Neural correlates of language processing in Chinese

This project is a cooperation between neurologists, physicists (Dept. of Neurology) and linguists (IDF). It investigates how vowels with different tonal distinctions are processed in the brain. Tonal differences in vowels play a crucial role for establishing differences in meaning in a tonal language such as Chinese. The processing of tone offers an interface between physiological and cognitive processing: highly relevant questions for researchers in the Dept. of Neurology include temporal and spatial aspects of neural processing of auditory stimuli of this type. For the linguists involved in the project, a great interest lies in investigating the role of higher cognitive structures and processes (i.e., language-related processing) in the processing of elementary auditory input.