Neural Correlates of Syntax and Proto-Syntax: Evolutionary Dimension

Neural correlates of syntax production in schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND The production of grammatically complex sentences is impaired in schizophrenia. It has been suggested that impaired syntax processing reflects a risk for the disorder. AIMS To examine the neural correlates of syntax production in people with schizophrenia using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). METHOD Six patients with schizophrenia and six healthy volunteers spoke ab...

Neural Syntax

The evolution of compositionality and proto-syntax in signaling games

Compositionality is a key design feature of human language: the meaning of complex expressions is, for the most part, systematically constructed from the meanings of its parts and their manner of composition. This paper demonstrates that rudimentary forms of compositional, even proto-syntactic communicative behavior can emerge, without stipulating sophisticated or purposeful agency, from a vari...

Neural Syntax: Cell Assemblies, Synapsembles, and Readers

A widely discussed hypothesis in neuroscience is that transiently active ensembles of neurons, known as "cell assemblies," underlie numerous operations of the brain, from encoding memories to reasoning. However, the mechanisms responsible for the formation and disbanding of cell assemblies and temporal evolution of cell assembly sequences are not well understood. I introduce and review three in...

The Neural Basis of Birdsong Syntax

Many complex actions such as speaking and playing music consist of sequences of action units strung together according to syntactic rules. How such rules are implemented in the brain is a critical problem for understanding the neural basis of complex behaviors. Songbirds are ideal model systems for tackling this problem. Birdsong consists of sequences of stereotypical syllables. The syntax of t...