Projects
Medial temporal representation of word meaning embedded in natural language processing KU Leuven
Sentence comprehension deficits can arise despite preserved single word comprehension due to a deficit of integrating information into an overall meaning representation. In this proposal, I will leverage the rapid advances in Natural Language Processing (NLP) in computational sciences to investigate the neurobiology of natural language comprehension. Five fMRI and two eye tracking experiments will be conducted to examine how the brain ...
Probabilistic decoding of EEG potentials evoked by word associations. KU Leuven
The N400 potential has been instrumental to our understanding of how language is encoded in the brain. Recorded through electroencephalography (EEG), it is most strongly evoked in response to the sequential presentation of two anomalous words, but it is absent for strongly associated ones. The spectrum of association strengths of word pairs in relation to the evoked N400 effect has not yet been modeled but, when successful, it could provide ...
An empirical investigation into the acquisition and processing of L2 formulaic sequences through audiovisual input KU Leuven
To achieve high levels of proficiency and fluency in a second language (L2), learners need to acquire a large number of formulaic sequences, or frequently recurring words, phrases and word combinations assumed to be familiar and conventional to native speakers (Siyanova-Chanturia and Pellicer-Sánchez, 2019). In second language acquisition (SLA) research, the term formulaic sequence is commonly used to cover a wide range of multiword ...
From words to meaning: Association networks and semantic processing KU Leuven
The project consists of three parts: (1) to elaborate the existing word association network, (2) to investigate the semantic properties of a network that is constructed from the word association data set and (3) to explore neuropsychological applications of word association data. The first part consists of further developing and enlarging the world’s largest word association data set, in several languages. In the second part, the network’s ...
Risk and Protective Factors of Dyslexia: A study of auditory temporal processing and morphological awareness KU Leuven
Dyslexia is a neurological condition affecting 5-7% of the population, which impacts an individual’s ability learning to read and write despite adequate intelligence, education and remediation. The predominant etiological view postulates that dyslexia results from a deficit in the phonological domain, specifically in the quality and accuracy of phonological representations. A vital component in the development of phonological representations ...
Interaction of storage and processing in memory and representation of sentences Ghent University
Working memory is involved in comprehension and production of sentences, on the one hand (memory for previous words, for th word order, for syntactic information, …) and is supported, on the other hand, by language-related information (cf. memory of meaningful word groups versus single words). In this research project, this mutual interaction of working memory and sentence processing is further investigated by means of reading and working ...
Relationship between representations of scenes, whole objects and their constituent parts in the human cortex. KU Leuven
Viewing the world, we are confronted with multiple visual objects, each of which might be composed of multiple parts. How exactly our brain is able to recognize and identify these objects very quickly and easily, and how it constructs a representation of these objects is not yet clear. In this doctoral thesis, we focused on two aspects of visual object representations: (1) how do we learn to recognize objects and (2) what kind of relationship ...
Sentence construction in health and neurological disease: an individualized approach using magnetoencephalography and contextualized models of meaning KU Leuven
Language is capable of conveying a seemingly unlimited amount of ideas. The possibility to flexibly combine words into sentences underlies this power. Using recent advances in linguistics & neuroimaging, our goal is to elucidate the neural computations underpinning sentence construction in healthy controls and patients with aphasia.The brain can extract the meaning of a single word in 400 milliseconds. Which neural computations are ...
The Status and Functions of the Ancient Greek particle δή in the Dialogues of Plato, with an Analysis of its Translation into Dutch and Polish KU Leuven
This dissertation is divided into two main sections: a theoretical and an analytical one. The corresponding chapters of the theoretical part are focused on (1) the early approach to Greek particles: the definition and the classification of particles in Ancient Greek linguistic thought and (2) the discourse-pragmatic approach to Greek particles. The analytical part consists of corpus research, and analyses (3) the function and uses of the ...