planck-Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (MPI CBS), together with colleagues from the MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology wants to figure out which brain structures and genes make the situation different for humans. In the following interview Friederici talks about why we still know so little about the differences between humans and apes – and why even the existing knowledge could be questioned by new findings.
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Anyone who investigates how children acquire language encounter the grammar centre of the brain. Angela D. Friederici during a conversation with Die ZEIT newspaper on universal grammar and the brain structures that enable us to process language.
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This 'brain podcast' with Angela D. Friederici on her book about language as a uniquely human capacity provides an excellent overview to listeners of all backgrounds. A conversation about the earliest knowledge acquired from patients with brain lesions, newer tools allow researchers to correlate concepts from Linguistics with the neuroscientific tools and an increasing interest in the connections between the various brain areas that are involved in language.
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Over a period of several months a film crew recorded volunteers of the long-term study Second language acquisition hereat the Max Planck Institute. As a result, the short documentary was broadcast on 3sat nano on 19th January 2017 and can be viewed in German on the Mediathek.
A conversation about the development of language during the course of our lives, her work as vice president of the Max Planck Society, and the value of basic research to uncover truly new findings. The BR alpha forum invites outstanding personalities from the fields of politics and business, science and society, and culture and religion to engage in profound discussion, in which there is enough time for details and nuances and not only attention-grabbing quotes.
Language processing in humans depends on the neuronal connection between language areas in the brain. Until recently, this language network was thought to be uniquely human. Now, in a discovery about the evolutionary basis of our language, researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the Alfred Wegener Institute, have identified a comparable neuronal connection in the brains of chimpanzees. Their findings have been published in the journal Nature Communications. more
The evolution of language in humans, in contrast to communicative systems in other primate species is hotly debated. Now, thanks to the study of brain connectivity between different primate species and by adopting a framework proposed for segregating functional language and communication activation in humans, Angela Friederici and Yannick Becker from MPI CBS argue in a recent correspondence article in Nature Reviews Neuroscience that the core language network can be neurally separated from other communication-relevant networks during primate evolution. more
The question of how the human brain has developed over the course of evolution can possibly only be answered through comparisons with our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, together with colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, have now presented a freely accessible map of high-resolution MRI data that shows the comprehensive brain structure of chimpanzees for the first time in a study published in the journal "Nature Methods". more
From an early age, children learn to name things and events, but also how to combine words according to the rules of their language. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (MPI CBS) Leipzig and the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin have now found that even six-month-old babies store relationships between speech elements in memory. more
Communicating with babies in infant-directed-speech is considered an essential prerequisite for successful language development of the little ones. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences have now investigated how the mood of mothers in the postpartum period affects their child’s development. They found that even children whose mothers suffer from mild depressive mood that do not yet require medical treatment show early signs of delayed language development. The reason for this could be the way the women talk to the newborns. The findings could help prevent potential deficits early on.
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