Elliot Murphy
A Neurocomputational Perspective on Syntax
Speaker
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Elliot Murphy
Elliot Murphy
Elliot Murphy is a research associate at the Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center, at the Texas Institute for Restorative Neurotechnologies. He has published widely on the neurobiology of syntax, language evolution, and current topics in semantics, pragmatics and philosophy. He is the author of Unmaking Merlin: Anarchist Tendencies in English Literature (Zero Books, 2014), The Oscillatory Nature of Language (Cambridge University Press, 2020) and Arms in Academia: The Political Economy of the Modern UK Defence Industry (Routledge, 2020).
Abstract →
Elliot Murphy
A Neurocomputational Perspective on Syntax
How are basic linguistic computations implemented in the brain? Drawing on recent findings from the biological and cognitive sciences, I will propose a neurocomputational model of language comprehension, with particular reference to syntactic and semantic processing. Reviewing the current state of the art, I will defend a multiplexing model of cross-frequency coupling in language comprehension, viewing this higher cognitive capacity as being grounded in endogenous neural oscillatory behaviour. Recent findings from theoretical syntax and semantics will be consulted in order to more carefully frame the implementation and development of this neurocomputational architecture. Alternative accounts in the literature will also be evaluated.