The Linguistic Cerebellum provides a comprehensive analysis of this unique part of the brain that has the most number of neurons, each operating in distinct networks to perform diverse functions. This book outlines how those distinct networks operate in relation to non-motor language skills. Coverage includes cerebellar anatomy and function in relation to speech perception, speech planning, verbal fluency, grammar processing, and reading and writing, along with a discussion of language disorders. - Discusses the neurobiology of cerebellar language functions, encompassing both normal language function and language disorders - Includes speech perception, processing, and planning - Contains cerebellar function in reading and writing - Explores how language networks give insight to function elsewhere in the brain

There has been a longstanding bias in the study of spoken language towards using writing to analyse speech. This approach is problematic in that it assumes language to be derived from an autonomous mental capacity to assemble words into sentences, while failing to acknowledge culture-specific ideas linked to writing. Words and sentences are writing constructs that hardly capture the sound-making actions involved in spoken language. This book brings to light research that has long revealed structures present in all languages but which do not match the writing-induced concepts of traditional linguistic analysis. It demonstrates that language processes are not physiologically autonomous, and that speech structures are structures of spoken language. It then illustrates how speech acts can be studied using instrumental records, and how multisensory experiences in semantic memory couple to these acts, offering a biologically-grounded understanding of how spoken language conveys meaning and why it develops only in humans.

The book illustrates how the human ability to adapt to the environment and interact with it can explain our linguistic representation of the world as constrained by our bodies and sensory perception. The different chapters discuss philosophical, scientific, and linguistic perspectives on embodiment and body perception, highlighting the core mechanisms humans employ to acquire knowledge of reality. These processes are based on sensory experience and interaction through communication.

Despite the intensive experimental and theoretical studies for over a century, the general processes involved in neural control of pasture and movement, in learning of motor behaviour in healthy subjects and in adaptation in pathology were and remain a challenging problems for the scientists in the field of sensorimotor control. The book is the outcome of the Advanced Research Workshop Sensorimotor Control, where the focus was on the state and the perspectives of the study in the field.

Neural Models of Language Processes offers an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the nature of human language and the means whereby we use it. The book is organized into five parts. Part I provides an opening framework that addresses three tasks: to place neurolinguistics in current perspective; to provide two case studies of aphasia; and to discuss the ""rules of the game"" of the various disciplines that contribute to this volume. Part II on artificial intelligence (AI) and processing models discusses the contribution of AI to neurolinguistics. The chapters in this section introduce three AI systems for language perception: the HWIM and HEARSAY systems that proceed from an acoustic input to a semantic interpretation of the utterance it represents, and Marcus9 system for parsing sentences presented in text. Studying these systems demonstrates the virtues of implemented or implementable models. Part III on linguistic and psycholinguistic perspectives includes studies such as nonaphasic language behavior and the linguistics and psycholinguistics of sign language. Part IV examines neurological perspectives such as the neuropathological basis of Broca's aphasia and the simulation of speech production without a computer. Part V on neuroscience and brain theory includes studies such as the histology, architectonics, and asymmetry of language areas; hierarchy and evolution in neurolinguistics; and perceptual-motor processes and the neural basis of language.

Research is suggesting that rather than our senses being independent, perception is fundamentally a multisensory experience. This handbook reviews the evidence and explores the theory of broad underlying principles that govern sensory interactions, regardless of the specific senses involved.

One of the most fundamental capacities of language is the ability to express what speakers see, hear, feel, taste, and smell. Sensory Linguistics is the interdisciplinary study of how language relates to the senses. This book deals with such foundational questions as: Which semiotic strategies do speakers use to express sensory perceptions? Which perceptions are easier to encode and which are “ineffable”? And what are appropriate methods for studying the sensory aspects of linguistics? After a broad overview of the field, a detailed quantitative corpus-based study of English sensory adjectives and their metaphorical uses is presented. This analysis calls age-old ideas into question, such as the idea that the use of perceptual metaphors is governed by a cognitively motivated “hierarchy of the senses”. Besides making theoretical contributions to cognitive linguistics, this research monograph showcases new empirical methods for studying lexical semantics using contemporary statistical methods.

Finding a way of simultaneously addressing the sensory, motor, emotional, communicative, cognitive and social needs of children on the autism spectrum can be a real challenge, and choosing from the vast array of options available is a daunting task. This book provides a blueprint for an educational intervention program that is evidence-based, comprehensive in scope and integrative in its approach. Grouping techniques into five categories for discussion, the book examines autism spectrum disorders within a developmental context, and shows that interventions with autistic individuals are not only possible, but can be really successful. Specific intervention strategies and program examples for developing competencies in areas such as joint attention, sensory integration, motor functioning, impulse control, memory, self-awareness, theory of mind and empathy, abstract thinking, problem-solving, social skills and community engagement, are presented. Techniques for dealing with specific behavior problems are also examined, including toileting delays, temper-tantrums, and eating and sleeping problems, amongst many others. This book will be essential reading for families, teachers, and other professionals working with children with autism.