Research
Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Inter-faculty collaboration
Cognition is a broad concept that comprises perception, thinking and action, as well as emotions, consciousness and movement. In short, cognition refers to the mental skills we need in order to interact with our environment and learn how to improve ourselves. The Brain and Cognitive Sciences priority area studies the way in which our brain facilitates these skills. This extends from the level of cells and neural networks to complex human behaviour. Brain research has changed dramatically over the past few years following the arrival of equipment that allows for brain activity to be scanned in a non-invasive procedure while the trial subject carries out designated tasks. The priority area involves collaboration between physicians, psychologists, neurologists, economists, behavioural scientists, biologists, linguists and logicians. The emphasis is on aspects such as memory and learning ability, appreciation of music, learning foreign languages, neuropathology, consumer behaviour, consciousness, visual perception and mathematical models of cognitive processes.
Humanities' contribution to 'Brain and Cognitive Sciences’
The Faculty of Humanities is taking part in this research in connection with the aspect of ‘learnability'. There is a great variety of natural languages, which are also highly varied in terms of their structure. Every child learns a mother tongue, no matter what structure that language may have, without even being aware of this structure. In addition to an enormous variation in terms of structure, languages also share remarkable similarities in the form of a set of common basic principles, known as language universals. This set of language universals defines a language's blueprint (i.e. a basic layout of human communication). Research on this blueprint is conducted by researchers affiliated with the ACLC.
The priority area also conducts research on the encoding, transmission and comprehension of information processing. A great deal of this research is abstract in nature and far removed from the day-to-day practice. The results of research in this area conducted by neuropsychologists and cognitive psychologists are relevant to logicians and vice versa. Computational linguistics focus on the development of mathematical models for human information processes. The objective is to develop algorithms for the learning process that can be applied in both cognitive and practical research.