Description:

Title: Language Comprehension Adapted to the Environment

Abstract: In order to understand each other across diverse contexts and situations, humansmust continuously adapt their linguistic expectations. Yet, the core of theirlanguage knowledge must remain stable. Research in my lab aims to understandhow humans balance flexibility and stability in language comprehension in orderto efficiently exchange information in the face of variability and noise. In this talk, Iwill first review evidence that comprehenders learn from their environment atmultiple levels including adapting to the informativity of the speaker, theprobability of syntactic structures, the kinds of errors the speaker makes, and thenoise in the input. I will then discuss work investigating the constraints on thiscontinuous learning. For instance, studies with individuals across the lifespanindicate that word meanings and syntactic biases are learned on differenttimescales. And work with individuals with aphasia — a language disorder causedby stroke — suggests that they may not update their representations of errors inthe environment as rapidly as healthy language users. I will close by discussingfuture directions and implications for the neural mechanisms underlying languageadaptation.