22.2788, Calls: Cognitive Science, Neurolinguistics, Psycholinguistics/Germany

Thu Jul 7 15:56:22 UTC 2011

LINGUIST List: Vol-22-2788. Thu Jul 07 2011. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 22.2788, Calls: Cognitive Science, Neurolinguistics, Psycholinguistics/Germany

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1)
Date: 06-Jul-2011
From: Liane Stroebel [stroebel at phil.uni-duesseldorf.de]
Subject: Sensory-Motor Concepts in Language and Science

-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:53:38
From: Liane Stroebel [stroebel at phil.uni-duesseldorf.de]
Subject: Sensory-Motor Concepts in Language and Science

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Full Title: Sensory-Motor Concepts in Language and Science 
Short Title: SMCLS 

Date: 01-Dec-2011 - 03-Dec-2011
Location: Duesseldorf, Germany 
Contact Person: Liane Stroebel
Meeting Email: smcls at phil.uni-duesseldorf.de
Web Site: http://www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/sfb991/smcls11/ 

Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science; Neurolinguistics; Psycholinguistics 

Call Deadline: 15-Aug-2011 

Meeting Description:

The conference 'Sensory-Motor Concepts in Language and Science' will take
place on 1-3 December 2011 at the University of Duesseldorf, Germany. The
conference is intended as an interdisciplinary platform for discussing
different perspectives of grounded cognition and embodiment theories.

The conference focuses on the challenges and boundaries of an
interdisciplinary study. The goal is to discuss strategies and to propose
ways to bridge the gulf between theoretical operating disciplines such as
linguistics and more experimentally orientated disciplines such as
cognitive neuroscience. The following questions dealing with the
representation and computation of language in the minds and brains of
speakers will be raised: How do we perceive the world? In which way are the
single entities of our perception stored? What role do sensory-motor
concepts play in our understanding of the world and for the linguistic
encoding?

Concepts are the elementary units of reason and linguistic meaning. They
are conventional and relatively stable (Gallese and Lakoff 2005). Recent
theories in cognitive science propose that many concepts are grounded in
sensory-motor processes (Barsalou 2008, Gibbs 2005, Pezzulo et al. 2011,
Wilson 2002). The conference will explore the thesis of grounded cognition
from the perspectives of linguistics, cognitive neuroscience and philosophy
of the mind, and critically discuss empirical, experimental and clinical
results and linguistic evidence as well as conceptual arguments.

The linguistic perspective focuses on the fact that language and body are
closely interrelated. Embodiment not only plays a role for the lexicon
(e.g. metaphors, Steen et al. 2010), but also for the grammar of a
language. For example, in many languages auxiliaries and analytic verbal
constructions can be traced back to action concepts (Ströbel 2010, 2011)
involving body parts such as the hand/arm (e.g. make, do, give, take, etc)
or the foot/leg (e.g. go, come, etc.). 

Recent neurological studies using neuroimaging techniques (e.g. fMRI, EEG)
and also patient studies (Grossman et al., 2008) have provided several
pieces of the puzzle concerning auditory language perception, reading and
language production and deliver valuable insights into this highly
developed cognitive function. Furthermore, these studies have shown that
premotor and motor areas are activated somatotopically when subjects read
verbs referring to hand or foot actions (Boulenger, Hauk and Pulvermüller
2009; Hauk, Johnsrude and Pulvermüller 2004; Hauk and Pulvermüller 2004).
Several parts of the brain subserve different aspects of language
comprehension and production and only their coordinated interplay warrants
effective functioning. Another focus of interest is activation of brain
motor areas in abstract use of prefixations of concrete action, such as
German greifen 'grasp' vs. begreifen 'comprehend' and in abstract use of
prefixations of abstract verbs, such as e. g. German denken 'think' vs.
bedenken 'consider'. While contrasting the concrete and abstract simple
verbs resulted in greater activation of primary motor and somatosensory
cortices in concrete as compared with abstract verbs no such difference
emerged for the prefixation (Rüschemeyer et al. 2007).

Similarly, in philosophy, theories of embodied or grounded cognition
(Barsalou 2008, Glenberg and Kaschak 2002) have been acknowledged and the
importance of sensory-motor processing concepts is now widely recognized.
Traditional views of the architecture of the mind, such as computational
views and the theory of a language of thought as a general format of mental
representation, will be reconsidered in the light of empirical findings. 

Call for Papers:

The conference will focus on transparent and opaque source domains, both of
which are grounded in sensory-motor concepts and highlight the
interdisciplinary character of this particular phenomenon. The linguistic
theoretical foundations will be enriched with neurological analysis and
philosophical empirical findings. The aim of the interdisciplinary approach
is to achieve a better understanding of the way language is conceptualized,
structured and cognitively stored.

We invite the submission of abstracts on all kinds of empirical and
theoretical approaches which involve sensory-motor concepts and which deal
with the following questions or topics:

- Advantages and limits of sensory-motor source domains
- Language change based on sensory-motor concepts
- Action versus object processing
- Temporal aspects of language processing
- Clinical evidence for allocation of action or object attributes in the brain
- The relation between perception, action and sensory-motor concepts
- Is thinking based on linguistic abilities or is thinking grounded in
perception and action rather than language?
- Can sensory-motor concepts be transduced into more abstract concepts, or
is abstract thinking based on very different grounds than perception and
action?
- Are theories of grounded cognition modern versions of concept empiricism?
Can rationalistic/transcendental theories be formulated coherently while
appreciating the role sensory motor concepts have in science?

Submission Guidelines:

Abstracts are not to exceed two A4 pages in length, including examples and
references, with at least 2 cm margins on all sides and 12 pt font size.
The abstract should not identify the author(s). 

It is intended that the conference proceedings will be published.

Important Dates:

Abstract submission deadline: 15 August 2011
Notification of acceptance: 15 October 2011
Revised abstracts due: 15 November 2011
Conference date: 1-3 December 2011

Meeting email: smcls at phil.uni-duesseldorf.de
Conference Homepage: http://www.sfb991.uni-duesseldorf.de/smcls11
Submission web pages: https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=smcls11

Organization/Contact Information:

Liane Stroebel, Department of Romance Linguistics,
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf , Universitätsstraße 1 , 40225 Düsseldorf
E-mail: stroebel at phil.uni-duesseldorf.de

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