On the afternoon of May 6th, 2016, Prof. David Poeppel from New York University was invited to visit School of International Studies (SIS), and delivered a lecture themed on “New directions in the neurobiology of language”. The lecture, held in Qinghe Coffee Bar, was hosted by Prof. Wang Xiaolu from SIS.
Prof. David Poeppel, starting from neuropsychological brain maps, elaborated on the locations and functions of Broca’s area and Wernicke's area as well as the interconnection between them, as these two areas were related to language cognition. Later, Prof. Poeppel expounded on how to apply Magnetoencephalography (MEG) to explore the cognitive and neural mechanisms of voice and language structure, and the mapping between language studies and neuropsychology. Apart from introducing relevant studies on voice and neuroscience conducted in laboratories, Prof. David Poeppel also introduced a tracing experiment on the relationship between dynamic brainwaves of students in interaction and class teaching activities during natural language exchange and interaction. The study found out different class activities, role-identity of participants, and students’ evaluation of teachers synchronized with the brainwaves recorded by MEG, which broadened the horizon in terms of research paradigm.
This lecture attracted not only teachers and postgraduates from SIS who were interested in this research, but also students and teachers from School of Humanities of Zhejiang University, Zhejiang University of Technology, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Ningbo Institute of Technology of Zhejiang University and Zhejiang Wanli University. Prof. Poeppel elaborated on the complex neural information processing system of language by showing excellent brain images and expressing them in simple terms to retain the interest of the audience. Moreover, Prof. Poeppel also had an extensive discussion with students and teachers present, which pushed the whole lecture to its climax. At the end of the lecture, Prof. Wang Xiaolu made concluding remarks, and expressed our heartfelt thanks to Prof. Poeppel. Many students also asked him questions after the lecture, hoping that this lecture could last longer.
SIS
Written by Guo Xiaoqun / Photos by He Wenzhong
May 9th, 2016
