Neurolinguistics and Language Development

The Neurolinguistics and Language Development research group is a strongly interdisciplinary group that investigates the organization of language in the brain, how language is processed and how languages are learned. To investigate these questions, a wide variety of methods is employed, ranging from spontaneous speech analysis, comprehension and elicitation experiments and the development of theoretical models, to eye tracking, EEG and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) techniques.

The organization of language in the brain and how language is processed in the brain is studied through the comprehension and production of various aspects of verbs (in developmental disorders and aphasia), phonological processing (in aphasia and dyslexia), print decoding (in dyslexia), speech disorders (in children and adults), sentence processing (in non-brain-damaged and aphasic speakers) and ambiguity resolution (in normal speakers and schizophrenic patients).

How a first, second or foreign language is acquired, maintained and sometimes lost is studied by considering the linguistic, social as well as cognitive processes involved in language development and use. Important areas of research are typical and atypical first language acquisition (such as in children with autism spectrum disorders), bilingualism, language attrition, and the development of bilingual education in the Netherlands. Because of its focus on language across the lifespan, from childhood to elderly age, this research program is closely linked to the University of Groningen research focus area Healthy Ageing.