List of language disorders..

[Michael Thomas]

On Tue, 24 Aug 1999, Jon Machtynger wrote:

> All,
>
> I am investigating language disorders and comparing them with
> implementation and subsequent disabling of a connectionist model.  Are
> there any disorders where a concrete link there has been shown
> between the disorder and a neurological (synapse level) problem.

You may be interested in a chapter I recently co-authored with Denis
Mareschal which reviews current connectionist modelling of cognitive
development.  The chapter looks at normal and abnormal development within
the same framework and shows how differences in boundary conditions
(constraints) can lead to the emergence of behaviours classified as normal
or abnormal. In the chapter we discuss work on connectionist modelling of
a number of developmental disorders and look in detail at a connectionist
approach to autism which tries to refer behavioural deficits back to
abnormal patterns of neural connectivity.  However, this work is aimed at
modelling low level perceptual deficits rather than language development.

The chapter, called Self-organization in Normal and Abnormal Cognitive
Development, can be downloaded from

http://www.psyc.bbk.ac.uk/staff/dm.html


My current research is using connectionist models to investigate the
development of inflectional morphology in Williams syndrome, but these
computer simulations are still running...

cheers,

Michael.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr Michael (Fred) Thomas,
Research Fellow, Neurocognitive Development Unit
Institute of Child Health
30 Guilford Street
London WC1N 1EH,  U.K.
tel:     +44 171 905 2747
fax:     +44 171 242 7717
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~