Presentation of the ILCB/Iméra Chair: language, communication and the brain
This chair focuses on the cerebral and cognitive bases of language or communication, and is preferably based on the basis of collaboration between several units of the ILCB.
Among the disciplines that have long been developed thanks to an interdisciplinary practice, the cognitive sciences constitute an exemplary case by the vivacity and the fruitfulness of their research. Bringing together researchers in neurosciences, psychology, language and communication sciences, computer science, mathematics and medicine, cognitive sciences aim to answer fundamental questions concerning the normal and pathological development and functioning of language and brain in relation to any form of knowledge. However, two poles are emerging in the organization of this field of research according to whether the psychophysiological analysis or, on the contrary, the analysis of language and communicational interaction occupy a preponderant place. How is the dialogue organized within these two poles? What concepts and methods differentiate them? What specificities in doctoral education and training should be cultivated to explore the complementarity of the two approaches? What effects has the development of cognitive sciences as a whole had on the disciplines that feed them (psychology, linguistics, neurophysiology, etc.)? These are the questions around which the work will be organized.
About the Chair’s partner
The ILCB (Institute of Language, Communication and the Brain) is made up of 10 research units (LPL, LPC, INS, INT, LNC, ISM, LIS, LIA, I2M, PRISM) and 8 experimental platforms (fMRI, MEG, EEG, TMS, primatology, virtual reality, baby lab, speech experimentation centre). It brings together around 200 statutory researchers on the Aix-Marseille-Avignon site. His scientific project focuses on the cerebral and cognitive bases of language and communication. The ILCB brings together the knowledge acquired in the various disciplines concerned: linguistics, neurosciences, psychology, computer science, mathematics and medicine. The ILCB proposes in particular to study the production and perception of language not only in a controlled context, but also to open up new perspectives for the study of its use in more natural contexts. The ILCB also has a support system for experiments with a department dedicated to the analysis and processing of data, made up of 5 engineers in scientific computing and experimentation.