Research Overview
Our research group studies the acquisition and use of language and their brain bases. We study both
normal and disordered use of language using several complementary methodologies: behavioral experiments, neuroimaging, and
computational modeling. Specific foci include
- language comprehension and production, particularly the way in which comprehension processes are shaped by constraints arising from production;
- reading acquisition and skilled reading, emphasizing the use of computational models that act as the interface between brain and behavior;
- impact of language background on school achievement and learning to read among African American children;
- new conceptions of working memory and its role in language use;
- the brain bases of reading and language, including neuroimaging studies and computational modeling;
- developmental language impairments ("specific language impairment" and dyslexia);
- cognitive aging and the language impairments associated with neuropathology (e.g., Alzheimer's disease).
All of these research projects are in the service of a more general goal: understanding
the nature of linguistic knowledge (principally phonology, morphology, lexical semantics, syntax), how this
knowledge is acquired, and its relationship to other aspects of cognition. A central issue is
whether language is the expression of innate domain-specific forms of knowledge (e.g.,
grammar) or more general capacities to perceive, think and learn. We think that recent
breakthroughs in the understanding of statistical learning mechanisms, and neural
networks that represent and efficiently exploit statistical constraints, are among the most
important developments in the modern study of language. We are investigating the properties of
such systems, their application to classic linguistic phenomena, and their role in related
skills such as reading.
Many of our recent articles and some of our recent posters
can be downloaded from the publications
archive. For additional information, especially concerning
opportunities for graduate or post-doctoral study, contact
Professor MacDonald
or Professor Seidenberg.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Dept of Psychology (WJ Brogden Hall)
1202 West Johnson Street
Madison, WI 53706-1696
Fax: (608) 262-4029
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