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Pdf: Seminar Program

The aim of this seminar is to illustrate the research on mind functioning in the comprehension and generation of articulated language. Already in the past, an Austrian scientist, Franz Joseph Gall asserted that the brain was divided in as many regions as the number of personality characteristics. Today the research on the activities of the brain returns to that paradigm and ,on the basis of neuro images, tries to find out the mechanisms with which the brain controls the body in general and the vocal organs in particular. The idea that the cortical area is used in perception has been already proposed by Lieberman, Cooper, Shankweiler & Studdert-Kennedy in 1967, but recent researches in neuroimaging seem to confirm that model, named Motor Theory, and the discovery of mirror neurons could bring further confirmations. The new investigation methodologies obtained by the combination of the transcranic magnetic stimulation with neuroimaging procedures such as PET, fMRI and EEG allow to "see" the functioning of the human brain. Such researches provoke large speculative but also applicative interests: the BCI issue (Brain Computer Interface), that is the direct communication between the human and the electronic brain, implies fascinating applications such as the ability to allow communication of a disable subject with the external environment.

Keynote speaker will be Frank H. Guenther Director, CNS Speech Lab, Boston University, Boston, MA, an expert in cognitive neuroscience and neural models with particular interests in the production and perception of speech and motor sense control. He is in charge of the laboratory that developed a neural network model for the production of speech capable of learning like a baby in the lallation period: this model is called DIVA and has been recognized by the international scientific community as the most promising speech synthesis system. In the field of silent speech, his laboratory is producing new interesting results both in technologies and in methodologies.
Prof. Guenther will outline the updated situation on his researches on speech synthesis starting from cortical stimuli and the development of such technology, but also providing information on the developments of neurosciences in the area of recognition and production of spoken language.
The afternoon session will be centered on "neurolinguistics in Italy" and will be dedicated to the presentation of the most important researches carried out in Italy.
The participating researchers and specialists of the various disciplines will illustrate the most significant projects that are actually active in Italy and will discuss about the first applications that could be implemented by these new technologies. Particular emphasis will be given to the contributions that this discipline can bring to overcome serious disabilities.